At an Iowa city council meeting Monday, Mayor Rob Green listened for about 90 minutes as dozens of residents and council members criticized him for a recent decision.
“I’m not a hateful person,” he said as some attendees laughed.
The laughter stopped when Green admitted to being among “hundreds” in the city “who don’t understand” the LGBTQ+ community.
A few minutes later, Green said he would sign the proclamation as spectators applauded.
“We don’t have to agree in order to love each other and to try to understand each other,” the mayor said.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Green said he didn’t realize his initial decision would leave some residents feeling unsafe.
“One of the mayor’s primary responsibilities is to ensure public safety and welfare, and it was evident from the many comments that I needed to take direct action to ensure the safety and well-being of my constituents in Cedar Falls,” said Green, who has served as mayor since January 2020. “When looking at the decision in those terms, signing was an easy choice to make.”
In March, Cedar Falls’s Human Rights Commission sent a letter to the city council, requesting Green’s signature to declare June as Pride Month. Pride Month is recognized in cities across the country in honor of the Stonewall riots of 1969, when protesters fought back against New York City police officers who stormed a gay club.
Green said this was the first time Cedar Falls had been asked to make the proclamation official. The Human Rights Commission said doing so would raise awareness and provide support for the LGBTQ+ community.
“Pride Month … is an opportunity to take action and engage in dialogue to strengthen alliances, build acceptance and advance equal rights,” the resolution stated.
Green wrote in his April 21 response that his Christian beliefs prevented him from signing the letter. Instead, he offered to allow a council member to sign the proclamation if the city council approved it.
Iowa politicians, officials and residents criticized Green on social media and then packed Cedar Falls’s city hall for Monday night’s meeting. More than 30 residents and officials publicly rebuked Green’s ruling, while one person defended it. Some called on the mayor to resign.
“I do not think that your Christian faith should be on the table with your public duties,” Cedar Falls resident Jeremy Schraffenberger told Green during the meeting. “If it gets in the way, you do not belong in the mayor’s office.”
After more than an hour of public comments, members of the eight-person city council also criticized Green’s decision not to sign the proclamation.
“If I do one thing in four years, it’s going to be to vote for this and to stand up and say Cedar Falls is a great place to be for everyone,” council member Gil Schultz said. “It’s probably not the right place to say it, but if the mayor doesn’t sign this, I do say he should resign.”
Green then responded, saying while he wouldn’t change his beliefs, “we don’t have to agree to care.”
He agreed to sign the proclamation after council members approved it, prompting attendees to applaud.
In his statement this week, Green said he’s learning to juggle his personal beliefs with his responsibilities as mayor.
“We can’t (and shouldn’t) check our faith at the front door, but we should be sensitive about our moral compass and seek to find universal values that apply to everyone,” he wrote, later concluding: “I’m still working through this particular philosophical challenge.”
