You have the power to make a difference right here in your own community. If you have been following this story and feeling helpless, like there is nothing you can do, this is your call to action. This is your moment to turn that frustration, that heartache, and that sense of injustice into something real and tangible.

By signing this petition, you are standing alongside your LGBTQ+ neighbors, their families, and everyone who believes that Wenatchee should be a city that keeps its promises. You do not have to attend a meeting, make a speech, or put yourself out there in ways that feel uncomfortable or unsafe. You simply have to add your name, and in doing so, you join a growing chorus of community members who are saying loudly and clearly that this is not okay.

This letter has already been emailed to the Mayor, Mike Poirier; the City Council; the city clerk; Out NCW; NCW Equity Alliance; and other nonprofits and news organizations. Every signature that follows makes that message louder, clearer, and impossible to ignore.

                      This is your community. This is your moment. Add your name and let your voice be heard.

April 27, 2026 

To: Mayor Mike Poirier and Wenatchee City Council Members: Jose Luis Cuevas, Doug Miller, Top Rojanasthien, Travis Hornby, Charlie Atkinson, Linda Herald, and Mayra Navarro Gomez

Wenatchee City Hall | 301 Yakima St. | Wenatchee, WA 98807-0519

Regarding: Turning Point USA Banner Approval During Pride Month

Dear Mayor Poirier and Members of the Wenatchee City Council,

I am writing as a concerned citizen of Wenatchee to formally object to the City's decision to allow Turning Point USA Vector College to display banners during Pride Month.

In addition to significant concerns about how the city's updated banner application process was executed, I am deeply troubled by the City's apparent willingness to disregard its own official proclamations naming June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month in both 2020 and 2024. While I understand that the City may feel bound by its established application process, I urge each of you to closely review whether that process was adequately followed and reconsider the substantial negative impact this decision will have.

Application Concern #1: Timeline 

I understand that the NCW Equity Alliance submitted their banner application and paid the fee on March 25th, but their application was rejected because the artwork was not attached. Turning Point USA Vector College submitted its application on March 26th, one day later, and was approved on March 27th. NCW Equity Alliance was not notified of a competing application and was simply asked to submit the artwork “at their earliest convenience." They submitted a photo of the existing banners (which had been approved by the City in prior years) on March 30.

As a result, the NCW Equity Alliance, which has participated in this banner program since 2024 and carried forward a proud tradition first established by the Garcia Foundation in 2021, was turned away despite submitting its application on March 25th. Turning Point USA Vector College, which applied on March 26th, was approved by March 27th. NCW Equity Alliance has a demonstrated history of participating in this program in good faith and following established procedures.

These timelines raise reasonable questions about how the application process was followed. It is common practice to allow any applicant who has already paid a fee to submit any outstanding items, if they do so promptly, especially if that applicant has applied in good faith. It appears that NCW Equity Alliance was not afforded this opportunity. Clarification from the City regarding how these applications were reviewed and prioritized would help ensure transparency and public confidence in the process.

Application Concern #2: Eligibility & Nonprofit Status 

The successful applicant's forms were submitted under the name "Turning Point USA Vector College," an entity that does not appear to be a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the IRS. The City's banner program requires applicants to be registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations or neighborhood organizations. This application may not have met that threshold on its own merits.

In addition, the City's Downtown Banner Program application clearly states that banners must serve one of the following purposes: promoting a special event permitted by the City, open to the public, and located in Wenatchee; celebrating or drawing attention to seasonal activities; or promoting a public awareness campaign. The banners submitted by Turning Point USA Vector College do none of these things. "America's Family Month" is neither a City-permitted special event, a public awareness campaign, nor a seasonal activity.

The NCW Equity Alliance was disqualified over the late submission of artwork. It would be deeply inconsistent to hold one applicant to a strict procedural standard while overlooking a fundamental eligibility question for another. The City should investigate this discrepancy and apply its standards equally, consistently, and transparently.

Application Concern #3: Political Expression 

The banner application submitted by Keyon Lawter, president of the Turning Point USA chapter at Vector College of Grace City Church, reflects a form of political expression, even if not explicitly labeled as such. Turning Point USA's own organizational materials describe it as a "conservative student organization" that "aims to promote the principles of limited government, free markets, and fiscal responsibility among high school and college students." 

While the City's banner application states that "no political content may appear on any part of the banner," the proposed imagery and wording raise questions about whether that standard is being met in practice. Phrases such as "Freedom" and "America's Family Month," presented in red, white, and blue with stars and stripes, are widely understood in contemporary civic discourse as politically coded rather than neutral decorative language.

In particular, "America's Family Month" is commonly used in public discourse by conservative groups to reframe Pride Month, shifting emphasis away from LGBTQ+ visibility. Even if not formally defined as a political slogan within the application, its use in this context may reasonably be interpreted as participating in this ongoing public debate.

It is critical that we are all aware of who Turning Point USA Vector College is. This is not simply a conservative student organization with differing opinions. Turning Point USA is a national organization with a well-documented record of promoting views that are harmful to many members of our community. Both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center have raised concerns about Turning Point USA's close association with far-right extremist figures and documented reports of discriminatory rhetoric within some affiliated chapters and leadership contexts. The organization's founder has made public statements about LGBTQ+ individuals that have been widely criticized by civil rights organizations and advocates as dehumanizing.

In addition, Vector College describes itself as an "anti-woke Christian college." Its affiliated organization, Grace City Church, has been publicly reported to have engaged in political advocacy efforts in Wenatchee, including participating in a 2021 school board meeting disruption that resulted in elected board members leaving the building.

Taken together, these details indicate that the applicant is not a neutral or purely apolitical community entity. Rather, it reflects a politically active religious organization utilizing a student chapter affiliation to secure visibility in a public civic space during a month formally recognized by the City as LGBTQ+ Pride Month. In that context, the proposed banners may reasonably be understood as carrying a civic and ideological message, even when presented through patriotic or broadly positive language. Given the serious questions raised about this application regarding political content and the nature of the applying organization, the City has both the authority and the obligation to conduct a thorough review of this approval before any banners are installed. Anything less would be a disservice to the residents of Wenatchee and a failure to uphold the City's own stated standards.

Community Impact 

The City of Wenatchee has officially proclaimed June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month on two separate occasions, first under Mayor Frank Kuntz in 2020, and again under you, Mayor Poirier, in June of 2024. These proclamations were public commitments, made on behalf of this city, affirming that Wenatchee recognizes and values its LGBTQ+ residents. These were not symbolic gestures; they were promises.

Mayor Poirier, you yourself have stated that "Pride Month is an opportunity to celebrate the harmony in which we coexist." With respect, there is nothing harmonious about what just took place. NCW Equity Alliance applied in good faith, was turned away on a technicality, and a national organization with an explicit and well-documented record of opposing LGBTQ+ rights was handed that same space during the very month you described as one of harmony and coexistence. Those two things cannot be reconciled.

It is difficult to consider Turning Point USA Vector College's decision to specifically target the month of June for their banner campaign and not see it for what it is: a deliberate effort to push out Pride Month visibility and replace it with messaging that is hostile to the very community this city has twice pledged to support. The City of Wenatchee should not be the vehicle for this effort.

Furthermore, this is not simply a procedural dispute. The practical outcome of this decision is that a national organization known for its opposition to LGBTQ+ rights will have prominent visibility in our community during a month specifically dedicated to celebrating and affirming LGBTQ+ people. That is painful. For LGBTQ+ residents of the Wenatchee Valley, including youth, families, and elders who already navigate significant challenges in a region with limited affirming resources, this sends a message that their dignity and belonging in this community are negotiable.

As a community member who lives and works here in Wenatchee, I witness firsthand the fear and anxiety that many LGBTQ+ residents and their allies are carrying right now. They are afraid of what is happening nationally, afraid of how they are being talked about in public spaces, and afraid of whether their own hometown sees them as worthy of belonging. These are not abstract fears. They come up in everyday conversations, in the way people carry themselves, in the things they hesitate to say out loud, and in the very real toll that feeling unwelcome takes on their mental health and sense of self. These are our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends, and our community members, and they are watching how this city responds.

When the City allows a banner from an organization that actively opposes LGBTQ+ rights to fly during Pride Month, especially when a local organization focused on equity and inclusion was turned away on a technicality, it does not feel like a neutral administrative outcome to these people. It feels like a message. And that message matters.

I recognize that the City may feel bound by its established application process, and I respect the importance of consistent and transparent procedures. Processes matter. However, they are ultimately in service of people. In this case, the individuals most affected are some of the most vulnerable members of our community, for whom public messaging during Pride Month carries real emotional and psychological weight.

I ask you, Mayor Poirier and members of the City Council, to look beyond the procedural surface of this decision and consider the full weight of what it means to the people it affects. The LGBTQ+ community and their allies are not asking for special treatment; we are asking for fairness, consistency, and for our city to stand behind the promises it has made. There is still an opportunity to do the right thing. A thorough review of this application, consistent enforcement of the City's own eligibility standards, and a meaningful effort to ensure that the NCW Equity Alliance can display its banners this June would go a long way toward restoring confidence that Wenatchee is truly a city for all of its residents.

I respectfully urge the City to take these actions:

•  Rescind the approval of Turning Point USA Vector College's banner application
• Reinstate the NCW Equity Alliance's application and allow them to display Pride banners in June
• Conduct a formal review of the banner program eligibility process
• Issue a public statement reaffirming the City's commitment to its Pride Month proclamations
• Reform the banner application process to ensure consistent and transparent enforcement going forward

Respectfully,

A member of this community and other supporters