Palm Springs Mayor takes part in White House Pride Month celebration
Palm Springs Lisa Middleton was in attendance for the Pride Month celebration at the White House.
. @CityofPS Mayor Lisa Middleton spotted in the crowd of the White House Pride Month celebration today. Middleton is also celebrating her 70th birthday today!
— KESQ News Channel 3 (@KESQ) June 15, 2022
You Can Watch the Full Event Here: https://t.co/yQwkxDuXH1 pic.twitter.com/uy5PwBXrU1
Middleton is the first person in California to serve as mayor and the third transgender person to serve in any American city.
On Monday, the city announced that she accepted an invitation from President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to attend the annual Pride Month Celebration on Wednesday.
“As far as I'm concerned, it's a celebration of Palm Springs and Palm Springs values,” Middleton told News Channel 3's Samantha Lomibao on Monday. Wednesday is also Middleton's 70th birthday.
During the event, President Biden issued an executive order to stymie what he called discriminatory legislative attacks on the LGBTQ community by Republican-controlled states, declaring before a signing ceremony packed with activists, “pride is back at the White House.”
The order seeks to discourage “conversion therapy” — a discredited practice that aims to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity — while also promoting gender-affirming surgery and expanding foster care protections for gay and transgender parents and children.
“All of you in this room know better than anyone that these attacks are real and consequential for real families,” the president said before sitting to sign the order.
Actions listed within the order attempt to bolster programs better addressing the issue of suicide among LGBTQ children and seek to make adoptions easier for LGBTQ parents and children.
Middleton has become a notable figure in the country's LGBTQ+ history, breaking numerous barriers.
When she was first elected to the Palm Springs City Council in Nov. 2017, she became the first transgender person elected to a non-judicial office in California.
Last year, Palm Springs Mayor Pro Tem Lisa Middleton was appointed to California's Transgender Advisory Council. The goal of the council is to bring attention to the issues faced by the transgender community by inviting stakeholders in advocacy, government, and different industry sectors to hear directly from the council.
In February, Middleton made national headlines when she addressed Texas Governor Gregg Abbott's order calling for investigations of transgender youth as "child abuse."
"Well if not in Texas, in Palm Springs, we stand with transgender children and their families," Middleton said.
The White House Pride Month celebration comes just after 31 masked members of white nationalist group, 'Patriot Front', were arrested in Idaho over the weekend. They are suspected of conspiring to riot near a pride event in Coeur d’Alene.
“The level of hate and potentially harmful acts that have been perpetrated on individuals within the LGBTQ community is something that is horrific,” Middleton said.
However, Middleton expressed that this event shouldn’t stop anyone from being themselves.
“We're fortunate to live in California, very fortunate to live in Palm Springs. But that does not exist everywhere in the country. It should, and it needs to, these are American values, when we talk about opportunity and responsibility, and giving people a chance to show what they can do.”
