LGBTQ Times

Attack On All Fronts

This year’s Pride Month has been marked by strategic and deliberate attacks—many coming from the United States government and even from companies that once vocally supported the LGBTQ community. Pride Month has officially been recognized as June since 1999, when President Bill Clinton issued a presidential proclamation. However, Pride 2025 has witnessed more hate, neglect, and regression than any year in the past four.

To start, the United States military has begun the forced discharge of up to 1,000 transgender troops. These service members have been given an ultimatum: voluntarily separate or be forcibly discharged. Today marks the deadline for active-duty troops to come forward or risk the loss of benefits such as pay, re-enlistment bonuses, and access to the G.I. Bill or Post-9/11 education benefits. The timing of this move—during Pride Month—is not lost on those of us who recognize the military’s long history of anti-LGBTQ policies. This feels like the blatant return of institutionalized discrimination.

Adding insult to injury, Pete Hegseth has ordered the renaming of the USNS Harvey Milk, a ship named in honor of the gay rights icon and Navy veteran. Harvey Milk, who served during the Korean War, was forced to take an “other than honorable” discharge rather than face court-martial for being gay. He later became the first openly gay man elected to public office in California, serving on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. The USNS Harvey Milk is now one of several ships being renamed as part of the Department of Defense’s efforts to eliminate names associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion.

June is also Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month—a fact frequently weaponized against Pride, as if honoring one group undermines another. It’s important to note that June has been officially recognized as Men’s Mental Health Month since 1994, thanks to Senator Bob Dole. Pride does not, and never has, taken anything away from men’s mental health—and vice versa. In fact, gay and trans men have often been denied access to the very mental health support they desperately need. Pitting these causes against one another is not only divisive—it’s cruel. Pride is a time to commemorate our collective resilience, and to honor moments like the Stonewall Uprising of June 28, 1969, when LGBTQ activists stood up against police violence in New York City’s Greenwich Village.

This year, June has also been rebranded by the Department of Education as “Title IX Month,” referencing the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs. While Title IX is critically important, it’s ironic to see it promoted by many of the same conservative voices working tirelessly to discriminate against transgender students and athletes. Still, I find this declaration oddly satisfying—because it may very well become another tool in our fight for true equality.

So yes, June 2025 is full of pointed fingers, hostile rhetoric, and thinly veiled attacks. But I ask everyone to remember: this country, this world, this month—is big enough for all of us. There is space for multiple truths, multiple struggles, and multiple victories. Let’s find something we believe in, stand up for it, and continue fighting not just for ourselves, but for each other.

Happy Pride.