Courthouse Square was abuzz Wednesday evening as Pride Month kicked off in Redwood City with its annual Progress Pride Flag Raising. Spectators gathered to watch a cheerleading performance, hear from city officials and peruse materials from tabling organizations.
Dana Johnson, LGBTQIA+ commissioner for San Mateo County, was one of three exhibitors at the event. Through their organization, TherActivist, Johnson organizes programming from documentary screenings to professional development, raising awareness about the “transgender lived experience.”
“I’ve been celebrating Pride for a long time, but I just think it hits a little bit different this year based on all of the attacks against my community,” Johnson told this news organization. “I’m really thankful for Redwood City and how they (came) together to show inclusion, to show belonging and really support our LGBTQ+ community.”
Such was the sentiment in many of the speeches: Pride is especially important today amid rising animosity toward the LGBTQ+ community.
The American Civil Liberties Union has tracked 530 Anti-LGBTQ+ bills across the United States this year. Notably, in May 2025, the Trump administration, with the U.S. Supreme Court’s approval, banned transgender people from serving in the military. The move was ruled unconstitutional by a federal appeals court on Monday, but to many, the hostility was still clear.
“The Progress Pride flag is a symbol of joy and the immense impact that the LGBTQIA+ community has had in our city,” Mayor Elmer Martínez Saballos said. “Let this flag be a promise, a reminder — a visible one — to all of our neighbors and all of our visitors and friends who are going to be walking through Courthouse Square this month, that Redwood City remains a city where everybody is welcome.”
For David Crafts, a member of the San Mateo County LGBTQIA+ Commission, the city’s Pride Proclamation helped instill a sense of belonging.
“A proclamation will not fix everything in our community. It won’t reduce the traffic problems, it won’t lower housing prices … but these symbols do matter,” Crafts said. “They shape culture, they communicate values, and they remind people that they are seen and welcome.”
The speeches were followed by a performance from CHEER San Francisco. The program helps fundraise for the CHEER For Life Foundation, which offers grants to organizations supporting those battling HIV/AIDS, breast cancer and other life-threatening challenges. CHEER SF’s team is made up of volunteers and is the “first LGBTQ-identified cheerleading team,” according to the nonprofit’s website.
“Most sports were very binary and not accepting of the LGBTQ community, and cheerleading, sort of like dance, had been something that was a more safe and welcoming space for the gay community,” said Brittany Trammell, the organization’s program director, in an interview with the Pulse. “There is strength in both literally and figuratively lifting each other up … that is where the value of performance is so unique in what we do.”
Also in attendance were members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of “drag nuns” who combine performance, community service, activism and spiritual enlightenment. Sister T’aint A Virgin spoke to the importance of intersectional advocacy.
“The progress flag reminds us that pride is not complete unless it welcomes all of us; its colors called us to center Black, indigenous and people of color within our communities, our transgender, non-binary and gender-expansive siblings, and all of those whose stories are too often pushed to the margins,” she said. “None of us are free until all of us are free.”
Martínez Saballos, in an interview with the Pulse, stressed the importance of having local Pride celebrations and programming in the city.
“It feels like every year our incredible parks team and our library team, our city staff are helping make this event bigger and better,” Martínez Saballos said. “The turnout is showing the love and the desire for events like this. It’s a celebration of community, and we’re excited that everyone’s here to reaffirm that.”
