{"id":362906,"date":"2026-06-16T15:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/362906\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T15:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:59:10","slug":"santa-clara-county-lgbtq-office-hits-10-years-of-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/362906\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa Clara County LGBTQ+ office hits 10 years of service"},"content":{"rendered":"

Santa Clara County is celebrating a decade of providing services to LGBTQ+ residents through an official department.<\/p>\n

The Office of LGBTQ Affairs<\/a> on Friday celebrated its 10-year anniversary amid a\u00a0Pride Month flag raising ceremony, resource fair and inclusive \u201clavender\u201d graduation for LGBTQ+ high school and college students. The county department hosted the event in partnership with the\u00a0county Office of Education and San Jose State University Queer Hope Institute. Featured speakers included Assemblymember Alex Lee, the first openly bisexual state lawmaker in California history, and former county Supervisor Ken Yeager, who in 1992 became the first openly gay public official in Santa Clara County.<\/p>\n

\"\"Former Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager helped create the Office of LGBTQ Affairs by calling for a health assessment of the LGBTQ+ community. Photo by Lorraine Gabbert.<\/p>\n

The celebration included performances by drag queens and LGBTQ+ Mexican folklorico dancers. Sera Fernando, manager of the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, said the lavender graduation was designed to make youth feel safe, welcome and free to be their authentic selves amid anti-LGBTQ+ legislation<\/a> and challenges to trans rights on the national stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt continues the legacy of joy, celebration, equity, justice and resilience \u2026 and makes sure we\u2019re responsive to the needs of all LGBTQ+ residents,\u201d Fernando told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n

The Office of LGBTQ Affairs<\/a> provides resources for LGBTQ+ residents, advocates for\u00a0services and advises the county on policies. Yeager<\/a> helped create the department after he called for a health assessment of the LGBTQ+ community in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we would receive constituent calls or emails dealing with LGBTQ issues, we were happy to deal with them \u2014 but there really wasn\u2019t any other organization or person in the entire county network that was in charge of doing those kind of services,\u201d Yeager told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cI was always very worried that once we were gone, everything we had done would stop. Who would have thought that we would be dealing with this backlash to trans rights when we thought we were on the path to a better day? Other jurisdictions should take heed \u2026 if you just leave it to chance, these services are not going to be provided.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee said while Santa Clara County celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its LGBTQ+ office, San Francisco doesn\u2019t have one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a model for not just the rest of California, but \u2026 the nation,\u201d he said at the event. \u201cIt is important for us to be front and center, to be here and to be queer. This office is one of those bedrock institutions that maintains our presence and maintains our rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two regional cities, Santa Clara and San Jose, have supported the LGBTQ+ population in years past by creating rainbow crosswalks<\/a> and celebrating Pride month. San Jose also holds an annual Pride parade<\/a> in August and is home to the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center<\/a>, which provides a community safe space<\/a> and advocates for LGBTQ+ issues.<\/p>\n

\"\"The celebration also featured a resource fair to provide support and services to LGBTQ+ residents. Photo by Lorraine Gabbert.<\/p>\n

Danny Castillo, program coordinator for the Queer Hope Institute, said although some universities hold lavender graduations, there was a need among LGBTQ+ high school students to be celebrated. The institute reached out to the county and they combined events.<\/p>\n

Bonnie Sugiyama, director of San Jose State University PRIDE Center and Gender Equity Center, appreciated the county celebrating LGBTQ+ youth.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to do it in front of the community that\u2019s going to be here tonight, that they know will love and support and hold them for who they completely are \u2026 is something that\u2019s special,\u201d Sugiyama told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n

\"In-line<\/a><\/p>\n

Susan Ellenberg, who represents District 4 on the Board of Supervisors, said while the federal government and other states are \u201cdoing their damnedest to erase this population,\u201d the county is working to ensure its LGBTQ+ residents can access care, support and resources that are affirming and responsive to their needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPride began as a rallying cry, a demand to exist openly, safely and with dignity,\u201d she said at the event. \u201cWhen we raise the pride flag and the progress flag here at Santa Clara County, we are making a visible statement that LGBTQ+ residents, youth, families, employees and community members belong here, are valued here and deserve to be celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Lorraine Gabbert at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Santa Clara County is celebrating a decade of providing services to LGBTQ+ residents through an official department. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[712,2434,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-362906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-centerpiece","tag-lgbtq","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}