Editorial: Lurie should find a seat for Natoli

Back in January, just after his inauguration, we offered unsolicited advice to Mayor Daniel Lurie. Among the items was that he continue appointing qualified LGBTQ people to city boards and commissions. And he did that last week, moving Al Perez, a gay man, from the entertainment commission to the arts commission. He also named a gay man, Mawuli Tugbenyoh, as the new permanent executive director of the city’s Human Rights Commission. But the mayor missed an opportunity to reappoint a qualified transgender woman, Jane Natoli, to the San Francisco Airport Commission, and last week replaced her with Nancy Tung, a straight ally who is also chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party.

Natoli told us she was disappointed and would have liked to continue serving. Former mayor London Breed had appointed Natoli in 2021 and her term expired August 31, though she continued to serve through September 26. The airport commission does not run day-to-day operations at San Francisco International Airport; it offers guidance and sets policy.

And in this age of President Donald Trump, that’s important. In fact, Natoli told us that one reason she wanted to continue serving was because of Trump’s executive order from January stating there are only two genders, male and female. The “X” gender markers that some trans and nonbinary people use on their U.S. passports might soon be a thing of the past, and Natoli said that she had advocated on behalf of trans passengers with concerns to the Transportation Security Administration.

LGBTQ leaders have expressed their disappointment in Lurie’s decision, and we are disheartened, too. While there are several other trans or nonbinary people serving on commissions or advisory boards, none are as high-profile as the airport panel. And whether intended or not, Natoli’s ouster does send a message to the wider community.

This is an extremely difficult time for trans people, who are collectively disparaged nearly every day either by Trump himself, members of his administration, or MAGA adherents. Just Tuesday, during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s address to the country’s top military brass at a Marine base in Quantico, Virginia, he said, “No more DEI, dudes in dresses, or gender delusion … prepare for war.”

Trump, recently writing on Truth Social about the funding standoff that threatens a shutdown even as his Republican Party controls all the branches of government, stated, “[Democrats] are threatening to shut down the Government of the United States unless they can have over $1 Trillion Dollars in new spending to continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens (A monumental cost!), force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors [...] allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody.” (We’d like to see what “transgender operations for everybody” entails, but we digress.)

In fact, thanks to Trump, many health care providers have now stopped providing such surgeries for people under 19 or paused other gender-affirming care. He won. All Trump has to do is write or say “transgender” and that unleashes the MAGA fury, all over a relatively small number of people who are just trying to live their lives.

We don’t think many people actually believe all of this crap, but it gets amplified when the president of the United States says it. And that’s the reality we’re now living in.

So, yes, the mayor’s dismissal of a qualified trans city commissioner does send a message, and it’s not a good one.

And Trump has not forgotten about the city. Speaking at Hegesth’s military gathering Tuesday, Trump said he was going to “straighten out” San Francisco. “San Francisco and Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. They’re very unsafe places,” Trump said. “We’re gonna straighten them out one by one.”

“It’s a war from within,” the president added.

The remarks came about a month after the president threatened to send federal troops to the city.

The San Francisco Standard https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/30/trump-military-san-francisco/reported that Lurie, speaking later in the day at a City Hall ceremony, said crime is down 30% and has decreased 40% in the Financial District. He did not mention the president by name, the outlet reported, and has kept to that practice.

Regarding Natoli, Lurie could quickly rectify the matter by appointing her to another city oversight panel. In fact, several LGBTQ leaders have called for that. Gay District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey told us he expects she’ll be nominated for another appointment. Equality California, the statewide LGBTQ rights organization on whose board Natoli sits, also encouraged the Lurie administration to work with Natoli to identify new opportunities for her to serve the city. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said that LGBTQ representation on city commissions is a concern.

“I also think it is important to make sure we are maintaining and growing representation from many communities, including the LGBTQ community,” said Wiener.

None of this should be taken as criticism of Tung, whom we expect will be a good commissioner. We have observed how she has helped turn around the local Democratic Party, including by holding its meetings in various parts of town, including the Castro, to generate more interest and enthusiasm ahead of next year’s midterm elections. It’s just that at this moment, given the situation in this country, it feels wrong for the mayor not to have reappointed a trans commissioner.

Lurie needs to do the right thing and appoint Natoli to a city commission.