San Diego honors community leaders as Pride Month begins

Local leaders marked the start of San Diego Pride at a city hall ceremony Tuesday.

Mayor Todd Gloria with members of the San Diego City Council recognized this year's Pride honorees — members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community — and talked about new challenges facing them.

"This year, in addition to celebrating, we are also taking a stand," said Stephen Whitburn, who represents District 3 on the council. "We're making it clear that we are here. We're not going anywhere, and that our love, our truth and out dignity will never be erased."

Under President Donald Trump, the federal government has undergone a series of reforms seen as hostile to the LGBTQ+ community. On his first day in office, Trump signed and executive order declaring there are only two genders. The Defense department renewed a ban on transgender people and will force thousands out.

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San Diego-based Navy senior chief Ben Kibler was going to advance into a highly selective officer program this year. That is until the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth labeled those with gender dysphoria "incompatible with the high mental and physical standards necessary for military service."

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Across the federal government, thousands of web pages with LGBTQ+ topics or data were removed or altered to comply with Trumps anti-diversity and anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders, according to Northeastern University.

Nicole Murray-Ramirez is a longtime San Diego LGBTQ+ activist who helped launch the first-ever San Diego Pride Parade in 1974. He said Monday there's been a lot of progress over the last half-century but there's still a lot of work to be done.

"We of the Stonewall generation of the 1960s and '70s have indeed been blessed to see the changes and progress that has happened in San Diego and our nation," he said. "But now we see that our nation is moving backwards and not forward — as hate again is on the rise."

Mayor Todd Gloria said he understands how people are feeling right now, but said to remember why the community comes together for events such as Pride.

"Pride has always been a response to adversity," Gloria said. "It was never meant to be about those who sought to bring us down, but rather, coming together to lift one another up. And we need that now more than ever. It's always about choosing visibility over fear, to choose joy of shame and to choose hope over despair."

The San Diego Pride Festival starts Saturday with the San Diego Pride Parade at 10 a.m.