LOS ANGELES — At a recent celebration of San Francisco’s vibrant transgender past, one speaker after another directed the crowd’s attention to a worrisome future, casting November’s presidential election as a turning point for the LGBTQ+ community and the nation as a whole.
“This election will determine our fate,” said Sofía Sabina Ríos Dorantes, deputy director of El/La Para TransLatinas, a local advocacy organization. “It will determine whether we continue to face discrimination and marginalization at [a] disproportionate rate, or whether we can continue walking toward the recognition and respect we deserve.”
Last week’s third annual kickoff to Transgender Pride Month — the first to be recognized at the state level as well — was a chance to celebrate the advances of the transgender community in one of the nation’s most enduring havens for LGBTQ+ people, with champagne served beneath the ornate dome of San Francisco City Hall. It was also a show of defiance at a dangerous time for queer folks nationally.
In three months, Americans will choose between Vice President Kamala Harris, who is a Bay Area native and longtime LGBTQ+ ally, and former President Trump, who has a long record of attacking queer rights and has aligned himself with some of the nation’s most virulently anti-LGBTQ+ political groups.