HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-16-24 Public Comment - H. Buzzetti - Safety for Bozeman Pride 2024From:Heidi Buzzetti
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:Jonathan Jacobs
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment 5/14
Date:Tuesday, May 14, 2024 4:48:12 PM
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To Whom It May Concern,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the issue of safety for Bozeman Pride 2024.
As educators who have worked with youth for a combined 34 years and as the coordinators
of Pride House, we are deeply concerned about the physical and emotional safety of all
participants of Bozeman Pride, but specifically the safety of our community’s queer youth.
In our years as educators, we have spent much of our careers supporting queer youth in
educational and community settings, and the lack of safety that queer youth experience is
insurmountable. According to the 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health,
68% of LGBTQ youth do not feel safe in their community. Additionally, 71% of LGBTQ
youth experience verbal harassment, and 31% of LGBTQ youth thought they would drop
out of school due to a hostile environment. Research shows queer youth experience higher
rates of bullying, harassment, and assault. Conversely, when queer youth find community
and acceptance among peers, their likelihood to attempt suicide drops significantly. While
these statistics are national statistics, Montana ranks as one of the states with the lowest
levels of safety and acceptance for queer people. For instance, Montana has laws that
exclude transgender youth from sports, allow intentional misgendering in public schools,
and create an environment of forcible outing of youth in public schools. The addition of
these laws to previous statistics leads to increasingly worse health and safety outcomes for
queer youth in Montana.
Reflecting back to Bozeman Pride 2023, it was evident that the safety and well-being of
queer people, including our community’s youth, was not taken into consideration. Threats
from white nationalists, such as the White Lives Matter Montana group, were clearly stated
ahead of time and there was nearly no police intervention to protect the local queer
community during the Pride celebration. The lack of police support throughout the day
created an environment where those protesting actively threatened the safety of Bozeman
Pride and committed acts of violence. Ultimately, the lack of police support culminated in
multiple queer youth being harmed during the celebration and a general unsafe and hostile
environment in the community.
Pride is a celebration of connection, community, perseverance, and joy. A time to build
friendship and camaraderie - a time to beat the statistics that weigh heavily on our
community. Montana youth deserve to experience a celebration free of bodily harm,
harassment, and fear. As people who work with and care for the safety of youth, we
demand that the Bozeman Police Department steps up and provides a safe environment for
all people to celebrate Pride.
In community,
Heidi Buzzetti and Jon Jacobs
Pride House 406 Representatives