Photos shared by the city's Facebook page show her posing alongside officials at City Hall, recognizing March as Women's History Month, April as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and May as Mental Health Awareness Month.
But on June 20, when city commissioner Mary Molina-Macfie read aloud a proclamation joining municipalities nationwide in formally declaring June as LGBTQ Pride Month, the mayor's middle seat on the dais was empty.
A City of Weston spokesperson says Mayor Margaret Brown missed the June 20, 2023, meeting because she was on a wedding anniversary vacation.
"Even in the absence of leadership, Weston still continues to thrive, and Weston still continues to honor its commitment to all of its residents," lifelong city resident and former Broward School Board member Beau Simon said as he accepted the proclamation.
City spokesperson Denise Barrett-Miller tells New Times that Brown was out of town during the June 20 meeting for her 40th wedding anniversary trip, which was delayed one year "due to her mother's health and passing."
Brown did not respond to requests for comment via phone and email. City spokesperson Pam Solomon said the mayor was not available for an interview.
Weston city commissioner Byron Jaffe says Brown's absence brought back memories of the summer of 2021 when the mayor was embroiled in controversy for holding off on signing the city's Pride and Caribbean month proclamations before promptly changing course and supporting them.
"All this did was remind me of two years ago how disappointed I was when the mayor first refused to sign the Pride and Caribbean proclamations," Jaffe tells New Times.
"My position has always been to unite the community rather than divide the community... and I think that's the best course for us at every turn we take as elected officials," Jaffe says.
During the 2021 controversy, the mayor denied she was trying to quash the pride month proclamations. She told NBC6 that she supported the LGBTQ community. "My oldest brother is gay. My nephew is gay. So I don't have any sort of problem, and I think somebody is trying to make this an issue," the mayor said.
Solomon says that in 2021, the process by which proclamations and certificates were handled was under review and that proclamations for June of that year were pulled initially so the new process could be formalized.
This year, the city's show of support for the LGBTQ community came just weeks after it faced backlash from some residents for an Instagram post celebrating Pride Month, and as gay and transgender rights remain a target for conservatives across the U.S.
Brown, who was elected to the city commission in 2016, won her seat as mayor in the historically Democratic suburb of Weston in November 2020. The Broward GOP-endorsed mayor previously stirred controversy after announcing at a pro-Trump rally her desire to "make Weston red" and denouncing local students' Black Lives Matter group.
