Colorado Springs – The City Council voted Tuesday to create a Cultural Diversity Advisory Board, but rejected pleas from residents to appoint representatives of the disabled and the gay and lesbian communities.
Darryl Glenn, the city’s only black councilman, proposed forming a group that would provide input on diversity issues and the city’s strategic plan. Glenn said the cultural-diversity board would focus mostly on economic development and strategic plans, but minorities, often underrepresented in decision-making, would join in the process.
“I made a commitment, when I was at the Black Leadership Forum last year, to make a difference. I think it is important that we at least start the dialogue,” Glenn said.
The makeup of the 13-member board calls for representatives from ethnic minority groups, business groups, a neighborhood group, an educator and at-large members from each of the city’s four council districts.
Ryan Acker, director of the Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Community Center, said he is disappointed that the council did not include a representative from the gay community.
“One of the things that council fails to recognize is that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community is extremely underrepresented. By any means by which our community has attempted to speak, or be involved in the political process, we have been denied.”
Citizens Project, a group that advocates for diversity and educational and religious freedom, asked the council to include members from the gay and the disabled communities and an interfaith organization.
“Every single person can apply to be on this board. I’m not, during the interview process, going to ask: ‘Where do you fit in this process?’ That’s not an appropriate question,” Glenn said. “My main concern is that the people who sit on this board understand that we have a strategic plan and that we are looking for productive ways to improve the city of Colorado Springs.”
The council voted 8-0 in favor of the board.
Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera, a candidate for Congress in the 5th District, supported creating the board but said it should be called the Colorado Springs Strategic Plan and Cultural Diversity Board, in order to reflect its primary focus. He said candidates will be interviewed about their experience and what they bring to the board, and not about any other issues, including sexual orientation.
Rivera recently refused to sign a proclamation celebrating the gay community center’s 25th anniversary because the center supports gay marriage.
Previously, city officials have battled over providing same-sex partner benefits. And in the 1990s, the city’s Human Rights Commission disbanded because of controversy over gay-rights issues.
Vice Mayor Larry Small said anyone could apply for the new board.
“There is no representation here that the people who make up this board will be of any religion, any sex, any gender, any orientation, or have any characteristics that set them apart from anybody else,” he said.
Jessie Brown Jr., pastor of the AME Church in Colorado Springs, applauded the council for taking an initial step to ensure, as the community grows, that it is “an inclusive one.”
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com.
