So, the City Council meeting.

I often say that you need to put politicians feet to the fire when they do wrong. Originally, I'd planned to go to really give it to City Council about the removal of the Pride Wall. But after the City went out of their way to let us know they were being proactive about finding ways to bring it back, or at least codify a way that it could go back up, I'd changed my tune.

Now I was going to speak about how the removal was wrong, but if the city was willing to move forward with a way to put it back up, they had my support. And instead of going full Shatner in my comments, I pulled it back to...not quite lighthearted...but a softer approach. Still serious, but softer.

I showed up very early. The sign up was set for 5:30PM, but the meeting was set for 7PM. Even showing up early, I was #12 to speak, which I considered a good sign as that meant others were there speak as well. And then I sat and stayed. Second row. Directly in front of the Mayor.

I do not pass. And in my early days of transition, I used that to my advantage - if I'm going to be seen, I'm going to be seen for exactly who I am and set an example. And since I'm fairly visible, I wanted the council to know that a transwoman was here. And was going to stay the whole time. I was here, and I was present for whatever the next five hours would hold.

The City Council knew what was coming, and worked accordingly, basically tabling all business until an hour before they needed to vacate the building, and devoting the rest of the time to public comment.

Over the next hour and a half, more and more people poured in. Rainbow flags everywhere, rainbow shirts, so many rainbows. I'd made a very specific decision not to have any rainbows flags or trans pins, despite having them. While I'm in support of the Pride Flag, and the Pride Wall, this was personal. And I was here to talk to the people around me about how this affected me. I wore black. This was personal.

Between the first presentations and before the city council meeting in general, the mayor talked with us to thank us for showing up (by this time Axton, the artist who created the Pride Wall and the girls had joined me), again, confirming for me that the city was being proactive in getting this fixed.

The City Council meeting began, and you may remember I was #12, and that a group had likely signed up to speak. This was true, but it was not the folks here for the Pride Wall.

The very first speaker espoused christo-fascist talking points. A push for how we all needed to get good with god, the only power was god and everyone who wasn't Christian better convert before they die cause they'll meet the One True God in the end.

The next set of speakers, while not as christo-fascist basically parroted the same old talking points. The usual "I don't hate Gay People, buuuuut...." speech I would hear so many times that night. I was genuinely surprised by one speaker who was there to hurt, very specifically, the trans community. Their words were chosen not to convince, but to stab, twist the knife and feel good about landing the hits while they could.

And I sat there. And I listened. I heard every word these people were going to say. I wanted to know why, to understand their reasoning, to hear it from the horse's mouth as it were. And what I came away with was, when it wasn't just parroting the same old right wing talking points, it was a healthy dose of "I don't like you, and don't want to see you or anything that reminds me of you."

The two who spoke before me were two children who sadly were being indoctrinated in the same angry hateful world, and in fact, I'm fairly sure four of the speakers were from the same family.

There were fifty-some speakers, and I would say two thirds to three quarters of the speakers were pro-Pride Wall. I was genuinely surprised at how much opposition we had...but at the same time, most of it was from out of town, and we definitely outspoke them.

I spoke with a speech I'd written, honed and edited over three days. These speeches were personal, from the heart, and incredibly powerful. We saw more and more people speak about how that wall meant they were seen, felt supported, and how seeing it came down hurt them deeply.

Eventually the city business had to be done, and comments were suspended for that. IT wasn't so much "this is how we're going to bring it back" as it was "here's our proposals for policies" which were definitely speaking towards finding ways to bring it back without actually saying so.

A few more comments were made after the business was over, up to 15 minutes before we had to leave the building. Still some anti-LGBT comments, but again, overwhelmed by the pro. And a few issues with fireworks, which were a welcome break from the emotion of the night.

At the end of it all there was some talk with the people behind the city council titles, and I felt better about the direction we were all moving towards. But I also saw that the people opposing us were faces I saw about town, that they were outnumbered but numerous, and that there's still a ways to go yet.