June is for nuclear family' in Fresno

While the LGBTQ+ community and allies celebrated June as Pride month across much of the country, one community in Central California was living in a different reality.

- JAZMIN ALVARADO

PARADE participants carry a Pride flag at Fresno's annual celebration in the Tower District on June 6.

Following a 3-2 vote on June 16 by its Board of Supervisors, Fresno County recognized June as "Traditional Nuclear Family Month," declaring that the nuclear family unit is "God's perfect design" that aligns with Fresno's "traditional" values.

But for people such as Supervisor Luis Chavez, who was elected to the board in November 2024, last month's vote was an anomaly that he said should not be repeated.

Chavez said the resolution was personal for him as he and his family have opened up their home to foster children for the last seven years.

"We've taken in children that were not welcomed in homes because they did identify as either lesbian [or] gay, and we actually had a nonbinary child that stayed with us, too, in our home, and it bothered me because this language specifically excluded the amazing foster parents that we have that just happened to be LGBTQ," he said.

Chavez said he was the only Fresno County supervisor to attend this year's Fresno Pride Parade, a celebration that brings 20,000 people to the city's Tower District. For someone who had attended the festivity barely a week prior, the resolution proposed by board Chair Garry Bredefeld was divisive, not unifying.