The first transgender representative on Capitol Hill came to San Francisco for Pride weekend with an urgent message. Democratic leaders, said Congressmember Sarah McBride (D-Delaware), need to center the voices of queer and trans people now more than ever.
“This is a critical moment for LGBTQ voices, and particularly trans voices, to be at the heart of the Democratic Party,” McBride, whose victory last November made her the highest-ranking trans elected official within the party, told the Bay Area Reporter.
The sole U.S. House of Representatives member for her state, McBride emphasized that the current all-out assault on LGBTQ rights — and specifically transgender rights — needs to be met with community-wide resistance.
“I think it's going to take trans voices, trans leaders, and the broader LGBTQ community helping to lead the way forward to fight hard and fight smart in this moment so that we can push back on the attacks but also recapture public opinion to regain momentum and start to move equality forward for not just the trans community, but the LGBTQ community nationwide,” she said.
McBride was a featured speaker at the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club’s annual Pride Breakfast, held in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Sunday, June 29, prior to the kickoff of the city’s annual Pride parade. A fundraiser for the club’s year-round work, the event also spotlighted Gwendolyn Ann Smith, co-founder of the Transgender Day of Remembrance held each November to honor trans people lost during the year prior, many killed due to their gender identity.
The longtime trans advocate, who writes the Transmission column for the B.A.R., told the hundreds of attendees at the breakfast that “now is not the time to shrink back, but to stand up” in response to anti-LGBTQ legislation and U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
“You win by fighting back. Our silence can lead to complicity, and it’s now that we can and must be loud, demanding, and proud,” said Smith.
In McBride’s speech to the audience, she called attention to her united efforts with fellow freshman East Bay Congressmember Lateefah Simon (D-Oakland), along with their House and Senate Democratic colleagues, to defeat anti-trans bills. She also recommended approaching challenging times with hopefulness rather than cynicism, referencing difficult moments in history to exemplify the possibility of a positive outcome.
“I am confident that we can turn this moment for our community and this country into what a friend of mine from Florida once called a ‘slingshot moment,’ where, yes, we are pulled backwards, but the tension and pressure of being pulled backwards ultimately propels us to destinations that we've not yet been,” McBride told the crowd.
Monday, June 30, a host of local leaders are holding an evening fundraiser for McBride, with tickets starting at $250 per the event page found here. Among the listed co-hosts are Simon, Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), and transgender former San Francisco Democratic Party chair Honey Mahogany, who is director of the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives.
Political messages abound in Pride parade
On Sunday, Simon and McBride took part in the Young Women's Freedom Center contingent in the Pride parade. In speaking to the B.A.R. prior to doing so, McBride noted how she interpreted the event’s 2025 theme of “Queer joy is resistance.”
“At a time when there's so much negativity and fear, when LGBTQ people are being caricaturized, and when disinformation is rampant, I think queer joy is so powerful, not just for our own self-care and our own capacity to move forward, but to reinforce for the public that when LGBTQ people are allowed to live fully and freely, we find joy,” said McBride, “and that joy is a visual antidote and a visual contrast to the fear, the misinformation, the disinformation, and the caricature that paints being LGBTQ, and coming out as LGBTQ, as inherently bad.”
Trans joy, in particular, McBride emphasized, holds relevancy right now.
“[It] shows that coming out and being embraced and accepted is, in so many ways, the only path to true joy for our community,” she said.
Emmy-award winning former “Saturday Night Live” writer Harper Steele was the Pride parade’s celebrity grand marshal. After coming out as trans, Steele accepted an offer from their friend, former SNL performer Will Ferrell, to join them on their annual cross-country road trip, which turned into last year’s acclaimed documentary “Will & Harper.”
“More people have reached out to congratulate me for this honor than anything in my career. I’m beginning to think the San Francisco Pride Parade is a pretty big deal,” Steele stated to the B.A.R. “I am honored and thrilled to be a part of this incredible parade, and the legacy pride that came before me.”
Peter Hunt, a straight ally, marched in the parade with Ward 86, the HIV clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
“It’s great to be here and stand up for the community,” he said.
Lydia Ropp, a queer woman, said the parade was more low-key than in prior years, but that that’s a good thing.
“I think it’s lovely,” she said. “There were a few years it was a little much, a little rowdy. I think it’s like when I was a teenager in the 1980s and 1990s. Maybe because we’re celebrating under pressure.”
For his truck in the parade, gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) featured the name of the USNS Harvey Milk, initially named for the slain gay San Francisco supervisor, before it was renamed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday, as the B.A.R. reported. Joined by a number of his Democratic colleagues, including lesbian former state senator and 2026 gubernatorial candidate Toni Atkins of San Diego, Wiener held a sign, “ICE Out of SF,” in reference to enforcement raids at the immigration court downtown.
Wiener stated to the B.A.R. that “Pride was even more meaningful this year than it usually is, given the grave threat LGBTQ people face in this country under a regime that wants to erase us,” referring to the Trump administration. “Pride is now about fighting for our community’s existence.”
Gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey led a recovery contingent for people struggling with or overcoming addiction. He noted how personally meaningful Pride is for him.
“It’s a time to celebrate love, visibility, and the power of community - but also to remember the work that still lies ahead. San Francisco has always stood at the forefront of the fight for LGBTQ+ rights,” Dorsey stated. “We’ve come a long way - but our march toward full equality, inclusion and safety for all continues. Especially now, when hard-won rights are under threat across the country, our city must continue to lead with compassion, courage and action. To every young person coming out, every elder who paved the way, and every ally standing strong with us: thank you. Your pride fuels progress.”
Alice breakfast draws other electeds
Wiener and Dorsey had attended the Alice breakfast along with San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who told the B.A.R. that she’s attended the event for the past few years. But, she noted, it had more significance this Pride Month.
“There are so many attacks going on toward the LGBTQ community nationally from our federal government. This is a time where we have to put a plan together, make sure we are messaging out our values, letting San Franciscans know and letting the country know that we're going to maintain our values here and support our LGBTQ community,” said Jenkins. “And so, this is really where that happens. This is where that message starts - at this breakfast every year where we come together and unify around it.”
Jenkins recently charged 19-year-old San Franciscan Lester Bamacajeronimo with several offenses after allegedly vandalizing the pink triangle installation at Twin Peaks. She did not charge the defendant with a hate crime because her DA office “did not believe it could prove one beyond a reasonable doubt,” as the B.A.R. reported.
At the Pride Breakfast, Jenkins commented on actively confronting the “many things going on that are troubling us with our country right now.” Now is not the time to be silent, said Jenkins.
“We have to be clear about what we stand for, and a part of that is resisting these things that are happening but also resisting the urge to be silent and [being] pushed back into the corner,” she said. “We have to get in front of it, we have to be loud about what we believe and what we stand for, and there's no more serious time to do that than now.”
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie received a warmer reception at the breakfast than he did at Friday’s Trans March, where a video posted to X showed him being booed away from the event by attendees, with one person heard criticizing the city’s defunding of trans programs. In his remarks at the Alice breakfast, Lurie cited his administration’s funding of immigrant legal services that support LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, trans-affirming primary and mental health care, and backfilling federal cuts to HIV funding, as the B.A.R. previously reported.
Lurie also spoke about San Francisco being a beacon of hope for the LGBTQ+ community.
“Cities across the world look to San Francisco as a model of equality. There is so much to be proud of in San Francisco, but we know the fight is not over. Even as our city moves forward, people are still concerned for their safety,” said Lurie. “Across the country, LGBTQ+ communities are being targeted, and here at home, people in our community are being targeted by federal immigration enforcement. Rights are being rolled back. Fear is being weaponized. We cannot allow hate to find safe harbor in San Francisco.”
Later, after marching in the Pride parade, Lurie addressed the crowd gathered in the Civic Center in front of San Francisco City Hall from the Main Stage of the Pride celebration. At least one person could be heard booing him as he spoke.
“I was born and raised in San Francisco. I gotta tell you – every single day the LGBTQ community was part and parcel of San Francisco and what makes this city so incredible. Always has been. Always will be,” Lurie said. “We’re going through some tough times and there’s a lot of darkness out there, but not here in San Francisco. This city is always going to be the light. We’re always going to stand up and stand by our LGBTQ+ community no matter what comes our way. No matter what, we’re going to hang that Pride flag high and proud every single day. Don’t let anybody tell you anything about San Francisco – we are going to own the future.”
Assistant editor John Ferrannini contributed reporting.
