Pasadena Council Opens Meeting With Transgender Day of Remembrance, Tribute to Educator

[UPDATED] Pasadena’s City Council opened its Monday night meeting with tributes that underscored themes of dignity, remembrance and public service. The council recognized Transgender Day of Remembrance and TGI Dignity and Recognition Week, and honored the memory of longtime Pasadena educator Mollie Amada Rodriguez George.

TGI Dignity Week and Transgender Day of Remembrance

Mayor Victor Gordo delivered a city proclamation recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance and TGI (transgender, gender-expansive and intersex) Dignity and Recognition Week.

“Pasadena is a city that prides itself and the people of Pasadena are city that pride itself in equality, embracing people from every part of our world and from every background,” Gordo said. “And so today Pasadena proudly honors the resilience and contributions of transgender non-conforming IEX individuals during TGI. Dignity and Recognition Week and solemnly commemorates the transgender Day of Remembrance. We stand united against hate and affirm our commitment to safety, dignity, and inclusion of all LGBTQ plus community members supporting statewide efforts to foster equity, protect rights, and build safe more compassionate communities.”

Three representatives accepted the proclamation: Camila Camaleón,  president of the San Gabriel Valley LGBTQ Center; community researcher Julian De Jesus; and Los Angeles County LGBTQ+ Commission chair Hector Placencia.

Camaleón told the council the center serves an estimated 120,000 LGBTQIA+ residents in the San Gabriel Valley and said TGI healthcare “is under attack.” She noted that El Monte, Monterey Park, Baldwin Park and La Puente have issued similar recognitions and described TGI healthcare as “lifesaving in a world that continues to erase us.”

Placencia said the council’s action affirmed the humanity of transgender, gender-expansive and intersex residents.

“For folks that are not familiar with transgender and gender expansive and intersex people, we are simply a different type of existence,” he said. “There are more than two ways of existing in this world and we recognize the importance of being able to protect every single one of us that lives in the San Gabriel Valley. Gracias for this recognition and for continuing to stand with transgender gender expansive and intersex communities in this time.”

Council adjourned in memory of Mollie Amada Rodriguez George

Gordo then announced the council would adjourn in memory of longtime local educator and advocate Mollie Amada Rodriguez George, offering her biography from the dais. Born in San Francisco to a family that fled the Mexican Revolution, she was the third of eight children and one of the first bilingual teachers in the Pasadena Unified School District. She taught first grade at Hamilton Elementary School for more than 30 years.

She later worked for the district’s inner group education department, running backyard summer schools across Pasadena. Her program became the foundation of El Centro de Social, a civil-rights and community service organization that operated from 1968 through 2015. Gordo described her as a longtime District 5 resident who “lived the life of a quiet service, an effective service.”

Gordo also acknowledged her son, Assistant City Manager Nick Rodriguez, saying he “continues to contribute greatly to this city in the spirit of community spirit and love of Pasadena that I’m sure was instilled by his mother.”