A Philomath city councilor’s attempt to remove gender expression and gender ideology references in a Women’s History Month proclamation during a March 10 meeting failed to garner support from others at the table.
The process of approving proclamations is typically routine and quick at meetings. But on this occasion, the Women’s History Month conversation stretched to 20 minutes beginning with a suggestion from Councilor Brent Kaseman.
“If the goal of the proclamation is to voice this support and celebration of women in history, I recommend that it focus on women and that presentations or discussions about gender expression and other gender ideologies be assigned to other proclamations or platforms,” Kaseman said.
Kaseman specifically referenced four lines in the proclamation that he suggested be removed:
“Whereas, this proclamation is an understanding of gender diversity that has existed throughout time and across cultures by creating an allyship of cultural understanding to all gender expansive people including but not limited to cisgender, transgender, Two-Spirit gender non-conforming, genderqueer and anyone woman or girl-identified.”
City Councilor Jessica Andrade, who has served as a representative on the Inclusivity Committee since its founding in 2020, recommended that those references remain in the proclamation.
“It is very important that we do not further ostracize people who are already discriminated against … and I do not condone it,” Andrade said, later adding, “Gender-expansive people are women if they identify as such and saying otherwise is discriminatory regardless of intent.”
Mayor Christopher McMorran said he believed that the proclamation should remain as written.
“I don’t think it does any harm and it may do some help … I hope anyone who is a woman would appreciate this proclamation and know that it’s about them,” he said.
Andrade said Kaseman’s recommended removal of those lines violates the spirit of the proclamation and of the Inclusivity Committee where it was drafted.
“The point is including people who are historically and continue to be not included and I think it’s really important to recognize that cisgender women are not the only women and femme-identifying people in existence,” Andrade said.
McMorran said that he felt that if the references were removed, it could be interpreted as the city making a statement.
“The fact that it’s been in there, I would be in favor of just maintaining it as written — but that’s just me,” he said.
City Manager Chris Workman provided his recollections of a committee-level discussion that occurred last year on how to word the proclamation’s section on gender identities.
“The Inclusivity Committee’s recommendation to the council last year was to use specifics but then to be general so everybody was included,” Workman said. “But those specifics were important to members of the Inclusivity Committee at the time.”
Prior to the discussion, Kaseman had made a motion, which was seconded by Councilor Teresa Nielson, to strike lines 16-19 and it ultimately failed on a 5-1 vote (Andrade, Spencer Irwin, McMorran, Neilson, Rich Saalsaa nay; Diane Crocker absent).
Another matter that was brought up involved both the City Council and the Inclusivity Committee being listed as the source of the proclamation, a detail questioned by Nielson.
“We don’t do that with other types of committees that are a part of our city yet we’ve included the Inclusivity Committee on this resolution, which for me feels awkward like we’re making exceptions for that,” she said.
The topic did come up later in the discussion before a final vote took place with the mayor suggesting that the City Council should be solely listed as making the proclamation since a committee is not at the meeting voting on it at that time — a situation that could become especially sticky if councilors make revisions. As the city manager pointed out, there could be a separate reference in the proclamation for a committee making a recommendation to the council.
Still, there were no changes on the document at hand and in the end, the resolution to proclaim March as Women’s History Month was approved on a 5-1 vote (Kaseman nay, Crocker absent).
The City Council also proclaimed April 6-12 as Library Week in Philomath.
I want to thank Councilor Kaseman for his correct and important decision, to call out the wording in the recent Women’s History Month Declaration. We need more voices like his in our local leadership.
So incredibly PROUD of our city councilors for supporting ALL women/fem-identified people and recognizing gender diversity! I appreciate the efforts to celebrate all of my SISTERS, not just my cis-ters! Bravo, City of Philomath for your commitment to moving our community towards being more inclusive to ALL.