Festive transgender event highlights County’s steadfast commitment to LGBTQ community

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. – Top County of Santa Clara officials joined members of the transgender community for an hourlong celebration of solidarity and to reaffirm unwavering support in the face of frightening and hateful actions and rhetoric emanating from the nation’s capital. 

County Executive James R. Williams said the County has “a commitment, an obligation, a responsibility to ensure that we continue to provide care to those who are in greatest need,” and vowed to uphold that duty despite any threats and uncertainty at the federal level. 

“Even in the midst of what can feel like a dark and daunting time, we as a County organization stand firm on our values of inclusion, our values of support, our values of care for everyone in our community, and that emphatically includes the transgender community,” Williams told a cheering crowd, many of whom waved blue, pink and white transgender flags and placards. 

Indeed, despite the dreary national outlook that has seen President Trump proclaim the existence of only two sexes on his first day in office, the event was a sun-drenched, vibrant, and thoroughly festive affair. It opened with a synchronized performance by Latina transgender dance troupe Monarcas, and Chapelle Roan’s disco-driven dance-pop jam “Pink Pony Club” accompanied the raising of the transgender flag – which the County will fly at McEntee Plaza from now on, 365 days a year.  

“Having a celebration like this on government property at the County with community members is a real shout out to trans joy, trans resilience, and also a reminder that in the face of oncoming violence, erasure, and threats to our existence, we're still here and we're still fighting,” said Kiin Chadha, who works at The Q Corner, a County space dedicated to supporting the LGBTQ community. “And not only are we still fighting, but we're doing it together and we're centering joy and love.”

Keynote speaker and longtime transgender activist Tiffany Woods, who is the first Transgender Health Manager for the California Department of Public Health, recounted the “dark days” of decades past when trans people had few legal protections or representation.

“We had nonexistent political support, or workplace support, and extraordinarily little family or community support,” she said. “Our main visibility was in the gay bars far away from the public.”

Nevertheless, a community persevered and blossomed, Woods said, and by the 2010s it became much more visible. Trans people got involved in politics and fought for hard-won legal protections, services and seats at the table.

“If you would have told me back then that I would be standing here at the County building in 2025 delivering a keynote speech on the Transgender Day of Visibility, I would have looked at you like you had lost your mind,” she said. “But here we are today, with political support and allyship, with our voices, perspectives and power. Let me say that again – and power. Yes, you can clap because that power is real.”

Woods called the flag-raising event – held in advance of the International Transgender Visibility Day on March 31 – “a bold statement of Santa Clara County's values and an act of resistance.”

Other speakers and attendees said they deeply appreciated the County’s commitment to the trans population and the LGBTQ community. The County was the first in the nation to create an Office of LGBTQ Affairs in 2016 and has reinforced its commitment since with transgender empowerment and workplace inclusion initiatives. The County opened the Gender Health Center in 2019 as the first and only clinic in the South Bay specializing in care for transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse individuals. The New Haven Inn – a referral-only homeless shelter for those who identify as LGBTQ – also began operating in 2019. The Q Corner opened in 2021, the Gender Affirming Care Clinic in 2023, and last August saw the grand opening of the colleQTive LGBTQ+ Wellness Center. 

Ben Geilhufe, program manager at the Gender Affirming Care Clinic, said the County’s actions and messaging have been a beacon of positivity when major mainstream media outlets and social media posts have been overwhelmingly negative toward trans folks.

“They're trying to cause chaos and confusion,” Geilhufe said of the media. “And so positive messaging from the leadership in our County is incredibly important messaging. What we heard today was leadership standing there saying, ‘Hey, we are here, we see you, we support you, and we will continue offering these services.’”

County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee told the crowd that the County will always stand against efforts attacking fundamental human rights, calling out federal politicians as “frankly ignorant.”

“The freedom to love, and whom to love – this is so basic but they don’t get it,” Lee said. “But we, here in Santa Clara County, we absolutely cherish and are proud of the fact that we continue our long history of opposing discrimination and hate.”