By Adam Swift
Councilor-at-Large Rob DeMarco used his council privilege to delay a vote on a Pride month proclamation for the month of June and the raising of the LGBTQIA+ Pride flag until the council’s June 4 meeting on Tuesday night.
DeMarco said his use of council privilege was not because he is against the Pride month proclamation, but rather in reaction to the council taking no action last year to raise the Israeli flag in town in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.
“I obviously support the LGBTQ community and I have absolutely no problem with flying the Pride flag,” said DeMarco. “With that being said, I have an opportunity here where in October, 1,300 Jews were killed and slaughtered, and I came up with the idea to raise the Israel flag.”
DeMarco said he brought the proposal to raise the Israeli flag up at a council meeting last year.
“I couldn’t get a consensus of people on the council to actually speak up against the antisemitism that was going on,” said DeMarco. “In fact, I got people equating it to the people who were harboring terrorists. That was a problem.”
DeMarco noted that last year, the council also got Zoom-bombed by a white nationalist spouting Nazi rhetoric.
“We had a chance as a council at that point to speak up against antisemitism,” said DeMarco. “We failed, and take a look at the world now, because the antisemitism in the world now has blown up to levels we have not seen since the 1940s. I’m a member of the Jewish community, I’m not going to take it anymore.
“I want everybody to think about what we can do about antisemitism right now, and that is the only reason I am using my council privilege and putting this vote off for two weeks, because I want everybody to think about all the Jews in this town that have been affected by this.”
Precinct 6 Councilor John DaRos introduced the proclamation at Tuesday night’s meeting prior to DeMarco’s use of council privilege. After reading the proclamation, DaRos spoke briefly about his experiences as a gay man and the struggles the LGBTQIA+ community still face.
“Everything I just read resonates for me personally,” DaRos said of the proclamation. “I distinctly remember the day my now ex-husband and I wanted to get married prior to 2004 and we were denied that ability. I distinctly remember when he and I and both of our parents and our siblings sat in the State House, in the balcony, watching over the proceedings as the vote took place.
“If you’ve never had the feeling that someone gets to vote on whether you get to marry the person you love, believe it or not, it a) doesn’t feel good, and b) we are sitting at a time when several states and two U.S. Supreme Court justices have made motions and comments to call into question the ability to marry the person you love,” continued DaRos. “The comment I will make is this, LGBTQ pride, don’t mistake it as an opportunity to just celebrate the gay community, this is a celebration that everyone can love who they love and be able to marry that person, to be able to visit them in the hospital, and every other right you should have, because you should love and marry who you choose to love and be married to.”
Council President Jim Letterie said DeMarco had the right to use his council privilege, but once he invoked it, under council rules, no further discussion was allowed by the council under its rules.
However, during the second round of public speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting, resident Celeste Ribeiro Hewitt did ask DeMarco to rethink his use of council privilege to delay the vote on the Pride month proclamation.
“I think that (DeMarco’s) decision to call on council privilege is punitive, it’s retaliatory, and it’s aimed in the wrong direction,” Ribeiro Hewitt said. “People in the LGBTQ community have been under attack since the beginning of time, and they continue to be.”