OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Ottawa County's Department of Public Health is under fire from county commissioners for attending LGBTQ Pride events they say encourage sexualizing activities.
"I really hope that if people look at our public health department, our Children's Advocacy Resource Center as public trust, that we're not supporting events that would put our most innocent and naïve at risk," Commissioner Roger Belknap said.
One commissioner referred to things like drag shows that occur at some festivals as "grooming."
Ottawa County Department of Public Health's Health Officer Adeline Hambley, who is currently in court to defend her job, has now responded to those concerns.
Such community outreach, she said, is her job.
"It's important to understand that the health officer has statutory requirements - a responsibility and a duty under the law to prevent disease and protect the health of the community," Hambley said.
The department's purpose at Pride events, she said, has been to distribute COVID vaccines, various testing and mpox vaccines, as mpox waves in the last year have disproportionately affected the LGBTQ community.
"The health officer role and the Ottawa County Health Department is not political," Hambley said. "It's science based, medically based fact based, so we can serve everyone in the community and protect health, prevent disease and keep our community healthy."
Being present in the community for all, including LGBTQ residents, she said, falls directly into that mission.
"These are members of our community, they're people in our community whose health and wellness matter, and that we're going to provide our services on equal platform as we do for any other members of our community that we serve," Hambley said.
Hambley said her department has also attended events for Juneteenth and local kindergarten roundups, among others, to also provide differing health supplies and education based on the audience.
The Department was in attendance at Grand Haven Pride and is planning on being at Holland Pride on Saturday.
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