Diversity Council addresses Pride Month panel discussion and future discussions as well as events

Dave Rackliffe, Diversity Council member, and Sebastian Panioto, City Council liaison, at Tuesday's Diversity Council meeting which discussed the council's first panel discussion and planned for the next one. | Photo Donovan Wilson

Posted By: Donovan Wilson July 1, 2023

By Donovan Wilson

At its monthly meeting earlier this week, the Diversity Council addressed its Pride Month Panel discussion held the previous week, age requirements for Diversity Council members and upcoming events.       

Council chair Jaymie Bianca opened the floor for an open discussion on how the council members thought the panel discussion went.

The discussion was held June 20 and included both zoom as well as in-person attendees. Bianca led the meeting virtually. Council members Marcus Patton and David Rackliffe attended in person. Council members who were absent included Alison Rae Willette, Jeffrey Israel and Mohammed Aziz. City council liaison Sebastian Paniotto was absent.

Panelists included Michael Tingley, the city’s Drug Free Communities Project Coordinator, and Julianna Iacovelli, LGBTQ+ activist and high school teacher, as well as two members of the public.

During the review of the discussion at Tuesday’s regular council meeting, Rackliffe stated that he thought the panel was very well done and had a lot of great information, but he was disappointed in the turn out being only five people, three of which were Diversity Council members.

Panioto said that since the Diversity Council now has a youth coalition, its members might be able to spread the news to the schools and boost attendance for future panels.

When discussing when the next panel should be and what it should be on, the decision appeared to be unanimous between Bianca, Rackliffe and Panioto, although not final — religious diversity with possible interest in having representatives from different prominent religions.

The time discussed was potentially October due to summer being a time for a lot of people to be traveling and September being a time for people going back to school and work.

“If anything, timely comes about, we can marinate on ideas,” said Panioto.

A major point of discussion for the council has been the age limit on council members. The members believed the age limit to be 18, but it turns out that members can be younger as long as they meet council member requirements like only missing three meetings in one calendar year.

Panioto did bring up the fact that the members being too young to vote in an election might cause an issue and the council overall agreed to look into it further.

Autism Acceptance night at the Bristol Blues was brought up when discussing upcoming events and that fell on June 28. Also discussed is participation of the council at the West End Association’s Rockwell Festival in August.

Diversity Council member Willette brought up the Brians Angels benefit concert at Crystal Bee’s on July 22.

Willette also stepped forward as a candidate for the position of vice chair on the council. Bianca said that in July’s meeting they will have Willette give an official speech and there will be a formal vote as well.

The Diversity Council meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month, at 6:30 p.m. in Meeting Room 3 at the Bristol Public Library, while City Hall is being renovated.

For a link the Diversity Council’s Pride Day Panel Discussion, click here. Use passcode: A1P^jr!&. The video of the discussion will be available for 45 days from the date of the discussion, which was June 20.

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