By Linda Taaffe

What was considered too divisive to recognize for a day in Los Altos is being celebrated for a month just a few steps away in Mountain View.

Mountain View Mayor Matt Neely invited students from the gay-straight alliances at Los Altos and Mountain View high schools to city hall Tuesday night where the council was scheduled to proclaim June Gay Pride Month in Mountain View to coincide with National Gay Pride Month.

The proclamation is a ceremonial document acknowledging the gay community’s struggle for acceptance and equal rights, Neely said.

Students from Los Altos had asked the Los Altos City Council two weeks earlier to issue a proclamation recognizing Tuesday as Gay Pride Day in Los Altos but the council rejected the request saying the topic was too politically divisive.

Neely, an assistant principal at Mountain View High, said his goal is to make all students feel safe and supported.

“This is absolutely a critical human rights issue,” Neely said. “Mountain View is a diverse community led by people who are gay, straight, black, white, lesbian … We really need to push the concept of diversity and pride for all citizens.

“It was surprising to me and frustrating,” he said about the Los Altos council’s rejection of Gay Pride Day. “We have (residents) that don’t feel welcomed in the community where they live.”

Los Altos leaders seem to tolerate the gay community, whereas Mountain View’s are proud of it, Neely added.

“Hurray for the Mountain View City Council,” said parent Ruth Gibbs, an advisor for the gay-straight alliance at Los Altos High. Recognizing the students shows that the community values them, she added.

“I only wish the Los Altos City Council was as gracious, warm and welcoming. I feel the students are still shell-shocked over the (Los Altos) decision,” she said.

This is not the first time Mountain View has acknowledged June as Gay Pride Month. The council voted unanimously last year to pass a similar resolution on the recommendation of Councilwoman Rosemary Stasek just days after Los Altos declared June 7 the city’s first Gay Pride Day.

In Mountain View, a resolution requires a vote. A proclamation is approved at the discretion of the mayor.

The Los Altos council voted 3-1 against the second annual Gay Pride Day last month when the topic came up again this year. New city guidelines put in place earlier this year prohibit the city from making proclamations that the council considers too politically divisive or that could promote racial, sexual or religious discrimination.

The meeting attracted residents both for and against the passage of Gay Pride Day.

A group of Los Altos merchants said they planned to wear rainbow ribbons and display flags Tuesday in honor of the students.

Gibbs said students will be back again next year to ask Los Altos to recognize June 7 as Gay Pride Day.