Health dept. fields questions over billboards promoting services at June Pride event

The St. Clair County Health Department fielded questions from a few county board members in the last week over billboards promoting the agency’s presence at an LGBTQ+ Pride event next month.

And while no major decisions came out of a roughly 20-minute exchange at Thursday’s regular board of commissioners meeting, officials aired views on the merits of public health efforts in the community versus tax dollars going toward nonprofits, particularly the Blue Water Ally Center. The center was also the focus of discussion and wide public support when a small grant in county-administered COVID stimulus funds was marginally approved for the organization last year.

“I believe anybody can make their own personal choices in their lifestyles, but I don’t believe that we should be using tax dollars to push a festival for a set group,” Commissioner Dave Rushing said Thursday.

It was a recurring theme in talks Thursday — courtesies and officials thanking each other for sharing their views — as both Rushing and Commissioner Joi Torello sidestepped direct criticism of the LGBTQ+ community overall and instead emphasized their beliefs that several billboard displays around Port Huron amounted to free advertising for an event they didn’t agree with.

Those billboards refer passers-by to the Blue Water Pride Festival's details of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on June 30 at McMorran Plaza.

But Liz King, the health department’s director and health officer, said the priority was advertising public health and the services, such as vaccines, and referrals they can provide at the event.

“Which is for every community member regardless of political affiliation, race, or lifestyle. Attending community events is a way to engage community members and has been done historically throughout my career,” said King, a long-time health department staffer and nurse of over 20 years. “We call this meeting people where they’re at, and (it) offers a more flexible model of care.”

King said she’d gotten some comments and questions relayed from officials and residents — initially from Torello — via email ahead of Thursday’s meeting. Taking questions on Thursday, she asked commissioners look at the billboards through a public health lens, citing the effort by all parties to listen.

In all, there are three billboards up currently at Military and Griswold streets, at Griswold and 24th streets, and near Interstate 94 and Riverside Drive. Those will remain, health officials said, until the end of this month before another three go up at different locations until the Pride event.

King said each flight of three billboards cost $2,790.

“I did have people reach out to me because it does have an appearance kind of to have ties to sexual orientation and stuff, so people are concerned,” Torello said. “Looking at it through your eyes, yes, I understand exactly what you guys are doing. I just hope that it’s evident to people that if we’re going to give billboards to one, we give billboards to others and not just for the pride festival.”

Torello also asked why advertising versus just appearing at the festival was needed.

King said it wasn’t uncommon to appear at local events and organizations. They visit the ally center, which organizes the Pride festival, quarterly but also visit others, including a community baby shower, the Council on Aging’s senior health fair, multiple vaccine clinics, and stops at places like Odyssey House or Harbor Impact.

She also pointed to the Community Mental Health Recovery Summit, another event where the health department utilized billboards.

“Traditional models in which patients go into a doctor’s office during work hours don’t always work for everyone,” King said. “At different times, if funding allows, promoting our presence at an event via billboards or maybe social media boosts has been done, and it drives individuals to the event, improving the outcome. Never is funding given directly to an agency.”

Rushing said he didn’t have an issue with health officials visiting events and organizations — only promoting the pride event, which he thought would have “a diminishing effect on our children that attend.” And although he didn’t want to micromanage county divisions, he said he’d hope for a different outcome in future, adding, “I think you’re going to increase a marginalized group at taxpayers’ dollars, and I don’t like that reflection on me.”

When asked how marginalized was the LGBTQ+ community, King said, “We know only 42% of people in that group actually have their vaccines administered or seek out services within those four walls. Because a lot of times they don’t feel comfortable coming in. What we like to do is go and offer it there if they’re comfortable, and then, if not, make sure they now we’re a safe place to come into.”

One local resident spoke when allowed later in the meeting for public comment against the health department’s billboards and their mention of the pride festival, calling it offensive.

Commissioner Steve Simasko asked several questions about the funding and whether its use comes before the board — they're federal funds administered by the state — and Commissioner Lisa Beedon spoke in support of the health department’s efforts.

Referring to a comment earlier from Rushing about the department's presences at religions organizations, Beedon told King, “I think that if there are other groups that would like to participate, whether they’re the Baptists or the Catholics or the atheists, if they feel like they need access from the health department at one of their events, I would totally support you and your team being there. And I appreciate what you guys are doing to support those who are maybe underserved or underrepresented.”

On Friday, Dr. Amanda Hurtubise, a founding board member for the ally center, echoed the same sentiment about public health as King and said people in the LGBTQ+ community and other groups who often don’t feel comfortable or are unable to get health care services through traditional settings. And that's something that's a core mission for the ally center.

“They are fulfilling what a health department does, and as a physician, we rely on those kinds of other opportunities to meet people that we can’t get services to,” she said of when asked about the billboards. “… There’s nothing unusual about this. They did this last year, and actually, the ally center, we are very happy to have them. But we certainly didn’t ask them to do this. They recognized this on their own as a beneficial opportunity.”

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Health dept. fields questions over billboards promoting services at June Pride event