Description
CAMBRIDGE – On April 13, 2017 at 6 pm, Mayor E. Denise Simmons and the LGBTQ+ Commission will be co-hosting Come Out of the Margins: A Cambridge Town Hall Meeting in the Sullivan Chamber inside City Hall. This meeting will be an opportunity for people from all across the Cambridge community to share their concerns with City leaders about the direction the country has taken in recent months, and to discuss the ways in which our residents can pull together and take action in the weeks, months, and years ahead. According to Mayor Simmons, the appetite for meetings of this nature has been steadily growing in recent weeks.
“Any time there’s a new federal administration, we expect a period of adjustments and getting used to new priorities emanating from Washington,” explained Mayor Simmons. “This year has been different, though, and we have seen many people exhibiting very real fear over what they see coming out of the capital. Those of us who have historically been marginalized by society at one time or another – women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, immigrants – had started to feel somewhat more embraced in recent decades. Now, so many of us hold a genuine fear that efforts are being made to roll back the tolerance and the progress we had started to see. This Town Hall meeting will be an opportunity for us to discuss those fears, and to discuss what measures Cambridge can take to protect our residents from some of these unwelcome federal initiatives.” Mayor Simmons also stated that this will be part of an ongoing effort for Cambridge to serve as an example for other communities on what measures they can consider taking in this new national climate.
Mayor Simmons and her co-hosts in the City’s LGBTQ+ Commission are aware of a broad spectrum of concerns that may arise at this meeting: from the prospect of federal funding being cut off from Cambridge due to its status as a Sanctuary City, to concerns about dismantling the Affordable Care Act, to concerns about increased bigotry and hate crimes directed at immigrants and people of color, to concerns about more hostile attitudes being directed toward women, seniors, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. This meeting will be an opportunity for people to speak directly to City leaders, and to begin formulating ideas for how Cambridge can and should navigate through the next four years.
This Town Hall meeting shall be recorded for archive and for future broadcast. All are welcome to attend.
For more information, please visit http://www.cambridgema.gov/mayor, email dsimmons@cambridgema.gov, or call the Mayor’s Office at 617.349.4321.
Town Hall Meeting flyer.