By Debra Mulé
On Sunday, June 29, millions of LGBTQ+ people and their allies took to the streets of Manhattan to celebrate Pride and commemorate 56th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising – a turning point in the battle for civil rights in America and the world.
This milestone comes at a pivotal time – one in which Donald Trump is weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to wage unprecedented attacks against LGBTQ+ Americans on every conceivable front. From removing heroic figures like Woodmere native Harvey Milk from U.S. Navy ships during Pride month, eliminating LGBTQ+ specific services from the 988 national suicide prevention lifeline, and making concerted efforts to legislate transgender Americans out of existence, the campaign is regimented and deliberately cruel – and these are but a few examples.
What we are witnessing leads me to think back to my senior year at Uniondale High School in 1979-80 – and the struggles of a dear friend as he sought to live his truth. During math class, one of my best friends, Christian Cooper, began passing me notes, each containing a fragment of a clue to something about himself that he wanted to tell me. This persisted for about six months – and at the end of it all, he came out to me as gay.
This occurred more than 45 years ago – at a time when LGBTQ+ visibility was minimal in popular culture and, in the immediate aftermath of Anita Bryant’s scorched-earth campaign against gay equality, public acceptance was shaky at best. It took tremendous courage for him to come out – as it does for anybody at any time who is revealing themselves to the world. My Catholic faith, which has helped me navigate my entire life, teaches me a simple message – God is love, and God created us all in His vision.
If He made a person to be LGBTQ+, that clearly shows me that is how God wants that individual to love and live their lives. With the focus Jesus placed upon those perceived as the outcasts of society throughout the Scriptures, I believe we have a calling to extend our hand in love, especially when you consider the tremendously heightened socioeconomic risks that the LGBTQ+ community experiences. These hazards would only be exacerbated by the Trump administration’s ongoing rush to enact a budget that shreds America’s social safety net programs to give billionaires and multimillionaires tax cuts.
However, there has been noticeable progress that we can all draw strength from. During the last five years, we have witnessed a tremendous increase in the number and size of Pride celebrations in communities across Nassau County. This includes my hometown of Freeport, where the third annual Pride on the Mile grew to include its first ever Pride parade.
In Mineola and thousands of communities in each of the 50 states, “No Kings” rallies protesting the Trump administration’s reckless, cruel policies and tax giveaways to billionaires drew millions, showing that resistance is alive and well and poised to fight for the future of our nation.
As for Christian? After Uniondale High School, I have been overjoyed to watch him thrive in his career and excel as he pursues his passions and fights for equality for every American. In doing so, he earned a Daytime Emmy in 2024 for his National Geographic show, “Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper.”
Without a doubt, the LGBTQ+ community and the people who love and support them are experiencing tremendous adversity at the hands of individuals who seek to create hysteria and exploit the ensuing outcry for self-serving means. Without our collective voices, there is the very real threat of rights being pushed back even further than they already have – and the resulting harm to everyday Nassau County residents and people across America would be incalculable and unconscionable.
Resistance does not have to always be grand – it can be as simple as offering a kind, supportive ear to listen to a person facing hard times and connecting them to resources. While the federal government no longer works with The Trevor Project on the national suicide lifeline, this incredible organization is still hard at work across America serving LGBTQ+ individuals with a focus on aiding at-risk youth.
If you or a loved one is in need, reach them 24/7 by calling 1-866-488-7386, texting START to 678-678, or visiting https://www.thetrevorproject.org/.
Debra Mulé, of Freeport, is the Nassau County Legislature’s Alternate Deputy Minority Leader. She was first elected to the Legislature in 2017 and currently represents the Sixth District.