Equality California: Resistance is part of our heritage as LGBTQ Californians

Los Angeles -  In honor of June Pride month, Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur issued the following statement:

"Last November's election of Donald Trump dispelled any illusion that our battle for full equality is over, and this year's Pride marches will represent an expression of resistance and grim determination from a community that has been the target of discrimination, lack of acceptance and hostility.

While California continues to shield its LGBTQ residents with the world's strongest non-discrimination laws and while marriage equality, the LGBTQ community's signature victory, remains intact for now, the Trump Administration has targeted us both directly and indirectly. Trump has rescinded federal guidelines protecting transgender students and proposed cutting billions of dollars in federal funding for HIV research and treatment programs as part of his budget. He has appointed a Supreme Court justice hostile to LGBTQ civil rights and threatened to gut the Affordable Care Act -- which brought healthcare to millions of LGBTQ people for the first time, many of whom were previously ineligible for coverage due to preexisting conditions like HIV. He has targeted California's estimated 250,000 LGBTQ undocumented immigrants for deportation. All these actions add to the substantial disparities in health and wellbeing that LGBTQ people still suffer in comparison to the general public. 

As LGBTQ Californians take to the streets this month, we draw on a long history of protest and organizing that predates Stonewall by more than a decade. Resistance is as much a part of our heritage as LGBTQ Californians as are the values of acceptance, inclusion and openness. Equality California's "#ResistHate" billboards now going up across the state remind us all of the values that make us Californians in the first place. How Californians come together in a demonstration of unity and inclusion over the next four years can make our state a beacon for the rest of the country, to remind others what it is that makes us American, as well."

Equality California is the nation's largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization dedicated to creating a fair and just society. Our mission is to achieve and maintain full and lasting equality, acceptance and social justice for all people in our diverse LGBT communities, inside and outside of California. Our mission includes advancing the health and well-being of LGBT Californians through direct healthcare service advocacy and education. Through electoral, advocacy, education and mobilization programs, we strive to create a broad and diverse alliance of LGBT people, educators, government officials, communities of color and faith, labor, business, and social justice communities to achieve our goals. www.eqca.org