Pride Month is here! May the freedom bells ring, and may our communities come together to celebrate the beauty and dazzling glow of diversity.
June reminds us of the LGBTQ community’s history—of the progress we’ve made and the challenges still ahead. This year, that reminder is especially urgent.
This Pride Month arrives under the weight of renewed political attacks and profound cultural loss. Since taking office on Jan. 20, the Trump administration has targeted diversity, equity and inclusion programs and focused its efforts on curtailing transgender rights. Nearly 2 million Americans identify as transgender, according to polling conducted by KFF and The Washington Post in 2023. In just five months of Trump’s second term, executive orders have sought to restrict trans health care, ban trans athletes from competition, and limit LGBTQ military service. Additional directives have focused on removing books from libraries and censoring school materials.
This week, those attacks escalated. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to rename USNS Harvey Milk, a replenishment oiler christened in honor of the slain gay rights icon and former Navy officer. The move—described in internal memos as part of an effort to “re-establish the warrior culture”—was made during Pride Month and reflects the administration’s broader campaign to purge LGBTQ references from military programs and public institutions.
And this week, the world bid farewell to Edmund White, the pioneering author whose candid novels and memoirs gave voice to queer identity and shaped generations of LGBTQ writers. As forces threaten to erase hard-won progress, White’s death is a reminder of how vital it is to remember—and defend—what came before.
While darkness creeps back in, I take solace in a verse from Ephesians that sums up our responsibility moving forward:
“Live as children of light—for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. Everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.”
That light is visible in our communities. This weekend’s Pride celebrations in Woodstock and in the mountaintop towns of Hunter and Tannersville are powerful testaments to unity, love, and resistance.
Over the next three days, hundreds of residents in The Overlook region will gather to celebrate Pride, marching together as friends and family in a show of strength during increasingly divided times.
These events matter more than ever. At the local level, where community building meets civic engagement, we can counter efforts to dismantle LGBTQ rights. By strengthening our towns and actively participating in governance, we help shape policies that protect and uplift marginalized voices.
Meanwhile, less than 400 miles away, World Pride in Washington, D.C.—which was expected to draw three million attendees—has been overshadowed by travel concerns. LGBTQ residents from Africa and even allied nations such as Canada, Finland, Ireland, Denmark and Germany have been warned about the risks of visiting the United States.
President Trump and his MAGA allies would love nothing more than a campaign of queer erasure, rewriting history to minimize the LGBTQ community’s achievements. But they will not succeed.
We have made undeniable progress. Marriage equality is now the law of the land. In just 15 years, public support has flipped. As of last summer, roughly 70% of Americans say same-sex marriage should be legal—up from just 27% in 1996, according to Gallup. Still, some Supreme Court observers warn that a conservative majority could weaken the 2015 ruling.
In politics, thousands of LGBTQ candidates have been elected nationwide. Today, three openly LGBTQ governors serve in Colorado, Massachusetts and Oregon. Thirteen openly gay members sit in Congress, including Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first trans member. And we saw Pete Buttigieg chart a groundbreaking path with his 2020 presidential run, which eventually culminated in a successful tenure as Secretary of Transportation in the Biden Administration.
A majority of states now have anti-discrimination laws, and New York ranks third nationwide in the 2025 Equality Profile compiled by the Movement Advancement Project—trailing only California and Colorado.
But we’ve learned never to take these victories for granted. The threat of regression has only deepened the need for solidarity and action. From small towns like Woodstock and Hunter, our power lies in community and in showing up.
We applaud the tireless efforts of organizations such as Queerly, Woodstock and Mountaintop Pride, Big Gay Hudson Valley, and the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center for making Pride possible.
But our commitment to fairness and justice cannot be reserved for a single month. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” It’s up to all of us to keep bending it—every day, all year long.
Scott Widmeyer is co-founder of The Overlook. Reach him at scott@theoverlooknews.com.
