Council members in Eastern Shore town face continuing backlash following comments about LGBTQ+ community

Anti-trans comments from Easton Town Council members over the past several weeks have unified residents to combat discrimination.

At a Town Council meeting in late May, Council President Frank Gunsallus said that the town shouldn’t use taxpayer dollars to purchase new Pride flags, which he said are representative of a “socialist ideology.”

Gunsallus’ remarks ignited a larger conversation between the council and its constituents about bigotry.

“The reality is, I think people are really starting to come together to say, ‘You know what? Discrimination is discrimination’” regardless of whether it’s seeded in race, religion, ethnicity or gender identity, said Tina Grace Jones.

Jones is a transgender woman, is the co-founder of the Delmarva Pride Center, and serves on the Maryland Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs. She was invited to meet with the local chapter of the NAACP on Tuesday evening to discuss the dialogue Gunsallus started that has since infiltrated every council meeting.

“There’s a culture here. There’s a history here of people not wanting to accept diversity, equity or inclusion,” she said.

Easton annually draws hundreds of visitors for its celebrations, including the annual waterfowl and multicultural festivals as well as gatherings for St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Juneteenth and winter holidays.

As Easton’s annual Pride celebration drew near, council meetings grew controversial — not because of the festival, but over banners bearing the Pride flag, each smaller than the speed limit signs planted along Route 50, which runs through the town.

The town had recently procured six new banners — three celebrating Juneteenth and three celebrating Pride month. In a phone interview with The Baltimore Sun, Easton Mayor Megan Cook said each banner cost approximately $50.

During a budget discussion at a May 20 town council meeting, Gunsallus, unprompted, expressed concern about the town’s purchase of the banners.

“I do not believe that is just a standard flag in support of that movement. I believe it is antithetical to America,” he said of the Pride flag. “I believe that is a socialist endeavor parading beyond or behind the guise of a socialist movement, and I think that we should not be using taxpayer funds to support a cause that is antithetical to our country, and our principles, and our constitution.”

Gunsallus’ May 20 remarks created an uproar that Councilman the Rev. Elmer Neal Davis Jr. had forecast.

“We have to be careful, because we’re threading the line here, and I’m not quite sure that you’re prepared or ready for what could happen because of some of the statements you’ve made tonight,” Davis warned during the May 20 council meeting.

At the next council meeting, June 3, the generally empty hearing room overflowed with constituents eager to comment on Gunsallus’ remarks.

At the hearing, Cook said Gunsallus’ comments were “dangerous.”

“As elected leaders of the town, it is our responsibility to foster a climate of inclusion. We’re elected to represent all of our neighbors in our community, but, when such divisive comments are made, it begins to tear at the fabric of our town,” she said at the meeting’s start.

Robert Alvarado, a Washington, D.C., firefighter who lives in Easton, told the council that he has no issue with his tax dollars being spent on Pride banners. A Latino who says he has faced discrimination from civilians and politicians, Alvarado said that “picking and choosing” groups to support or exclude is unfair.

“I protect everyone,” he said. “I don’t show up at a fire and pick and choose who I’m going to pull out of a burning building.”

Some attendees doubled down for Gunsallus, redirecting the crowd to the fiscal aspect of his comments. His wife, Iryna, appeared at the hearing in his support, saying that if Gunsallus “was what he’s accused of,” she “would have never married him.”

Gunsallus’ biggest backer was Councilman David Montgomery, who relayed his thoughts about transgender people for seven minutes.

“This is not an issue about love for homosexuals or any other kinds of individual, this is about the hijacking of a movement by a transsexual ideology,” Montgomery declared.

The crowd began to boo.

“That is why I think this town has no business putting up flags that promote the notion that you will feel better — you will solve your teenage problems — if you decide that you should go out and demand that your sex should be changed,” Montgomery said.

The discussion has now moved beyond the council chamber.

Angel Perez, the founder and CEO of Caroline Pride, said at the June 3 meeting that he and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, a Democrat, privately discussed Gunsallus’ remarks during her recent visit to Caroline County. And Jones filed a complaint through the new Hate Crimes and Hate Bias Incidents Online Portal at the attorney general’s office on June 7.

Jones’ complaint was referred to the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office, which, after conducting an investigation, found the statements to be biased.

But no repercussions will come from the finding.

Under state law, county, city or town council members cannot have civil or criminal actions brought against them for things they say at committee meetings.

The only action taken will be the anonymous recognition of the finding when the Maryland State Police release this year’s Hate Bias report in 2025.

“I will simply go down as a number — one — that they had an incident in Talbot County,”  Jones said.

Easton held its annual Pride celebration from June 13 to 16. Though she said she couldn’t be sure, Jones estimated that 3,500 to 4,000 people attended and spent money in town.

“That’s a good investment of 150 bucks,” she said of the Pride banners.

At a council meeting June 17, Cook and members of Easton’s LGBTQ+ community again packed the chamber, this time to address Montgomery’s remarks.

“The comments made were not only hurtful, but dismissive of the experiences and identities of our LGBTQ community,” Cook said.

Montgomery said he was “chastised” by the mayor and the subject of “attacks” by hearing attendees.

Jones spoke at that hearing, going over the allotted three minutes she was given to address the council.

Jones said that at the meeting’s end she addressed Gunsallus, who offered nothing more than the reminder that each person has only three minutes to speak. Jones said Montgomery “will not speak to me about what’s going on” when approached to schedule a meeting.

“The whole rhetoric that he’s willing to sit down with people and talk is simply not true,” she said.

“Quite honestly, it’s not my goal to make Council President Gunsallus or Councilman Montgomery feel good,” Jones said. “I just want to be left alone.”

The council’s next meeting will be Monday.