BY CRAIG FREILICH
North Country This Week

POTSDAM -- The Village of Potsdam has added its voice and its flagpole to recognition of LGBT Pride Month.

At its Monday meeting the Board of Trustees approved a resolution "declaring June 2019 as Pride Month in the Village of Potsdam" and committing the village to "raise the Pride Flag on June 28, 2019 in recognition of this declaration."

The vote was 4-0.

Thus the village and town governments in Potsdam and Canton have all declared their support and recognition for the movement for rights for lesbian, guy, bisexual, transgender and questioning LGBTQ people.

These declarations have been controversial, as expressed on social media outlets locally, where messages of support and disapproval have been posted.

In the public comment period at Tuesday's meeting, one person, Ryan Deuel of Pleasant Street, added his endorsement of the resolution. No one spoke against it.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the "Stonewall Riots," when police raided the gay club the Stonewall Inn in in Greenwich Village, New York on June 28, 1969, setting off several nights of unrest by protesting gays. The event is seen as the catalyzing event in the American gay rights movement.

See our earlier story here.

http://www.northcountrynow.com/news/rainbow-flag-will-fly-potsdam-town-hall-commemorate-birth-gay-rights-movement-50-years-ago