RESOLUTION NO.
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, SUPPORTING THE ADOPTION OF A U.S. POSTAGE STAMP
COMMEMORATING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF BAYARD RUSTIN
WHEREAS, Bayard Rustin was a key architect of the 20th Century civil rights movement whose work is today less well-known that that of many of his counterparts in the movement;
WHEREAS, in the 1940s, Rustin planned and implemented the "Journey of Reconciliation" to challenge racial segregation, which became the model for the Freedom Rides of the 1960s;
WHEREAS, Rustin, a Quaker by faith, was deeply committed to the principle of nonviolence and became a key advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the practice of nonviolent civil resistance;
WHEREAS, working with Dr. King, Rustin became the chief organizer of the seminal 1963 March on Washington;
WHEREAS, Rustin was also an openly gay man in a time when LGBTQ relationships were stigmatized and often criminalized in many states, including California;
WHEREAS, on January 21, 1953, Rustin was arrested in Pasadena for engaging in consensual intimacy with another adult male, charged with a violation of the public morals, and sentenced to two months in jail;
WHEREAS, anti-LGBTQ bias forced Rustin to play a largely unseen role in the civil rights movement, including as the organizer of the March on Washington; WHEREAS, Rustin never allowed racist or anti-gay bias to deter his fight for underserved populations and worked tirelessly throughout the mid and late 20th century as a powerful advocate for the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, workers, and communities of color;
WHEREAS, in 2013, President Barack Obama awarded Rustin a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom and remarked that Rustin had been denied his rightful place as a civil rights icon because he was openly gay; Meeting of: 06/05/2023
Agenda Item No. 12A
WHEREAS, in 2020, Governor Gavin Newson pardoned Rustin and formally expunged the 1953 conviction, noting that, "In California and across the country, many laws have been used as legal tools of oppression, and to stigmatize and punish LGBTQ people and communities and warn others what harm could await them for living authentically;"
WHEREAS, a recent wave ofanti-LGBTQ legislation across the United States threatens to erode the advances Rustin and others helped to make possible; and WHEREAS, Rustin's legacy continues to inspire and energize new generations of advocates and activists seeking equality and justice for marginalized communities in Pasadena and beyond.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Pasadena, California that:
SECTION 1. The City of Pasadena celebrates and concurs in the Governor's 2020 pardon of Bayard Rustin.
SECTION 2. The City of Pasadena hereby includes in its 2023-2024 Federal Legislative Platform SUPPORT for the issuance of a commemorative U.S. Postage Stamp in honor of Bayard Rustin.
SECTION 3. That the City of Pasadena URGES the Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee of the U.S. Postal Service to approve the issuance of such a stamp.
Adopted at the regular meeting of the City Council on the _ day of June, 2023 by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
Approved^a&4o Form:
y~A»^
Mj^§le Beal Bagneris
^ity Attorney
Mark Jomsky, CMC
City Clerk