Governor Newsom proclaims LGBTQ Pride Month

PROCLAMATION

This month – and every month – California supports and celebrates the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community as they take pride in who they are and whom they love.

The LGBTQ community has fought tirelessly for their very right to exist and to be treated with the respect and equality that everyone deserves. But their fight is far from over. Members of the LGBTQ community around the world face continuous, hate-fueled discrimination and violence. Across the country, deplorable efforts targeting our LGBTQ community are undoing decades of progress, attacking our foundational rights and freedoms as Americans. Data from 2023 shows that more than 1 in 5 hate crimes are motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias, disproportionately impacting transgender people, particularly Black transgender women.

Just this year, even just this month, there have been efforts to erase the legacy of LGBTQ achievements and leaders, from omitting the true and full history of Stonewall to changing the name of USNS Harvey Milk. In the 2025 legislative session, around 600 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced across the United States. This threat of violence against the LGBTQ community is both systemic and individual, and encouraged by a hostile federal administration, which denies the existence of transgender people altogether, to the point of omitting the “T” in LGBTQ.

This kind of hate and intolerance is not new; from the Briggs Initiative to the AIDS crisis to the fight for gay marriage and basic equality, the LGBTQ community has endured much. However, there has also been enormous progress, due to the unrelenting work of the community itself.

There is still farther to go. Marsha P. Johnson reminded us that there is “No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.” We must keep moving forward, advancing progress as LGBTQ people and allies alike, and we must hold the line against those who attempt to roll back rights.  

During Pride Month, we rededicate ourselves to the continued fight. California has long been a leader in LGBTQ rights and protections, and we are proud to continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with all members of this community to protect and build on our progress toward a better and safer future for all.

With the rainbow flag proudly raised over the State Capitol, California stands with LGBTQ people throughout the state and across the country. Together, we will continue to demand equal rights for all to create a California for all.

NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim May 2025 as “LGBTQ+ Pride Month.”

IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 17th day of June 2025.

GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California

ATTEST:
SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
Secretary of State