Pasadena Raises Pride Flag at City Hall, Calling Visibility ‘Critical’ in Fraught National Moment

On the first day of Pride Month, city officials, community leaders, and residents gathered on the steps of Pasadena City Hall on Monday to raise the rainbow flag for the sixth consecutive year, a ceremony that, in the current political climate, carried weight beyond the ceremonial.

Mayor Victor Gordo opened the proceedings with a declaration that has become something of a civic touchstone in this city of roughly 140,000 people northeast of Los Angeles. “Pasadena is a city that accepts, loves and welcomes all people regardless of where they’re from, regardless of how they identify,” he said, before introducing the morning’s featured speakers.

Among them was Terry Madigan, who will serve as president of the 2027 Tournament of Roses — and who, as Mayor Gordo noted, is the first openly gay president in the association’s 138-year history. Madigan, a 34-year member of the organization, described visibility as his “superpower.”

“I’m going to be open and honest about who I am, no secrets,” Madigan said. “What you see is what you get. I’m also not going to pretend or apologize.”

Madigan also used the occasion to reveal the theme for the 2027 Rose Parade, which he said was announced on the Tournament steps on January 15th: “Welcome.” He described it as a celebration of belonging and chosen family — a concept he called “critically important in the LGBTQ community where many have lost their relationships with their given families.” He urged those in the community to remain visible beyond June. “The hope we provide will save lives,” he said.

Christian Port, in his final year as board president of the San Gabriel Valley LGBTQ Center after eight years on its board of directors, framed the flag-raising in explicitly political terms. “When rights are under attack, visibility is not symbolic,” he said. “It is protective.” He pointed to the center’s research partnership with the Pasadena Public Health Department as evidence that celebration alone is insufficient. “Support systems save lives,” he said, calling on the city to lead “not only with celebration, but with care, inclusion, and courage.”

City Councilmember Jason Lyon, who is raising his family in Pasadena with his husband, offered perhaps the most pointed remarks of the afternoon, tying the local ceremony to the national political landscape. “In a time when the federal government has to be forced by a court to keep the pride flag at the national monument to the beginning of the LGBTQ pride movement,” he said, “raising the pride flag is also an act of defiance.” He added: “Pasadena will not go back.”

Vice Mayor Jessica Rivas kept her remarks brief but emphatic. “We don’t just tolerate or accept or acknowledge,” she said, echoing Lyon’s framing. “We celebrate everyone.”

Representatives from the offices of State Senator Sasha Renee Perez and Assemblymember John Harabedian also attended, presenting the city with a certificate of recognition for the sixth annual flag-raising on behalf of the California Legislature.

The ceremony is part of what organizers described as the San Gabriel Valley Pride Tour, a multi-city effort to bring visible public support to LGBTQ residents across the region. Port closed with a vision that extended beyond the month. “I want every LGBTQ person in Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley to know that they belong,” he said. “I want every young person growing up in our region to know they do not have to leave home to find acceptance.”