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Outrage after Wu's Pride speech boasts of taxpayer-funded gender transitions, accuses Trump of 'terrorizing' immigrants, and says he'd 'rather start a war' than honor trans troops

Monday, June 15, 2026•
4 min read
MDN Staff
•
Outrage after Wu's Pride speech boasts of taxpayer-funded gender transitions, accuses Trump of 'terrorizing' immigrants, and says he'd 'rather start a war' than honor trans troops

Boston mayor used the city's Pride flag raising to brag about a 'record-breaking investment' in residents' name and gender changes — then unloaded on the Trump White House.

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BOSTON — Mayor Michelle Wu used Boston's Pride flag raising on Monday, June 1, to boast about a "record-breaking investment" in helping residents change their names and genders — and to deliver a sharp attack on the Trump White House.
Footage of the remarks went viral over the weekend after Breitbart News posted the clip on X. It was amplified by the Defiant L's and Libs of TikTok accounts, drawing more than a million combined views by Sunday afternoon.
From the podium, flanked by city staffers, Wu trained her speech on three Trump-administration moves at once: cuts to gender-affirming care, federal immigration enforcement, and the Pentagon's reversal on transgender service members.
"They would rather remodel the White House ballroom than fund the gender-affirming healthcare that saves young people's lives," Wu said. "They would rather terrorize law-abiding immigrants than let kids read books about love. And they would rather start a war than honor the trans service members who actually protect our country."

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She also announced what she called Boston's "first ever LGBTQ+ job fair" and praised the city's "record-breaking investment with helping residents with name and gender changes." The mayor offered no dollar figure for the spending, and "name and gender changes" was not further defined in the prepared remarks.
Standing to Wu's right, in a dark blue blazer, was Daunasia Yancey — the deputy director of Wu's Office of LGBTQIA2S+ Advancement and the founder of Black Lives Matter Boston. Yancey was arrested in April 2025 for felony assault after a woman accused her of slamming her against a wall and striking her in the throat. A judge dismissed the felony charge last summer, and Wu's administration quietly reinstated Yancey to the $116,000 role earlier this month.
Online reaction to Wu's speech was immediate.
The speech ran at an awkward moment for Wu's fiscal pitch. Boston is working through a structural budget shortfall the city's own chief financial officer first pegged at roughly $100 million when she briefed the City Council in March. The gap has since been narrowed to about $70 million through drawdowns from city reserves, the Boston Globe reported.
Last week, the City Council voted to claw back $11.8 million from Wu's FY2027 budget — a reallocation Wu publicly warned could trigger layoffs, WBUR reported.
The Pride speech made no mention of either number.

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Outrage after Wu's Pride speech boasts of taxpayer-funded gender transitions, accuses Trump of 'terrorizing' immigrants, and says he'd 'rather start a war' than honor trans troops - Mass Daily News