In the face of ongoing attacks and discrimination, AJSOCAL and our partners came together to celebrate Pride Month by honoring LGBTQ+ history and trailblazers, recognizing the contributions of our communities and honorees, celebrating our collective strength, and reaffirming our power. We reflected on our past, embraced the present, and dreamed and planned for our future.
It started with our Jade Jubilee in the state’s Capitol where we celebrated our queer and trans API (QTAPI) community, the AAPI Queer Joy Coalition, and our 2026 bill priorities, honored LGBTQ Caucus chair, Assemblymember Chris Ward and Queer Hmong Innovating Politics co-creator, Shai Chang. We danced and laughed with community partners, community leaders, capitol staffers, Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez, and Assemblymember Jose Luis Solache.
While in Sacramento, we visited a new partner of ours, the Sacramento LGBTQ Center, and had a meal with folks from Hmong Innovating Politics.
For the LA Pride March, we joined community partners in support of Community Grand Marshal, Mia Yamamoto, and marched through Hollywood, cheering and waving to all the supporters!
Viet Rainbow of Orange County hosted their 5th annual Hot Person Summer event in Costa Mesa. Hot Person Summer is free Pride event providing community members with free services and activations focusing on the trans, gender non-conforming, and intersex (TGI) community in Orange County.
An article by our LA Regional Policy Advocate, Jeff Deguia, was published in the LA Blade’s Pride Month Addition. A reminder that Pride is more than celebration; it is an ongoing commitment to community care, advocacy, and inclusion, especially for marginalized groups like queer and trans Asian Pacific Islanders (QTAPI) whose voices are often underrepresented.
Community is essential to sustaining ourselves in this fight for our LGBTQ+ community and especially our TGI siblings. Every time we come together, we renew our strength and build stronger connections and communities. Pride is longer than a month; it’s a daily commitment for a better and more dignified future. We will continue to come together, collaborate, and work toward this reality.
