Harvey Milk praised at Oakland Pride flag raising

The late gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk was praised by East Bay elected officials Friday, as Oakland held its Pride flag raising ceremony outside of City Hall. Milk, who was assassinated in 1978, was in the news this week after it was reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to strip his name from a naval ship that was christened in his honor several years ago.

“I am reminded of our beloved Harvey Milk,” Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said. “Right now, as you know, Pride is under attack by the White House. Just like they’re trying to make trans lives disappear, they’re trying to erase Harvey.”

Milk’s name is on a John Lewis class Navy refueling vessel, the USNS Harvey Milk. It made its maiden voyage to San Francisco in March 2024. But on Tuesday, Military.com reported that Hegseth plans to strip Milk’s name from the ship and may jettison names of other civil rights leaders that grace the names of other ships in the class.

Lesbian former city councilmember Rebecca Kaplan also invoked Milk during her remarks. Kaplan, who decided not to seek reelection to the at-large council seat last year, temporarily filled the District 2 seat after Nikki Fortunato Bas was elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and took office in January. New District 2 Councilmember Charlene Wang, a lesbian, was sworn into office May 20, the same day as Lee. Both won special elections April 15 – Lee to replace recalled mayor Sheng Thao, and Wang to replace Bas.

“One of the first people I read about was Harvey Milk, who was murdered for his work,” Kaplan said of her early years as a queer person. She also mentioned gay Native American actor Jonathan Joss, who was killed in San Antonio, Texas June 1. His husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, has told media outlets the couple was harassed by neighbors and that Joss’ death was a hate crime. (A neighbor, Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, was arrested in connection with the shooting death of Joss.)

“Milk always said we have to uplift hope,” Kaplan said.

Rainbow crosswalks and Pride
The program celebrated the fact that Oakland now has three out women on the City Council. Kaplan was the first when she was elected in 2008.

“I may be the first, but I’m not the last,” Kaplan said, “and that’s how it’s supposed to be.”

Kaplan also noted that one of her final acts of legislation was getting the council’s approval for rainbow crosswalks in the Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural District, which has the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center as its anchor. She told the Bay Area Reporter in a brief interview that it was now up to the city’s transportation department to implement the program but hopes to have at least one crosswalk in place by early September for Oakland Pride.

Wang told the crowd that the Pride flag “symbolizes so much.” From the Stonewall riots in New York City in June 1969, which gave birth to the modern LGBTQ rights movement, to the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, Wang said, “Our community has been through it before ... and we will rise. Protest is so important – and joy.”

 
She urged the LGBTQ community and allies to “be on the forefront resisting what’s being done at the federal level.”

Federal actions include executive orders by President Donald Trump to ban transgender service members from the military and ban trans girls and women from playing on female sports teams. The Trump administration has also curtailed diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in federal agencies. That has led some universities and corporations to roll back their own DEI policies.

Queer at-large City Councilmember Rowena Brown pointed out, “Visibility is a radical act.”

Councilmember Janani Ramachandran, who is queer, said it was exciting to have herself and her two out colleagues – all women of color – on the body.

“Representation is great, but also doing the work on the ground everyday” is important, she said. “We need to make sure we have the lens of inclusivity.”

Richard Fuentes, a gay man who, with his longtime partner, Sean Sullivan, owns the Fluid 510 LGBTQ bar in Oakland, gave a fiery speech, encouraging people to “fight.”

“We need to fight, we need to activate our base and advocate for funds,” he said, specifically mentioning county resources for the LGBTQ center. He said that Bas recently pledged $100,000 in county money for the center and said the other four supervisors should do the same. The Oakland center has seen its budget cut by losing federal grants, as co-founder Jeff Myers said at the ceremony.

“We saw what AIDS did to the community in the 1980s,” Fuentes said. “The time to act is now – go to the county and ask for resources.”

In an interview, Fuentes said it is a prideful time, despite the various federal efforts to restrict rights for LGBTQ people. “People should be very excited that it’s Pride Month and it’s amazing we have our elected officials supporting us.”

During her own remarks, Bas didn’t mention the possibility of county funding for the center. But she did reference a meeting she held June 5 that looked at federal financial hits on county services, including those in Oakland such as the LGBTQ center. https://www.ebar.com/story/155085/News/Alameda%20County%20supes%20learn%20about%20effects%20of%20Trump%20health%20care%20cuts%20on%20LGBTQs%2C%20HIV%20services

George Smith, a gay Black man who’s president of Oakland Pride, also encouraged local leaders to find resources for LGBTQ nonprofits.

Perry Lamont, the LGBTQ liaison to the Oakland Fire Department, said it was an honor to speak at the event.

“I’m a proud member of the LGBTQ community myself,” he said. “The Oakland Fire Department recognizes the values of LGBTQ members.

“Pride is our legacy that refuses to hide,” he added. “LGBTQs have been knocked down many times, but we get up stronger. We’re a movement of moving forward, not backward.”