PROUD TO BE? Thoughts on the Last Day of Pride

Pride Month has always offered Queer and Transgender people a much-needed respite from the challenges and dangers they face daily—though many have argued that the codification of marriage equality in 2015 (among other advances) rendered the celebration unnecessary.  But with attacks (both physical and legislative) seemingly at an all-time high, the answer to whether PRIDE still matters is a thundering “Yes.” PRIDE began as a protest. And faced with the most homo- and transphobic administration in U.S. history, it still needs to be.

“Rise Up: Pride in Protest” was the theme of New York’s 2025 Pride parade (shown). Photo: Adam Gray/Getty Images

Trump spent heavily on campaign ads attacking trans people during last year’s presidential election—and they’re being vilified even more today. Trump’s address to Congress in March included 1,500 words targeted at LGBTQ people (lasting an astonishing eight minutes), with a mere 975 words (or 9 seconds) addressing jobs and affordability. According to GLAAD, Trump signed five executive orders specifically targeting transgender people’s identities, health care, education, and ability to serve in the military in his first 30 days alone—with one asserting that being transgender “Conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”

No wonder Pride celebrations over the last few days had such defiant themes: “Queer Joy is Resistance” (San Francisco), “Rise Up: Pride in Protest” (New York), and “Here to Stay” (Boston). Attending Pride events this year is “A revolutionary act,” said San Francisco Pride’s Executive Director, Suzanne Ford.  And they’re essential to forging both allyship and activism against an assault that continues in both big and small ways:

  • Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced that Pride Month will now be known as “Title IX Month”—a civil-rights law that prohibits gender discrimination in federally funded schools. (This, as Trump revokes an order by Lyndon Johnson that has protected women against discrimination from contractors for over 50 years.)

  • Funding has been cut for public health HIV/AIDS prevention programs and Justice Department programs investigating anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes.

  •  LGBTQ+ and HIV-focused content has been removed from the White House and federal agency websites (including mentions of "transgender" from the Stonewall National Monument website).

  • The administration has banned over 16,000 books from public schools—predominantly targeting titles by and about LGBTQ people and people of color. (A number not seen since the McCarthy era.) 

  • Employees at the Federal Bureau of Investigations were instructed not to celebrate Pride on the company’s time.

  • The USNS Harvey Milk (named after the nation’s first openly gay elected official) will be rechristened the USNS Oscar V. Peterson, with Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth stating, “This is not about political activists … Instead, we’re renaming the ship after a United States Navy Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. As it should be.” (Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared the move, “A shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.”)

  • Any mention of transgender women has been banned from the Smithsonian’s new American Women’s History Museum. 

  • Trump’s blanket order to move Transgender women prisoners to men’s facilities has resulted in increased sexual violence and one attempted suicide (out of fear of being transferred).

  • As of July 17th, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline will no longer offer specialized services for LGBTQ+ youth (despite the fact that approximately 40% of LGBTQ youth considered suicide last year alone).

While Harvey Milk’s name will be removed from the fleet replenishment oiler above, Georgia Rep. Carl Vinson and Mississippi Senator John C. Stennis both have aircraft carriers named after them (despite being lifelong segregationists who resisted the Supreme Court’s school desegregation ruling and voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964). Photo: Ariana Drehsler/AFP/Getty Images/TNS

The zealousness with which the Trump administration enacts these measures would seem almost comical—if not for their sheer number, and the collective threat they pose to millions of lives AND livelihoods. A 2025 Gallup poll showing a drastic drop in Americans’ support of openly transgender people serving in the military (from 71% to 58% in a mere six years) is proof of the effect that federally-endorsed transphobia can have on our collective conscience. And clearly, such weaponization is not limited to LGBTQ+ citizens alone.

In an effort to “erase” Black, Hispanic and Women’s history:

  • Trump signed an Executive Order that targets funding for Smithsonian Institution programs that advance “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology” (aka stories of women and people of color).

  • Arlington National Cemetery’s website removed various pages, lists, maps and lesson plans that highlighted the specific efforts of African American, Hispanic American and select Women service members.

  • A bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (the first image of an African American on public display at the White House) was removed from the Oval Office.

  • The Interior Secretary has been directed to reinstate Confederate monuments, memorials, and statues whose removal “perpetuated a false reconstruction of American history, [and] inappropriately minimized the value of certain historical events or figures.”

  • Executive Order 11246 has been rescinded in its entirety, leaving workers (especially women and women of color) little recourse against discrimination from employers receiving taxpayer dollars.

  • The Defense Department’s school system (which serves 67,000 pre-K through high school students on military bases around the world) cancelled Black History Month events, Hispanic and Asian heritage clubs, Women in STEM groups, as well as clubs for Gay students and their allies.

“A shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.”
— Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's response to the USNS Harvey Milk being renamed the USNS Oscar V. Peterson

On day one, Trump signed an Executive Order targeting equity measures in the federal government. And in the weeks that followed, many companies—including Goldman Sachs, Accenture, Pepsi, and Citigroup—used the “evolving legal landscape” to cut or change their diversity, equity and inclusion goals. Many effected these rollbacks under the guise of changing their focus from DEI to "belonging”—though it’s hard to envision any sense of “belonging” with a President hell-bent on denying its citizens’ history. On denouncing. And diminishing.

LEGO has always championed DEI , with one self-proclaimed “huge Keith Haring fan and Gay New Yorker” saying, “I’m proud to hang these five incredible figures on my wall to celebrate this amazing artist.”

Turning a blind eye to discrimination is especially galling in one of our own—such as Treasury Secretary (and gay billionaire) Scott Bessent, whose move to eliminate sexual orientation and gender identity as recognized bases for discrimination complaints on Equal Employment Opportunity forms denies others of the civil rights protections he so clearly benefited from. That kind of action is a betrayal. While Trump’s is the ultimate dismissal. His discrimination, disinformation and whitewashing denies people access to models of courage and organized resistance. And “only serves to deepen divisions and hinder progress,” says NAACP President/CEO, Derrick Johnson. “Understanding the moments when we have fallen short as a nation and worked to be better makes us stronger as a nation, not weaker,” notes The New York Times. And that kind of self-awareness IS something we can take pride in.

“When you have the nation’s commander-in-chief demonizing transgender people, it certainly sends a signal to all Americans,” says HRC’s Legal Director, Sarah Warbelow. Think how quickly socially sanctioned transphobia can morph into harassment, stalking, vandalism, and hate violence.

Think about the damage that “whitewashing history” can do to generations of African-Americans. “It enacts,” says political columnist, Debashis Chakrabarti, “a new form of disenfranchisement [that is] psychological, educational, and political.”

Think about the implications of META (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) terminating not only its DEI goals but existing content safeguards—which is guaranteed to incite hate, harassment and mass violence against the most vulnerable and at-risk people (all in the name of “user engagement”).

Pride Month was formally recognized by Bill Clinton in 1999.

Black History Month (Gerald Ford, 1976).

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month (George H. W. Bush, 1990).

Jewish American Heritage Month (George W. Bush, 2006).

Hispanic Heritage Month (Lyndon Johnson, 1968; expanded from a week to a month by Ronald Reagan, 1988).

American Indian Heritage Month (George H. W. Bush, 1990).

Italian American Heritage Month (George H. W. Bush, 1989).

Nationally adopting these “months” took years. I’ll leave the question of whether Trump influenced GOOGLE’s removal of Pride, Black History and Women’s History Month (among others) from its 2025 calendar to the conspiracy theorists! While the world’s biggest search engine’s defense that “maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently wasn’t sustainable” may be valid, the way it reinforces a growing erasure climate is a little frightening.

“How can people change their minds about us if they don’t know who we are?”
— Harvey Milk (on the importance of Visibility)

Early in June, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump would not recognize Pride this month. “There are no plans for a proclamation for the month of June,” said Leavitt. “But I can tell you this president is very proud to be a president for all Americans, regardless of race, religion, or creed.” (With nearly EVERY word and action of Trump’s saying otherwise, it’s best to leave Leavitt’s statement alone.)

Like New York’s parade (pictured here), 2025’s Pride events were reenergized by Trump’s discriminatory onslaught that has left many questioning whether “Everyone is Welcome Here.”

Not recognizing Pride Month (or blindly renaming it) “takes away” permission to believe in and celebrate yourself. While giving bigots permission to discriminate against—if not outright physically attack—millions of us. Trump’s efforts to marginalize large swaths of American citizens reveals a bold-face propensity not seen before in any American president. A need to erase, rather than empower. “Recognition months” mean little if we don’t recognize such assaults against them. Even after 50+ years of advancements, “visibility” is the best defense against reversals. Being proud means being seen. With numerous attacks timed to coincide with Pride Month, feelings of pride in being American may not come so easily. (It’s the ultimate irony!) But the ebb and flow of power is inevitable in democratic societies. And as Larry Kramer reminded us, “There will always be enemies.  Time to stop being your own.”

Gay, Trans, Black, Hispanic or any combination thereof—continue to mark your calendars. AND make your mark. Proudly. (Google and Press Secretaries be damned.)

What Can We Do?

Jason McKeeComment