Governor Newsom proclaims LGBTQ Pride Month

SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring June 2026, as "LGBTQ Pride Month."

The text of the proclamation and a copy can be found below:

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. That pride is inseparable from history: a history of resistance, resilience, and the refusal to be erased.

LGBTQ people have been a vital part of our communities for as long as we can remember. Even during the most difficult, most bigoted of times, LGBTQ people didn't just survive - they lived. They found joy where they could, even if it was behind closed doors, although many refused to go into the closet at all. Because who someone is, and who they love, cannot be decided by any law or politician.

Today, as we mark the 57th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising in New York, we honor the long history of LGBTQ leaders and leadership. From the very earliest days of this country, LGBTQ people have played significant roles at the forefront of progress. They were present in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, in the fight for women's rights and suffrage, in labor organizing, and in every other effort to build a more just society. LGBTQ history is inextricably intertwined with American history - and with Californian history.

Some of the earliest acts of LGBTQ resistance in America happened in California. In 1959, drag queens, transgender women, and gay men - many of them people of color - fought back against police harassment at Cooper's Do-nuts in Los Angeles. In 1966, transgender women and gay youth rose up against police brutality at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco's Tenderloin. And in 1967, patrons of the Black Cat Tavern in Los Angeles staged one of the first organized LGBTQ demonstrations in the nation.

This state, like all others, does not have a perfect record. From the Briggs Initiative to the AIDS crisis, Californians have known both the depths of loss and the heights of hard-won progress. But through all of it, the LGBTQ community has pushed back and demanded more. Harvey Milk led a resounding defeat of the Briggs Initiative. University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco General Hospital opened the world's first outpatient AIDS clinic and inpatient AIDS ward. We were on the frontlines of the battle for marriage equality and basic civil rights.

The fight is far from over. More than one in five hate crimes are motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias, with transgender people - and Black transgender women in particular - bearing a disproportionate share of that violence. A hostile federal administration is attempting to erase decades of progress, outright denying the existence of transgender people, even as it works to attack critical supports for transgender and other LGBTQ individuals. This kind of hate and intolerance is not new. But neither is the resistance.

During Pride Month, we rededicate ourselves to the continued fight. With the rainbow flag proudly raised over the State Capitol, California is proud to continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with all members of the LGBTQ community to protect and build on our progress toward a better and safer future for all.

NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim June 2026, 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 26th day of June 2026.

GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California

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