03-07-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Letters: Pride Parade is more than flamboyance. Here's why we march every year
As a gay man, I laughed at the Chronicle's print edition headline for its June 30 Pride story: 'Flamboyant show of resistance: Parade takes on political tone with rights threatened.'
Flamboyant? Probably. It's our métier. Political? Absolutely. The entire history of the gay rights movement is political. We are the bellwether for everyone's rights.
Since 1975, whether I was marching with the Gay Men's Chorus or marching against the religion-based bigotry of Anita Bryant, every step I took was political because there is always someone to dispute my right to exist, lie about my life, debate my full and authentic participation in society or use the coercive power of the state to force us back into the closet.
That won't happen unless it's at gunpoint, and we all know this. It's why we march.
We stand for our full participation in society. We stand and do our best to protect the rights of gay and trans kids to grow up and live their best lives because we grew up in a world that did its best to make our lives as difficult, unpleasant and dangerous as possible.
And we will do it very gaily and flamboyantly.
Ben Janken, Oakland
Small businesses need Medicaid
A recent analysis from Georgetown University and the Small Business Majority found that one-third of Medicaid recipients have some connection to small businesses, including about 11 million children of parents who are self-employed or who work for small businesses.
Given the importance of Medicaid to these businesses, it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to make cuts. But that's exactly what's happening in Washington, D.C., where some lawmakers are pushing to gut vital benefits so they can justify tax cuts for the wealthiest businesses and individuals.
California small businesses should not be forced to pay for anyone else's tax cuts, particularly if it means losing access to health care. Lawmakers should reject cuts to Medicaid and instead focus on legislation that helps small businesses grow and thrive.
Bianca Blomquist, California director, Small Business Majority, San Jose
Innovate with AI
From my experience, AI significantly boosts developer productivity without threatening jobs. Three areas where AI excels in software development are coding, documentation and test generation.
Coding is often the most tedious part of development. AI can handle this by translating a clear design description into code, with fewer bugs than I would typically make.
AI also generates the necessary documentation and testing data, which frees developers to focus on refining designs and reducing hard-to-find logic errors.
The results can easily cut the work by 50%, supporting Benioff's claim.
But the real question for companies like Salesforce is whether to leverage this productivity to speed up innovation or cut costs. Prioritizing innovation is the smarter choice.
AI isn't replacing jobs; it's empowering developers to do more meaningful work, leading to better products and faster delivery.
David Posner, Napa
What counts?
In the Chronicle, we read of an innocent man swept up as part of the Trump administration's quota of 1 million deportations by the end of this year ('A farmworker had broken no laws. A California sheriff and ICE took him anyway,' California, June 29).
Another story presented the federal government's claim that the University of California is illegally using 'race- and sex-based employment quotas' ('Trump administration announces yet another investigation into the UC system,' Politics, June 26).
So, what is worse, a quota that carelessly sweeps up thousands of innocent people and ships them off without a hearing, or a quota meant to pry open old boy networks of white male privilege?
If quotas are unfair, don't dream up new ones.
Kate Lucchese, Emeryville
