This move by the Bonney Lake mayor ‘opens the door for more people’ to live there

Bonney Lake Mayor Michael McCullough read a proclamation declaring Bonney Lake a city of diversity, equity and inclusion July 12.

In an interview with The News Tribune, McCullough explained that the proclamation was based on a Pride Month proclamation from the year prior that was read by the previous mayor. With the proclamation last month, McCullough said he wanted to make sure all people in Bonney Lake were represented.

“It was brought to my attention from various other citizens of Bonney Lake for me to consider and it was based off of last year’s proclamation, prior to me taking office,” McCullough told The News Tribune. “… I had citizens who were concerned that that was just going to fall by the wayside and the way we worded this was in a more general sense as far as including everybody. I didn’t want to leave out any particular group.”

As opposed to other proclamations that have been read, this one was solely brought by McCullough. It was not a council proclamation.

One of the main points of this proclamation is to promote inclusion, McCullough said. He said making Bonney Lake more inclusive is one of his goals while mayor.

“I am trying to get Bonney Lake, on many levels, to be a lot more inclusive and that was just a small step in the direction I want to take Bonney Lake over the next four years,” McCullough told The News Tribune.

Five residents of Bonney Lake spoke at the meeting about the proclamation. Of the five, only one was in support of it. Residents who spoke against the proclamation expressed that they saw no reason for it and argued that it divides people.

Bonney Lake resident Michelle Bratt spoke at the meeting in support of the proclamation and said she felt it was important to share her opinion given the other responses. Bratt said she lives in a diverse neighborhood in the city and explained that she feels the need to advocate for those who may not feel comfortable doing it for themselves.

“I think that it’s really important that the experiences of people in marginalized or minority communities are shared by those people because it is their experience and their perspective, but I’m happy to advocate for other groups just because they’re underrepresented and they are often overlooked and many times, they are not comfortable speaking in a public forum where they might have to give their name and address and possibly face backlash for their different perspective,” Bratt told The News Tribune. “So if I’m able to do that then I want to be able to uplift those voices as much as I can.”

Bonney Lake resident Sara Perkins was not in attendance at the meeting, but she heard about what happened from Bratt.

Perkins, who is queer and disabled, expressed that the proclamation is important because of experiences she and some of her friends have had.

“It’s important to me personally because of my experiences as well as those of my friends and chosen family that also live here in Bonney Lake,” Perkins told The News Tribune.

McCullough said he received many emails from those in favor of the proclamation after the reading.

“We’re in the 21st century and Bonney Lake is growing pretty fast,” he told The News Tribune. “… we have more diverse families moving into our communities and we need to make them feel welcomed as opposed to feeling threatened,” McCullough told The News Tribune.

McCullough believes cities should announce their intention to be inclusive. He thinks doing so will help Bonney Lake grow and welcome more people to move there.

“It opens the door for more people to consider living here,” he said.