HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-15-25 Public Comment - J. Seger - Public Comment - Pride FlagFrom:Judah Seger
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment - Pride Flag
Date:Tuesday, July 15, 2025 7:57:43 AM
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City Commissioners,
My name is Judah Seger, I am a renter and worker here in Bozeman, and I am queer.
Thank you for your time and for revisiting this subject. I deeply appreciate it.
I have been physically attacked, threatened with vehicular assault for holding my partner’s
hand in public, and had being gay used against me for blackmail.
We need to be seen so people can see our humanity and stop committing horrendous andviolent acts against us. The pride flag is about visibility. I don’t feel the need to list the
specific rights we’ve been denied, except that we have been denied an existence where we canbe ourselves without potentially deadly consequences. We are specifically targeted—the
events that have happened to me and various others have happened. I am fortunate enough tohave survived what happened to me, which is why I am writing to say we need to be seen so
this violence can stop.
As a queer person, there are so many regular actions most people wouldn’t second guess thatmake me feel like I constantly have to check over my shoulder. There are things I have to do
as safety precautions that the general population wouldn’t even consider. Things like holdingmy partner’s hand publicly, or going into a public bathroom, or crossing a street. I just want to
live my life without fearing for my safety, and seeing pride flags significantly helps with thatboth by helping me and by potentially deterring anyone with ill intentions.
As a testament to how pride flags can drastically help the 2SLGBTQIA+ community as well
as other marginalized groups, my life was greatly changed when I was a student at MSU. Ididn’t grow up in an accepting environment and that was all I knew, so when I went to MSU I
still carried the debilitating fear of harassment and lack of safety with me. But in a lot of thewindows to all the offices and rooms in my building, there were pride flag stickers and signs.
A year into college, I was faced with a bad situation that could have escalated and gone verybadly, but I felt safe enough to reach out to my professors and other faculty. My situation got
reported and I was able to safely leave that situation. Had those pride flags not been there, Imost likely would not have reached out and my life would be much worse if I were even alive
at all. It was not an easy journey, but thanks to the pride flags, professors and faculty at MSU,I have a much greater life that I’m very happy to be living now.
The main focus of the situation was not even about my sexuality and identity, and I still took
that into consideration when talking about the situation. In other events where I could havereported what has happened to me, I have not felt safe enough or that I would be believed and
taken seriously, much less anything would actually be done about it.
Having the pride flags at MSU not only saved my life, but it permitted me to learn and be
myself. As I heard professors speak positively about me and other queer people—and evenspeak about their own lives as queer people—I physically felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I
remember it was like a switch where I could suddenly concentrate in class rather than being onguard all the time. The stress of living in a society where we feel unwanted and face
aggression inhibits so many fundamental things, even basic things like learning. Being in anaccepting and welcoming community saved my life.
Since we’ve lacked the visibility we so greatly need and desire, we’ve been alienated so the
perception is that we are abnormal people with abnormal lives, but that’s not true. I grew uphere in Bozeman and enjoy being outdoors, I did 4H as a kid, I dealt with all the strange
situations that high school brings, and I went to MSU and got my degree. Now I have a regularjob, a partner and a dog, and I spend my time outside, birding, and making music. I’m even
writing this out rather than speaking in person because my dog will need a little more exercisetonight so I can’t attend the meeting.
To sum things up, hate crimes happen here in Bozeman to people like me, and pride flags
could be the reason those get reported or better yet prevented. Pride flags help us to feel andbe safer, and generally improve our quality of life. We are just regular people, and we want
our existence to be recognized rather than erased.
If the pride flag isn’t hung, it’s permitting the violence we experience to go on by beingcomplicit with erasing us, furthering the narrative that we aren’t normal people and that
violence is an okay way to treat us. It’s causing your community members to feel isolated andstressed. It’s also working to undo the progress that has happened with Bozeman’s City Hall
hanging the pride flag for the last few years.
I urge you to approve the pride flag as an official city flag, and ask you to take a stand forpeople like me. It has hung before and I am so grateful for that, and for all of you taking your
time to review this issue again.
Once again, thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Judah Seger