In this issue: June Meeting, Pride Month Events, and In the News | | |
Our June Meeting
Fighting to Survive: Local LGBTQ+ Centers Face Funding Cuts and a Hostile Government
June 24, 7 PM
Local LGBTQ+ centers provide vital services to our community. Yet these organizations are facing unprecedented funding cuts even as the need for their programs is growing. Joe Hawkins (he/him), co-founder and CEO of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, will talk about the center’s services, the impact of funding cuts, and how PFLAG can be a supportive partner.
Joe’s story as an outspoken advocate is remarkable. He first came to national prominence in the early 1990’s as one of the first gay men to appear on the Oprah Winfrey talk show, defending his right to parent his son as an out gay man. As an early HIV/AIDS activist, he appeared on the Geraldo Rivera show and PBS Frontline, to highlight the often overlooked, intersectional issues experienced by Black LGBTQ people.
In 2017, Joe co-founded the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, Oakland's first all inclusive, intergenerational, LGBTQ+ service center and a new model for service provision in Oakland. A military veteran, his service to the community has been recognized with numerous awards, from the ACLU to the American Psychological Association, and from the City of Oakland to the White House.
PFLAG Oakland/East Bay has selected the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center as one of the recipients of fundraising proceeds from our chapter’s 40th Anniversary celebration on September 18.
Meetings are held from 7-9 PM in the Campbell Room at St. John's Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Avenue in Berkeley (look for the PFLAG banner). Masks are optional. We ask that you not attend if you are feeling unwell or if you've been in contact with anyone who is unwell. Between meetings, our board is still here to connect with you one-on-one. Email pflagoeb@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 510-562-7692 and we will call you back.
| |
|
May Meeting Follow-up: Advocacy Resources
At our May meeting, Eddy Funkhouser (they/he), PFLAG National’s Western Chapter Engagement Coordinator, gave valuable advice about how PFLAGers can engage with lawmakers, attend public meetings, and build legislative relationships. Below are links to their presentation and a variety of advocacy resources mentioned in their talk:
PFLAG Advocacy: Engaging on the Local, State, and Federal Level
General Advocacy Resources
State Advocacy Resources
Local Advocacy Resources
| | |
June is Pride Month!
Let’s be clear about what it means to “Love with Pride”. Love can be soft, kind, tender—and it can also be loud, unapologetic, and fierce. 🔥
Over fifty years ago, Jeanne Manford marched with her gay son, Morty, to demonstrate the power and courage of a mother’s love in the face of relentless discrimination. 350+ chapters and 550,000+ members later, we are still in the fight, leading with love, for an equitable and accepting future.
This year—as every year, as every month, as every day—it is imperative that we show up for our LGBTQ+ loved ones. Whether it’s marching in a protest, shutting down discriminatory remarks from coworkers, educating a family member, or even just expressing your love to your LGBTQ+ loved one, every action you take for our LGBTQ+ community is an action against LGBTQ+ oppression.
Now is the time to LEAD WITH LOVE. Let’s come together as a collective power and fight for our LGBTQ+ loved ones.
| |
Pride Month
Visible and Unstoppable:
A Pride Zoomathon
June 26, 7 AM to 4 PM PT
LGBTQ+ and allied organizations across the country are coming together to hold space, share stories, build connection, and stand in solidarity with LGBTQ+ youth and families. Whether you're a youth with a story, a parent with experience to share, a leader, or part of an affirming organization, this event is for you.
This zoomathon will happen throughout the day on June 26, and you can join for as little or long as you would like. It will also be livestreamed via YouTube. The hope is that this event is the first of more to come in visible, unstoppable support and community connection. Register Now!
| |
Pride Month
San Francisco Trans March:
Visibility is Power
Friday, June 27, 6 PM
The Trans March is San Francisco’s largest transgender Pride event. Started in 2004, with a few hundred people, it has grown into the one of the largest trans events in the world, with thousands of people attending. It is held the Friday of Pride weekend, and everyone is welcome to march.
The march’s mission is to realize a world where all trans and non-binary people are safe, loved and empowered. It seeks to create a space for our diverse communities to unite and achieve the social justice and equality that each of us deserves.
Join PFLAG SF to march in solidarity at Dolores Park. Let them know you're coming.
| | |
Pride Month
PFLAG in the SF Pride Parade: A Day of Joy and Community
Sunday, June 29, 9 AM
Pride is our opportunity to show up proudly, loudly, and unapologetically as LGBTQ+ individuals, families, and allies.
PFLAG SF invites you to march with them in this year’s parade, wave your flags, and celebrate love in all its forms.
So often people who have marched in the parade have commented on what a powerful, uplifting experience it is. And if you can’t walk the distance, they have a big, cable car style trolley you can ride in. Importantly, there will be bagels.
Let PFLAG San Francisco know you’ll be attending!
| | |
Registration Now Open
Learning With Love: The 2025 PFLAG National Convention
Come to Chicago on October 10-12, 2025 and join PFLAGers from across the country for three days of courageous community. The convention will feature a variety of workshops, panels, and presentations from PFLAG National staff, chapter leaders, organizers, and community leaders.
The convention will provide insight, expertise, training, strategies, and best practices so that PFLAG friends, families, members, supporters, and leaders can work together to fulfill our organizational mission to create a caring, just, and affirming world for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them. Please let us know if you're interested in coming but have questions, or if cost is an issue.
Register today to save 15 percent with early bird rate of $275!
| | |
In the News: Positive Developments
Federal court rules Trump "Gender Ideology" funding ban likely unconstitutional: A federal court ruled in favor of several federally qualified health centers and LGBTQ+ resource organizations that had either lost funding or faced grant threats under the Trump administration. The decision blocks portions of Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, as well as programs accused of promoting so-called “gender ideology.”
Federal prisons must keep providing hormone therapy to transgender inmates: U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Trump administration from halting gender-affirming care, including hormone therapy and social accommodations, for transgender individuals in federal prisons. The ruling allows transgender inmates to continue receiving medically necessary treatments, despite a January executive order that sought to end such care and restrict housing based on gender identity.
Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court rules that birth certificate changes must allow a nonbinary option: A federal judge has ruled that nonbinary and gender non-conforming people must be allowed to select 'X' as a gender marker when amending their birth certificates. The ruling aligns Puerto Rico with 16 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. that already offer an 'X' marker, affirming recognition of nonbinary identities.
Missoula, Montana recognizes Pride Flag as an official city flag: The Missoula City Council voted 9–2 to officially designate the LGBTQ Pride flag as an official city flag, permitting its legal display on public buildings and in schools, despite a new Montana law (HB 819) that restricts non-governmental flags on such properties.
Lafayette City Council members sign Pride Month proclamation celebrating LGBTQ+ residents: PFLAG members and other advocates in Lafayette, Louisiana, were successful in their effort to have a proclamation signed recognizing the month of June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month.
| | |
We will be tabling at these Pride events!
-
San Lorenzo Library's Juneteenth Pride Fest in San Lorenzo on Saturday, June 14, from 12 to 4 PM
-
St. Columba Catholic Church’s Pride BBQ in Oakland on Saturday, June 21, at 4 PM
-
San Leandro Public Library’s Rainbow Fest in San Leandro on Saturday, June 28, from 12 noon to 3 PM
Local, Virtual Support Meetings
Ongoing Events
| | | | |
