Editorial: Pride season erupts in protest

The Republican Party, now that it’s firmly controlled by President Donald Trump, is no place for LGBTQ people. Our very being is threatened, as Trump and his administration have curtailed rights for transgender people and ended diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, among other horrendous actions. The anti-DEI executive orders Trump has issued have, in turn, led many corporations and universities to examine their own DEI policies and likewise end them.

Even San Francisco is not immune. The San Francisco Standard reported this week that Denis Mulligan, CEO of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District, has suggested rescinding the district’s 2020 resolution that condemns racism and committed it to a workplace safe and free from discrimination. “The memo also recommends rescinding a January 2023 resolution that updated the agency’s procurement manual to include ‘social equity’ in its considerations,” the Standard reported.

Mulligan wants the district to excise the words “implicit bias” from its strategic plan. This is, of course, an effort to “obey in advance,” to prevent the Trump administration from withholding millions of dollars in federal funds. Trust us, the Bay Area Reporter’s founding publisher, the late Bob Ross, a gay man who served for years on the bridge board, including as its president, would be aghast at these developments. The bridge district’s board is set to discuss the matter at its meeting Friday, June 27. Gay District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio, who sits on the board, should reject this effort to curry favor with Trump. The administration likely will make the cuts anyway. After all, it’s San Francisco, and the Golden Gate Bridge is the city’s most famous icon.

This is all part and parcel of what the GOP stands for now – intimidation and fear, whether for ordinary people, immigrants, or, yes, public officials who rely on federal dollars. It’s disgusting.

But the Democrats aren’t much better, at least when it comes to standing up for us. One just has to look at the muted response from party members after the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a stunning, but not unexpected, blow June 18 to transgender rights in its 6-3 decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, which upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors. Most observers realized the conservative justices were inclined to uphold the Tennessee law after oral arguments were heard last December. (Thank you to Justice Sonia Sotomayor for a resounding dissent.)

Still, it was surprising that leading Democratic officials were silent after the decision was announced. These included potential 2028 presidential candidates like gay former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and others. Newsom, of course, has been in the doghouse with the trans community since he said he agrees that trans women and girls should not play on female sports teams. However, Newsom did sign a law a few years ago designating California as a refuge for trans kids and their families.

Former vice president Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in last year’s presidential race, also kept mum. She remained silent during the campaign last year when Trump barraged the airwaves with the infamous “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you” ads, to which she should have forcefully hit back.

Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) bucked the cone of silence, issuing a scathing statement after the Supreme Court ruling.

“The Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to ban gender-affirming health care for transgender youth is horrifying and another step toward erasing trans people entirely,” Wiener stated. “It will hurt so many young people who are just trying to live their best lives and be who they are. The court is giving bigots like [President Donald] Trump a permission slip to make it impossible to be trans.”

Wiener also noted that this year he has authored a bill that would strengthen his trans state-of refuge law that Newsom previously signed, which helps protect trans people and their parents and doctors from prosecution in other states and protects the privacy of their health care information. He noted his new Senate Bill 497 was recently passed by a key legislative committee.

The Congressional Equality Caucus also slammed the decision.

“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court is devastating for young transgender Americans and their families who live in states that decide to put divisive and dehumanizing politics over people,” stated gay Congressmember Mark Takano (D-Riverside), chair of the caucus for LGBTQ congressmembers and their straight allies in a June 18 release. “The court’s ruling upholding Tennessee’s cruel and politically-motivated ban on medically-necessary care for young trans people undermines the ability of transgender patients, their families, and doctors to make medical decisions about accessing evidence-based care without politicians’ interference. The law the court upheld is an attack on some of the most vulnerable in our community – but we still have other tools to challenge anti-trans laws in courts across the country. As chair of the Equality Caucus, I am committed to continuing to lead elected officials from across the country in the fight for full equality for transgender people under the law here in Congress.”

So, as we prepare to celebrate Pride with San Francisco’s famous parade and all the other events around it, LGBTQ people need to remind our straight friends that marching with us is itself a form of action, however, that action must continue after the parade is over. We need allies in all communities and at every level of government to push back against the nonsense coming from the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress. The GOP wants to decimate access to health care, not just for us, but for millions of Americans. We all must stand together to prevent the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill now before Congress, demand that HIV prevention funding be restored, and yes, fight for access to health care for trans adults and youth.

Pride started out as a protest a year after the 1969 Stonewall riots. We need to keep that spirit of protest alive, especially this year.