When prominent Bay Area LGBTQ+ activist Wiggsy Sivertsen moved to her current home in Los Gatos, she recalled bracing for backlash from her staunch Catholic neighbors.
While her neighbors turned out to be welcoming, years later the town is still relatively quiet on LGBTQ+ issues. For example, the Pride flag does not fly at town hall for Pride Month in June.
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Los Gatos and Saratoga do not have policies to allow the LGBTQ+ Pride flag to be flown. However, Santa Clara, San Jose and Santa Clara County raise Pride flags. In Los Gatos several residents asked the town council at its June 17 meeting to raise the Pride flag like its neighbors.
Sera Fernando, manager of the Santa Clara County Office of LGBTQ Affairs, said that raising a Pride flag is emblematic of a city’s commitment to support all residents and show that they are inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community.
As a Los Gatos resident and open lesbian, Sivertsen, 89, said that symbolic statements like flying the LGBTQ Pride flag or transgender Pride flag are important because they signify that a community is welcoming.
“It’s not like there are no gay people in this town,” Sivertsen said. “I’m not the only one, you know? There’s lots of them.”
Kylie Clark, advocacy director for the Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition, organized the action to inspire the town council to raise the Pride flag next year. She said she didn’t see any agenda items in June related to Pride Month, so she organized a group of about 10 people to attend the council meeting.
“I was driving around and I was just seeing Pride flags everywhere, and I thought to myself, ‘It’s so ridiculous that my community doesn’t do one,’” Clark said.
Los Gatos Vice Mayor Rob Moore said the town’s policy only allows for three flags to be flown at town hall: the American flag, the California state flag and the town of Los Gatos flag. Saratoga Mayor Belal Aftab said that the city doesn’t have a flag-raising policy, and neither he nor some other councilmembers and staff knew of the city doing any kind of flag raising.
At the end of the meeting on June 17, Moore made a motion for town staff to consider options to change the town’s flag policy to allow the Pride flag to be raised in June 2026 and return to council before the end of the year.
This isn’t the first time Los Gatos considered a changing their flag protocol to allow the Pride flag to be raised. Former mayor Marico Sayoc said that during her time on the council, they had considered changing the policy but the issue suffered “death by process.” The council couldn’t agree on certain scenarios, like what would happen if someone wanted to fly a flag the council did not agree with.
Los Gatos and Saratoga have both faced tensions between anti-LGBTQ+ groups and LGBTQ+ community supports. Sayoc recalled a small, vocal faction of right-wing activists disrupting council meetings while she was mayor and harassing her, her family and other councilmembers. One of those opponents is Lynley Hogan, who is suing Moore and council member Maria Ristow and resident Lee Fagot for defamation.
Sayoc called the distruptions “a horrible moment of a small faction of people being very vocal.”
“I think what was shown to the community by the United Against Hate march was that there was actually a large majority of residents that support these issues, but as we know, sometimes the squeaky wheel is what garners the most attention,” she added.
Sivertsen said that although there may be a lot of queer people in Los Gatos, many of them may not feel comfortable being open with their gender identity or sexuality.
“It hurts my heart to think of them still feeling like they can’t come out for whatever reason,” Sivertsen said. “Sometimes because of family, sometimes because they don’t want their friends to shun them, and I think more often than not, people could be really insensitive.”
Fernando said that in county’s listening sessions, staff heard reports of parents not being supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, going as far as going to school board meetings and complaining about their kids being taught LGBTQ+ history.
“Overall, from our listening forums, we heard the need for LGBTQ+ folks to be able to be seen, heard, visible and feel that sense of safety when they’re just occupying their own city,” Fernando said.
Moore, who is in a dating relationship with Clark, said he found the numerous public comments in support of raising a Pride flag “incredibly moving” and that it showed the need for the town to do more to recognize and legitimize the LGBTQ community in Los Gatos. He highlighted several resources available to LGBTQ+ residents, like the Los Gatos Library and New Museum Los Gatos. He also highlighted the county Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
Fernando said the office provides several support services for queer individuals, including physical and mental health and wellness, gender affirming care, legal support and socialization opportunities.
Aftab also highlighted West Valley College and Saratoga High School for their efforts to support their students in almost every capacity.
“I care about making sure that the LGBTQ community feels like they have the resources and the support that they need,” Aftab said.
