Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued a proclamation declaring June 2015 as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month” in the State of California.

PROCLAMATION

Our nation was founded on the principle of equal rights for all people, but the fulfillment of this promise has been long in coming for many Americans. Some of the most inspiring moments in our history have arisen from the various civil rights movements that have brought one group after another from the margins to the mainstream of American society.

In the movement toward equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, a historic turning point occurred on June 28, 1969, in New York City, with the onset of the Stonewall Riots. During these riots, LGBT citizens rose up and resisted police harassment that arose out of discriminatory criminal laws that have since been declared unconstitutional. In the four decades since, civil rights for LGBT people have grown substantially, and LGBT pride celebrations have taken place around the country every June to commemorate the beginning of the Stonewall Riots.

This Pride Month, we anticipate that the United States Supreme Court will rule on four cases—Obergefell v. Hodges, Tanco v. Haslam, DeBoer v. Snyder and Bourke v. Beshear—each of which concerns the constitutionality of one state’s refusal to recognize marriages that are legal under other states’ laws. It is possible that the rulings of the court in these matters will decide once and for all the issue of the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans for all 50 states. I join millions of LGBT citizens and allies, in California and across the nation, in the hope that this decision will come down on the side of fairness and equality for all.

NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim June 2015 as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 29th day of May 2015.



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EDMUND G. BROWN JR.
Governor of California


ATTEST:



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ALEX PADILLA
Secretary of State