No longer ‘punching bags:’ California lawmakers honor LGBTQ icons as Pride Month begins

Andrew Sheeler
·5 min read
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LAWMAKERS HONOR 16 LGBTQ ICONS AS PRIDE MONTH BEGINS

Via Andrew Sheeler and Jenavieve Hatch ...

As anti-LGBTQ sentiment, and anti-transgender sentiment in particular, is at its loudest, California lawmakers pushed back Monday, as the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus and the entire Legislature came together to mark Pride Month by honoring 16 individuals whose contributions have made a difference in the LGBTQ community.

California’s LGBTQ Caucus is the largest such caucus in the country, with 12 members (all Democrats), and Caucus Chair Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, said in prepared remarks Monday that the group hopes to grow to 15 members this November.

“We just keep representing and keep getting elected because that’s who we are in California,” Eggman said.

The senator from Stockton remarked on how these last few years have been for the LGBTQ community. Red state legislatures across the country have introduced hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills. Even in liberal California, conservative-controlled school boards have pushed back against the state by enacting “parental notification” policies, referred to by opponents as “forced outing” policies, which require school districts to notify parents if their child goes by a different name or pronouns at school.

“You know, we know that the LGBTQ community has become the kicking bags, becoming the punching bags, have become the folks that everyone likes to talk about and try to divide who we are,” Eggman said. “And we’re here to say that we are prepared and we have pushed back strong, we have pushed back loud and we do it differently than the other side would do it, with hate, because we know that we have love on our side.”

Alexis Sanchez, deputy chief program officer and director of advocacy and training at the Sacramento LGBT Center, spoke of how the anti-transgender agenda is failing in California despite a vocal opposition. She specifically called out the proposed ballot measure that would have required statewide parental notification, banned gender-affirming care for minors and barred trans children from accessing gender-segregated facilities and activities, such as bathrooms or women’s sports.

That measure failed to get enough signatures by deadline.

Other speakers echoed the need to support the transgender community, the “T” in “LGBTQ” at a time when the anti-trans agenda is loudest.

The 16 honorees include Araceli Mohamed, founder of Volunteer with Cheli; Bruce M. Abrams, attorney and philanthropist; David Giron, vice president of Riverside LGBTQ+ Pride; Jai Rodriguez, actor and “Queer Eye” star; Jonny Cota, fashion designer; Lady Java, drag performer; Les Ortiz, artist and CEO of Social Events ENT; Lori Risso, director of educational services for Stockton Unified School District; Nguyện Phạm, president of San Francisco Pride; Paris Antoinette Quion, drag performer; Raúl Ureña, former Calexico mayor; Ronn Ruiz, co-founder and CEO of Apartment SEO; Sal Rosselli, founder of the National Union of Healthcare Workers; Sera Fernando, manager of Santa Clara County Office of LGBTQ Affairs; Soni Wolf, co-founder of Dykes on Bikes (posthumous), and Tyller Williamson, Monterey mayor.

Lawmakers recognized all 16 honorees on both the Assembly and Senate floors.

This year’s event was quiet and breezy, a far cry from last year’s event, where Democrats honored Sister Roma of the drag group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to the protest of Republicans, some of whom stormed off the floor as she was recognized.

STUDY SHOWS BLACK AND FEMALE-LED HOUSEHOLDS STRUGGLE WITH AFFORDABILITY

A new study published by the Gender Equity Policy Institute shows that Californians are struggling with finding affordable housing, especially female-led and Black households.

You can read the report here.

The study shows that the percentage of rent-burdened (that is, people paying more than 30% of their income on rent) Californians has increased by 55% from 1970. Nearly four times as many Californians are severely rent-burdened, meaning they spend more than 50% of their income on rent.

While the number of women-led households has increased since 1970, women are 22% less likely to be homeowners compared with California households overall. And for those women who are renting, nearly 70% spend an unaffordable share of their income on housing.

Black households, too, have suffered since the ‘70s, according to the report.

Black homeownership has declined 9% since 1970, and white households are now nearly twice as likely as Black households to own their home.

Black households also experience the highest level of rent burden — 65% spend more than a third of their income on rent while 39% spend more than half their money on rent.

“The ‘California Dream’ of affordable housing began vanishing in the 1970s, as the data dramatically shows, and has only continued since. California’s homelessness and affordable housing crises are a drag on the economy and negatively affect nearly every person, business, and institution in the Golden State,” said GEPI president and founder Nancy L. Cohen in a statement.

Cohen added that California policymakers “should aim to expand the California Dream, not simply to restore it, recognizing that the 20th century ideal was always largely out of reach for Black families and households headed by women.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Getting ready to be sworn in tonight.”

- Former assemblyman and newly elected Congressman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, via X.

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