The next Anchorage Assembly meeting lands on June 6, the 79th anniversary of D-Day. But unlike many other cities around the country, there will be no special resolutions honoring the 4,414 Americans who died as they and fellow Allied soldiers stormed the shores of Normandy to battle Nazi forces in the quest to liberate Europe from a menacing tyranny.
There will be no official proclamations honoring the heroic men, including English and Canadian fighters, who waged the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare to repel the Nazis out of Western Europe and turn the tide of World War II for good.
Instead, the Assembly plans to use its June 6 meeting to officially recognize June as “Pride Month.” A formal resolution will be read aloud, lavishing praise on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who staged the violent 1969 Stonewall Riots against New York City police. It will also laud the “brave pioneers” who organized Anchorage’s first LGBTQ demonstration in 1970.
The proclamation asserts that “Anchorage’s LGBTQIA2S+ community is America’s story” and “an integral part of our long, ongoing struggle to realize the American promise of equality under the law and equality of opportunity in our society, while protecting and guaranteeing privacy rights.”
In addition to imploring residents to participate in various public celebrations of alternative sexuality and gender identity, the Assembly also issued a resolution proclaiming June 6 as “Secure Your Load” safety day, in which citizens are urged to make sure they tie down garbage and other items, so debris does not fall and scatter along the roadway.
