Pride Is a Protest—and a Vision for Justice

This Pride Month, we’re holding two truths at once.

We celebrate the beauty, brilliance, and resilience of LGBTQIA+ people in the Bay Area and beyond. And we recognize that this celebration happens in the shadow of growing attacks on queer and trans lives across the country—from bans on gender-affirming care to efforts to erase queer history, culture, and community.

At Transform, we stand in solidarity with our LGBTQIA+ colleagues, friends, neighbors, and partners. We see you. We hear you. We fight alongside you.

This moment brings me back to the early 1990s, when I was a teenager in Buffalo and deeply involved in our local ACT UP. It was the height of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S.—a time of staggering loss and systemic neglect. The federal government’s inaction cost countless lives, while people living with HIV, especially queer and trans people of color, were met with stigma and abandonment.

In the face of that cruelty, the LGBTQIA+ community stepped up. I had a front-row seat to the courage and brilliance of older organizers who were fighting for their lives—and for all of ours. They taught me that protest is love in action. That silence equals death. That organizing can be fierce, joyful, grueling, meaningful, and life-saving—all at once.

Back then, grassroots activists filled the void left by failed leadership. They built power through direct action, public education, mutual care, and political advocacy—working across strategies and identities to demand justice. That legacy lives on today. We see it in the movements pushing back against anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation, in the fight for trans healthcare, and in the ongoing work to build systems of care and safety that truly serve everyone.

At Transform, we carry those lessons with us. We believe in community-led change—rooted in the wisdom and leadership of those most impacted. We believe everyone, no matter their gender, identity, or expression, deserves safe, stable, and affordable housing. Everyone deserves to move through our streets with freedom and dignity, whether walking, biking, rolling, or riding the bus. Everyone deserves a future where justice isn’t just a slogan, but a lived reality.

So this June, we celebrate. We remember. And we recommit.