Two years ago, voters in northwest Spokane’s District 3 elected Zack Zappone, 33, the first openly queer candidate elected to city government.
This past month we sat down with Zappone to talk about his role on the City Council, the rainbow crosswalk on Spokane Falls Boulevard, how we can fight against the Inland Northwest’s far-right extremism, and what the future may hold for Spokane’s LGBTQ+ community.
A shorter version of this interview appeared in the Dec. 14, 2023 print edition of the Inlander.
INLANDER: Did you imagine being elected to this office when you were younger?
ZAPPONE: All my friends and teachers would always tell me, “You know, you’re gonna go out and be president.” I was student body president at [Spokane’s North Central High School] and voted most likely to become president. I’ve always had an interest in government, so I definitely thought that I could potentially run one day.
My old McDonald’s boss always told me that I’ve got a name that’s going to be in lights someday. Then when I was running for election she was like “I knew it. I see your yard signs everywhere, I told you.” So I’ve always had a lot of community support and when I decided to run, that community support came from family, friends and past teachers — my old music teacher was emailing me saying how exciting this was and how happy they were for me.
I remember when I was in graduate school my dream job was to be a part-time teacher and a part-time policy adviser. I got that — kind of. I got the part-time teaching job, just not the policy advisor, but in a way being on the city council worked out really well.
So, do you think the presidency is in your future?
Ha, at this point I think I’m too old for that.
How does your identity play into your role as a City Council member?
It’s not the thing that I think makes me qualified to be a City Council member, but I do believe that representation is important. It’s about why we’re qualified and what we’ll do for our community, not just that identity.
There’s a lot of debate surrounding the question “should you just be electing people for diverse perspectives?” And yes, it is important, but there's a lot more to it than just having a perspective.
I mean, it was interesting in my race for City Council, I ran against another queer person, so we had two queer people running against each other. Which is pretty abnormal. And sexuality, again, was never really part of either of our campaigns.
I think it does show a testament to the idea that we can have that identity, but also being a person with the best qualifications is important. It’s about what we bring to the table, why we're qualified and what we'll do for our community.
How do you fight against the hate and extremism we’ve seen in the Inland Northwest recently?
Well, I think at the City Council level, that looks like increasing representation. Take the rainbow crosswalk for example. At first people said there was no point in doing it. But really, it’s a message that says, “We’re going to continue to be here and bring the community together.”
Also, as a council member, I’ve tried to organize quarterly meetings with LGBTQ+ organizations and leaders in town. That way we can come together and form this kind of LGBTQ+ advisory group to work on the issues that impact all of us.These are sometimes organizations that don’t necessarily collaborate, but I wanted to bring them together to work on the issues that impact us all.
Right now we’re also working on anti-hate legislation [with state legislators], which was really in the wake of the recent vandalism [of the city’s rainbow crosswalks]. Tagging these crosswalks multiple times seems intentional, like they’re targeting the LGBTQ+ community to try and create fear, and that is a hate crime. But the law right now doesn’t apply to public property, only private property. So we added it to our asks of the state to add clarity to say “yes, targeting a public space that has an affiliation of a protected minority group is classified as a hate crime.”
When, if ever, do you think we’ll get to a point where everyone feels included?
Hopefully, tomorrow.
You know, the history teacher in me looks at the big picture and says that we’re always moving in that direction, but I also think of all the firsts in the world we haven’t gotten yet. So I think back to Obama, who would always quote MLK: Our history is long, “but it bends towards justice.” I think there will be setbacks and it feels like there's a lot of them right now, but I definitely believe that we’re moving towards justice.
Do you have any goals as you finish out the next two years in your term?
I think trying to create more institutional programming with the mayor’s office, like that LGBTQ+ advisory group I mentioned earlier. And I still plan to keep meeting with community groups to try and figure out what we need to make Spokane a better place.
With a new mayor and new members on the City Council, do you think you’re going to have to advocate for these issues as hard now?
I was a very vocal critic of the mayor and her appearance with Matt Shea and Sean Fucht, two antil-LGBTQ extremists who go around the country spewing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Making that public appearance and participating in that rhetoric, combined with a lukewarm public safety response to hate crimes, makes [these extremists] feel emboldened and that’s just not okay. n
So, I hope not. I think that we’ll be able to make great progress together as a group that works together.
