As Mayor, Gurrola tried to issue a proclamation declaring June to be LGBT Pride Month and faced a vicious backlash.
Immediately after she made the proclamation in 2013, a three-person cohort within the Porterville City Council began working to undo it. The council rescinded the proclamation with a 3-2 vote in July 2013 and successfully removed Gurrola from the Mayor’s Office by November. They also amended the procedures for issuing proclamations, requiring them to both have a sponsor and go before a council vote. The Porterville public was no better, continually condemning Gurrola and the larger LGBT community during open comment periods at council sessions.
On June 22nd, she joined an illustrious list of individuals to be honored by the LGBT Caucus as Outstanding LGBT Californians. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia was also honored this year, and previous years have seen the likes of Dustin Lance Blake, writer of Academy Award Winning movie Milk, and James Hormel, the first openly gay US Ambassador.
Gurrola accepted the recognition on behalf of LGBT individuals who have suffered from hate crimes.
See here for further details on Gurrola's honor.
Image Credit: Flickr User lewishamdreamer, https://flic.kr/p/gSGVm via (CC BY-NC 2.0