California is losing its chill — another major protest against Trump is on its way. The demonstration is being planned to coincide with Los Angeles Pride and the National Pride March in Washington D.C., so mark your calendar for June 11 and prepare to get loud. (But by all means stay loud until then, also.)
At the rate things are going, Donald Trump‘s presidency will go down as the dawn of a new era of resistance. On January 21, three times as many protesters showed up for the Women’s March in Washington compared to Trump’s inauguration the day before. Add in the numerous “sister marches” across the country and the world, and the number of Women’s March participants rises to the millions. In downtown Los Angeles alone, organizers estimated that 750,000 people took to the streets.
A major message of the day’s events was resilience.
When political activist, author and scholar Angela Davis took the stage to address the D.C. crowd, she said with unwavering determination:
How about we take this to the next level?
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“The next 1,459 days of the Trump administration will be 1,459 days of resistance: resistance on the ground, resistance in the classrooms, resistance on the job, resistance in our art and in our music.”
These were not idle words.
Last week we reported that activists on the East Coast, inspired by the Women’s March, are planning a “mass” LGBT demonstration in Washington D.C. to fall on Pride weekend. It was only a matter of time for the idea to fan out.
Related: Major LGBT march on Washington set for D.C. Pride weekend
“I was seeing all the excitement around what was going on in Washington D.C. regarding their Gay Pride efforts,” activist and L.A. Police and Fire pension commissioner, and one of the California event’s organizers, Brian Pendleton told Queerty. “And coming off of what the Women’s March did around the country, it seemed like a natural fit.”
Pendleton created a Facebook page proposing that this year’s L.A. Pride parade be turned into a political march. “Floats and marching bands are nice when we are not at war. Now is the time we shake things up and take to the streets,” he wrote. In 24 hours, the event received over 20K positive responses in the form of RSVPs or people marking “interested.”
Support was echoed in many of the comments. “I’ve never attended a protest, but I will be attending this one,” wrote Bree Orozco. Sung Tse said “It’s my kid’s 18th bday! What an amazing way to celebrate!”
Related: March on Washington has potential to reignite the full force of the gay rights movement
“We hope hundreds of thousands of people show up, with this idea of resisting,” Pendleton told Queerty. “We want to resist apathy. We want to resist having our rights rolled back by an unenlightened administration. And we want to be all-inclusive. We want to make sure that it’s everyone in the rainbow spectrum out there being represented.”
Pendleton and his fellow activists are in talks with Christopher Street West, the organizer of LA.’s annual Pride, as well as the City of West Hollywood, to get the one-time format change from parade to protest. And while he suggested to us that not everyone was immediately on board with the plan, “the good news is everyone’s at the table, and we’re all working together.”
Related: Press Secretary has no idea whether Trump will roll back LGBT protections
The White House has been especially dodgy on whether Trump will sign an executive order allowing anti-LGBTQ discrimination in the guise of so-called “religious freedom,” with some sources saying to expect it soon.
We will be following the progress of the L.A. march as it develops and bring you updates.
Roberteallen56
You know, (some say) just isn’t good enough for me. Looks like he’s off to a great start.
I will continue to be right behind him.
Don’t be one of those people who eat
What ever their given.
FnameLname
You don’t have to eat the food to know it went bad. Keep telling yourself that “he’s off to a good start ” until he decides something or someone you hold near and dear is an enemy of the state.
cabe
You wont be saying that when the First Amendment Defense Act passes and you are treated like a pariah.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
Resistance to what end tho? What are the common goals? What are we hoping to counter this creeping Trumpian fascist-like authoritarianism with? Underneath the slogans this so-called resistance is in disarray, we are more ideologically fractured than we’ve ever been before. I hope I’m wrong but I fear it’ll be just more ideological circular firing squads, mike-snatchers and purity witch hunts. Again, I hope I’m wrong.
DMRX
Even if it’s just to remind people that we exist – and that we’re human and thereby deserve the same rights as everyone else, that’s enough for me.
I’ve seen that you’ve posted this question on several articles.
If there’s anything you’ve come up with that you’d like the protests/resistance to include, why aren’t you contacting the organizers of these events to make your views known instead of just posting them “in the wind” here? Why aren’t you organizing your own event with your specific agenda?
Or are you just wanting to gripe about those who ARE actually doing something?
Herman75
Just like when the Dems shoved Hillary down our throats, what are we hoping to accomplish with this? The Repubs know what they’ve wanted and they’ve taken it, school boards, state governments, all the way up to the top. We’re screwed.
Maude
Politeness and good manners will never ‘go out of style’ and until we learn to act accordingly while making our goals clear to everybody, we are now, and will continue to be our own worst enemy. Thus enforcing and adding fuel to the arguments against us.
Instead of ripping the opposition to our stated goals, respond by showing and telling all about our many good traits.
It’s those good and talented among us that moved us to win our right of freedom to love whomever we choose and to engage in conversational discourse with the highest officials with the degree of respect afforded all others.
NathanR
A lot of people, especially politically-obsessed people tend to forget that we’re not all images, or Facebook posts, or those templates that news stations draw up for you. We’re all individuals with different feelings, voices, wants and needs. We’re not all caricatures, generalized into one description. It’s good to show people that.
I doubt these marches will accomplish anything on the political front… but they do remind people that there isn’t just one type of human– and that all humans, regardless of their creed, their love, their views and their identity deserve one another’s respect. I don’t care if you support Trump, but I do care if you’re disrespectful to anyone who doesn’t think exactly like you. If we’re ever to progress into a greater civilization, we’ll do so by working together.