THE RAINBOW flag is emblematic of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities (Flickr/Rflag).

By Jim Tortolano

A resolution proclaiming June to be Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Month in Garden Grove was approved by the City Council on Tuesday night.

The vote was 6-0, with Councilman Phat Bui absent.

Councilwoman Kim Nguyen, who proposed the resolution, said the idea came from a trip she and a friend took to her college alma mater – UC Santa Cruz –where she viewed murals about social and political movements.

“We stopped at the Harvey Milk mural,” she recalled, and wondered if Garden Grove had ever made any official recognition of the rights of gays (Milk was a San Francisco county supervisor and gay rights activist who was murdered in 1978).

Finding none, she made the proposal for the resolution. “It comes down to human rights,” she said.

Her remarks came after an earlier testimony by long-time Garden Grove resident Chuck Jones, who recalled the harassment he received as a youth, and the role that a half-dozen gay bars on Garden Grove Boulevard played in the history of the city and the movement for better treatment of homosexuals.

The bars gave him a feeling that “I am not alone,” he said.

Also on Tuesday night, the council heard a report from Fire Chief Todd Schulz, who told of efforts planned by the city fire and police departments to reduce problems with fireworks during the Independence Day holiday period.

Among the measures to be employed are adding more staff to enforce the prohibition on the use of illegal fireworks, having police and fire personnel visit and inspect each block party and expand public education about what’s legal and what’s not in the use of pyrotechnics.