OPINION | Council needs to answer ugly behavior after Pride-vote meeting

Queer Northshore ‘no’ vote does not justify confrontation

Editorial

An ugly thing happened at the last City Council meeting.

This reporter was there to witness it, and I reported it to the best of my ability.

The City Council voted 3-1 to approve a special event permit for “Queer Northshore” to hold its second annual “Pride Northshore Parade” on the Mandeville Lakefront in June.

Councilman at Large Jason Zuckerman had the audacity to vote against it, although it still passed, 3-1. (District III Councilwoman Jill Lane, formerly McGuire, was absent.)

But who does he think he is, going around voting on things as he sees fit? Where was the city attorney when we needed her to step up and tell Mr. Zuckerman how he is supposed to vote?

You can’t let freedom just ring willy nilly. Democracy will never survive people voting their conscience.

But seriously folks…

Let’s explore why someone would vote against a parade by an organization whose stated purpose is to bring awareness to their struggle for equal rights, especially after that certain someone voted in favor of it last year.

Transgender ideology objections

We would have to start with the fact that most Conservatives see the LGBTQ+ movement as having been hijacked by what they feel is a radical transgender ideology.

According to numerous polls, including one from Gallup, most Americans — not just Conservatives — oppose the notion of biological males competing as “girls” against biological females in grade school, high school, and collegiate sports. Moreover, they disapprove of biological males sharing locker rooms and bathrooms with their underage daughters. The issue exploded in the months leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election which saw Donald Trump win in a landslide.

So if you ask most Conservatives, their opposition to this group has little or nothing to do with gay, lesbian or bisexual.

Queer Northshore’s co-founder is a transgender Democrat named Mel Manuel who ran unsuccessfully for Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District against Steve Scalise in 2024. Manuel, who campaigned on a platform of abortion rights, universal basic income, and gun control, advocated for transgender rights during the campaign, once even receiving a Testosterone injection on a video posted to the internet.

Naturally, this opposition from Conservatives reflected in polling is going to manifest itself as pushback to a self-ascribed LGBTQ+ organization with a transgender-rights activist organizer and their “Pride Northshore Parade” in Mandeville’s mostly Republican, historic M04 precinct.

That’s it in a nutshell, whether you like it or not. I’m just the one telling you how it is.

Pro-Palestinian connections

Another challenge for Queer Northshore in a predominantly Conservative neighborhood is their perceived association with local pro-Palestinian groups. Pro-Palestinian supporters with their banners, flags and symbols (watermelon logos and keffiyehs) marched in the 2024 “Queer Northshore Parade” which was issued a permit as “CELEBRATION OF PRIDE MONTH” and not a pro-Palestinian event. Most Conservatives are staunchly pro-Israel when it comes to the Israel-Palestinian war that’s currently in a fragile ceasefire.

Posts on multiple Instagram accounts — @northshore4palestine, @queernorthshore, @qtcap_nola and @louisianaalliesforpalestine — promoted last year’s parade as a pro-Palestinian event or boasted of their participation in the parade afterwards.

Americans almost daily see images on TV and social media of pro-Palestinian groups on college campuses in other parts of the country blocking Jewish students from attending their classes, burning American flags and other actions that Conservatives typically find offensive. So this association with local pro-Palestinian groups is seen as a tough pill to swallow for someone with Jewish lineage.

Mr. Zuckerman is an ethnic Jew, who recently converted to Catholicism.

Zuckerman’s vote no surprise

And on February 27th, he was the only council member who voted against the 2025 “Pride Northshore Parade” permit.

Progressive Democrats would say he’s a bigot. Republicans would say he did what he was elected to do.

He was twice endorsed by the St. Tammany Republican Parish Executive Committee (RPEC) in 2020 and 2024.

So was Mr. Zuckerman’s “no” vote really all that surprising to anyone? He gave no explanation nor did anyone ask him.

So why would several of the 20 or so Queer Northshore supporters who attended the February 27th meeting feel it was necessary to wait for Mr. Zuckerman outside? They had filed out of Council Chambers after their victory over 15 minutes earlier. Most of those inside the building thought they had left after their victory, which, by the way, is typical for most organizations after their special event permits are approved. These meetings can be very long.

But as we would learn later, they had in fact not gone anywhere. Most of them were still hanging out near the front entrance while three or four others waited by Mr. Zuckerman’s vehicle at the side entrance. They were observed for some time from inside the building before adjournment. That’s why the police officer escorted him to his vehicle. It was out of an abundance of caution.

Don’t lie in wait

In today’s world, it’s not a good idea to wait in the dark for an elected official after a controversial vote. Even if you have no ill intentions, your actions could easily be misinterpreted.

And it has nothing to do with this group in particular or its supporters. This advice goes for everyone, whether you’re wearing LGBTQ+ shirts, red MAGA hats, keffiyehs, kippahs, or you’re just pissed off they voted to raise your water rates.

Don’t do it. You’re inviting trouble.

Perhaps their intentions were to engage in a “discussion” with Mr. Zuckerman about his earlier vote. Maybe they wanted to express their admiration for his unwavering commitment to his beliefs despite being different from their own. Or perhaps it was something worse.

Who knows. Fortunately, we didn’t have to find out, as Mr. Zuckerman made it safely to his vehicle with the police officer at his side, as the three or four individuals did a simultaneous about-face.

But what happened next is a real head-scratcher. Some of these individuals apparently thought it would be a good idea to make a few allegedly vulgar hand gestures and then follow Mr. Zuckerman after he left in his vehicle. The police officer saw it and called Mr. Zuckerman, advising him which route to take in order to determine if he was really being followed. After making several turns from Lambert Street to Lafitte Street, ending near Lakeshore Drive, the car in question quit following when Mr. Zuckerman made an abrupt turn onto a side street, according to his account of the incident.

They got the license plate number, but it was Mr. Zuckerman who opted not to have the police take action.

Despite what some folks have posted on social media, this incident really did happen. I saw the whole thing.

Everyone needs to understand, this is Mandeville, not Seattle, not San Francisco, and not New York City. This type of intimidating behavior — even if it could be explained away as an unfortunate series of coincidences — is not acceptable.

Council response needed

What happened to Mr. Zuckerman needs to be unequivocally addressed by the City Council, either via resolution, a statement from the mayor, or both.

At least Mandeville Police Chief Todd Schliem immediately stepped up and issued the following:

“Our public servants are fulfilling a sacred civic duty to serve our wonderful community. No one should ever be subjected to threats or intimidation, especially a public official over a disagreement with a public policy position.”

You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.

But now we’re hearing that the other RPEC-endorsed councilman at large, Mr. Discon, has been sending congratulatory response emails to Queer Northshore supporters. Maybe he’ll speak out against what happened to Mr. Zuckerman while he’s at it. That would be very Republican of him, assuming he intends to seek the RPEC endorsement again in 2028.

If this mob behavior is met with silence or timidity, you’re only inviting more of it, regardless of which group it is. Worse still, you’re signaling to your voters that they should remain silent themselves, lest they face similar retribution.

If this City Council doesn’t acknowledge the events that transpired and publicly defend their fellow council member, then what good are they to anyone?

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