Following a concerted effort by local LGBTQ activists, Los Angeles Pride will take on a decidedly more political atmosphere this year.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure that the people who come to the city, sometimes only once or twice a year, are going to see something familiar [at the pride festival].”
That’s Christopher Street West board president Chris Classen, trying to assure folks at a Wednesday night community meeting that this year’s LA Pride in June will still provide a satisfying amount of entertainment, despite the major change in theme.
Related: West Coast LGBT protest planned to coincide with National Pride March
The annual pride parade has been sidelined altogether to make way for the nationwide LGBT Resist march, scheduled in several U.S. cities for Sunday, June 11th, the day LA Pride usually takes place.
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Bound to be much like the vast Women’s March that swept many American cities on January 21st, LA’s Resist march will kick off at Hollywood and Highland and follow a 3.1 mile path to La Brea Avenue, where it will then turn onto Santa Monica Boulevard and end at San Vicente at the entrance of the Pride festival.
Queerty spoke with one of the march’s organizers, activist and L.A. Police and Fire pension commissioner Brian Pendleton, shortly after Trump’s inauguration.
“I was seeing all the excitement around what was going on in Washington D.C. regarding their Gay Pride efforts,” he said. “And coming off of what the Women’s March did around the country, it seemed like a natural fit.”
So far, the march has received over 23K positive responses on Facebook.
Related: It’s happening: Major LGBT march on Washington set for D.C. Pride weekend
WEHOville reports they’re expecting about “500,000 people” to attend to LA march.
The Pride Festival itself will still be a ticketed event (probably $20 each day), and it’s scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, June 10-11 in West Hollywood Park.
There’s also a free trans event and a sober area on Friday June 9.
The annual Pride parade is expected to return in 2018.
Biscuits
Even on a good year the entrance to the festival following the parade is a massive clusterf*ck. Long, disorganized lines for tickets, slow ticket sellers, slow security checkers – it could take over an hour to make it through the gates. This year they are going to have a massive protest parade end right at the entrance to the festival (or who knows what Chris Classen will call it this year) AND the footprint of the festival is drastically reduced due to construction further limiting the number of people that can be admitted. What could possibly go wrong?
jjsatellite
Are you referring to George Soros?
Forward motion of the Trump administration?
Where have you been living the past four months?
“Forward” is a bit rich , don’t you think ?
Kieran
So in other words, leftist politics trumps “gay pride” in la la land. Got it.
KaiserVonScheiss
That’s exactly it.
The left has gone delusional. Trump ain’t perfect, but my God. It’s like no one on the left has anything better to do.
They are just as stupid as the conspiratard right-wingers who called Obama a communist.
DCguy
Oh look, another Trump troll that can’t provide any details, just lashes out at “The Left”.
Hey Kieran, here’s a thought. Specifically detail out exactly which Trump policies you support and why, and I mean details. You don’t get to say “He speaks his mind”. You aren’t fooling anybody bigot.
tacoma4x4
These protests do nothing but strengthen Trump support further guaranteeing his re-election and make you all look like idiots. A lot of us who didn’t vote for Trump last year will be voting for him in 2020 because of it – assuming he keeps doing what he’s been doing, which is following through with his campaign promises.
1EqualityUSA
Go ahead, vote for anyone you deem appropriate.
salumbre
Haven’t you heard? LGBTQ rights are threatened. It does not matter if you’re a leftist or not; you’re equally screwed.
batesmotel
haha, they’ve grown delusional marching and protesting for no real good reason and for themselves since no one else cares. West Hollywood is known for preaching to the choir. Back when there was a real reason to protest to stop the Yes on 8 group in 2008, the L.A. gays protested in West Hollywood instead of going to cities where people were in support of Yes on 8. It was a waste of time and the Yes on 8 folks won. When will these leftists learn.
mujerado
If you folks feel that protesting against Trump and what he stands for and wants to do to this country and especially the LGBT community, you’re free not to march or attend. If you feel protesting Trump is only a “liberal” cause you’re equally free to abstain from dirtying yourself by association. As a gay Vietnam veteran who’s been in the L.A. gay rights movement for 40 years I’ll be walking happily with the crowd. I’ve thought for years the parade has gotten too far away from its original purpose, to celebrate and perpetuate the freedom signified by the Stonewall riots. Now more than ever we have to show ourselves to insure we’re not dragged back into a political closet. If that doesn’t appeal to you, stay home. I’m 70 years old, and I’ll be taking that 3.1-mile walk.
DarkZephyr
Isn’t this what LGBT Pride was originally about anyway regardless of whether an LGBT person is on the “right” or the “left”? Seems to me its just going back to its roots.
You can call that “leftist” if you want, but its not just people on the left who feel threatened by Trump.
And if you think the TERRIBLE campaign promises that he made and is subsequently keeping makes him a good candidate, by all means, vote for him again. Take your revenge on those who want LGBT people to be treated with respect and not discriminated against by voting for a candidate who has promised to do just that. By all means.
One of his campaign promises was to try to do away with the “shocking” (as he called it) Supreme Court marriage equality ruling in any way he could, especially via SCOTUS nominations. By all means take joy and pleasure in that. Not all conservatives do.
Another of his campaign promises is to make it so that LGBT people can be discriminated against based on religious beliefs *everywhere* and he seems to be on the verge of keeping that promise too. After all, an early draft of his attempt to do just that has been leaked and its legit. By all means celebrate that, and if that motivates you to want to vote him in a second term, do it. If you are gay but don’t want to be treated with equality and respect, then you have to stick to your life philosophy of normalizing inequality for yourself and your own community.
As for me, I do NOT want marriage equality taken away and I do NOT want one of the worst anti-LGBT laws in the entire history of the United States to become a reality, so despite not being on the left OR right, I intend to protest and fight it.
There are people on the right, the left and in the middle who are all united against Trump. Do whatever you want, but don’t call this reaction against Trump “Leftist” because it isn’t. Its simply human. Laugh at it, call it “delusional”, celebrate this aggressive attack on LGBT people that *has already begun* if you want. But I will be doing everything I can to fight it.
tacoma4x4
@ mujerado: And what is it, exactly, that Trump has ‘threatened’ to do to the LGBT community, aside from trying to protect them from religious lunatics who want to throw them off buildings? Explain, please.
tacoma4x4
@DarkZephyr: Good job at bullet pointing all of CNN’s BS talking points about Trump. I followed his campaign pretty closely and aside from a few off the cuff remarks early in his campaign, the only thing he ever said about marriage equality was that it’s a done deal. He can’t change it, he has no interest in changing it, it’s up to the courts. He did however say that he thought it was a states rights issue, which it is. Personally I think the entire institution should be abolished and returned to the church. Government has no business giving benefits for or against private relationships of any sexuality. But it’s like the SC’s abortion ruling – people complain about it but nothing is ever done about it, because the SC ruled on it decades ago and no other SC has shown any real interest in challenging it even when it has had more conservative judges than not. Same for the marriage issue. As for his other points – yes, I want a wall and tougher border security. It’s not going to stop every idiot from crossing. It’s like bugs – no matter how tight you think your house is, some are always going to get in anyway. But at least Trump is trying to do something about it. Yes, I want more stringent vetting on muslims entering this country. Personally I’d like all of them banned but that’s against the constitution. Why do you want to live next door to someone whose entire religion and way of life says that you should be dead?
tacoma4x4
ETA: The ‘religious freedom’ EO – which is what you’re referring to – was scrapped in early February, like the first week. More recently however, Pence was praising Trumps extension of Obama’s 2014 mandate on federal contractors.
“Trump’s extension of Obama’s order mandates that federal contractors follow pro-homosexual and pro-transgender employment policies or lose doing business with the federal government. It was signed by Obama in 2014 and reaffirmed in early February by President Trump.”
I would link the article but I don’t know what the policy on off-site linking in comments is here. So you can google it.
1EqualityUSA
Neil Gorsuch will take care of these political quagmires that the GOP finds themselves in. This article tells us who his mentors were at Oxford. ee.
Trump won’t have to lift a finger.
http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2017/3/07/neil-gorsuchs-gay-friends-wont-save-us-supreme-court
daisydave
After the Stonewall raid in New York, IT WAS A MARCH. Always has been POLITICAL. This year it will be getting back to its roots as a MARCH. Research.
jay_starr
DCguy, responding to a post by calling the person “another Trump Troll” isn’t helping your accusation that the person you responded to, “can’t provide any details, just lashes out at ‘The Left’.”, since you did that very thing in your reply. Quite honestly, neither the GOP, DNC, or the complicit media are working for OUR rights, they are using sound bytes, and isolated issues to MANIPULATE us to doing what THEY want us to do.
The President has decreed that transgender people shall NOT be harassed for using a restroom in the White House, he has also stated that Obergfelt v Hodges is settled, and IS the law of the land, which he will NOT fight against.
Bear in mind that in 2008 both Clinton and Obama spoke AGAINST marriage equality, and maintained that position until the 2012 election campaigns began.
Like him or not, Trump is the first non-politician citizen to run for President, who held a Pride flag on stage during his campaign.
bjoh249
And what exactly are you folks protesting in regards to President Trump? What has he done to hurt gay rights? Please tell me. He is hardly a George W Bush. This is ridiculous.
bjoh249
daisydave, President Trump is probably one of the most gay friendly Republican Presidents we have ever had. Where were your protests when Ronald Reagan blamed gays for the AIDS epidemic? Where were you during the Bush years? All of a sudden Donald Trump is one of the most anti-gay Presidents of our time. Give me a break. I am a gay man who proudly supported Trump for good reason. I was sick and tired of open borders, a government that wasn’t listening to the people, and a corrupt Washington. I make no apologies for voting for Trump.
inbama
Excellent idea.
With a sociopathic president allied with anti-gay monster Vladmir Putin, now is not the time for self-congratulatory celebrations.
DarkZephyr
Exactly. Its time to take Pride back to its roots.
Herman75
Seriously?
So no nuns on roller skates? No Men with pink mohawks twirling a baton? And no silly, skinny twinks skipping down the boulevard in their skivvies?
How will the media find anything newsworthy to cover?
bjoh249
Well “Saint Obama” and “Saint Hillary” worked with the monster Putin as well.
JessPH
Aren’t Pride “parades” supposed to be protest marches anyway? Gays just do protests more fabulously so they are being mistaken as parades.
DCguy
:::::Clapping:::::
RTL2
No, this is about welcoming in the angry SJW millennials and emotionally unbalanced is they can kidnap the parade in the name of cyberbullying, fat shaming, other-kin rights and ever other obnoxious self centered meme war they are fighting rather than actually doing something. At least the Westboro Baptist kept to their spot on La Cienega instead of taking the entire parade hostage.
DCguy
Gee, what a shock, the Trump Troll attacks a Jew as the Boogeyman. This is the racist, bigoted conspiracy craziness that the Trump supporters are all about.
Now why don’t you go put on your foil hat and rant about how Barbara Streisand is trying to mind control you, douchebag.
Wilberforce
After ignoring working class issues for 30 years, all the democrats can do is delay the inevitable. Excuse me, didn’t mean to distract form your boutique, self involved bs.
DarkZephyr
This isn’t about “Democrats” though. Nowhere in the article does it say “Democrats”. The article is about gay pride. Last I checked, gays are everywhere and not just among the Democrats.
Dave in Northridge
The New York Pride Parade has always been political, although less so when they started marching south into the Village than when the parade ended at the Sheep Meadow in Central Park. This is just a corrective in the New York direction. The reason the San Francisco parade is a mess in that it can’t make up its mind whether to be political or celebratory so it tries to do both. This is also not a Democratic/Republican issue because our rights as GAY PEOPLE regardless of how well off we are or are not are being threatened by the current administration.
batesmotel
They’ll be marching for themselves since no one outside of that cares. Marching is equaled to whining now. It’s lost validity, that’s why all of their rioting and violence they’re creating hasn’t changed any laws and it won’t.
mujerado
What rioting and violence are LGBT people creating? Please be specific.
tacoma4x4
@mujerado: A lot of the anti trump protests have become violent – look at Berkley, or the idiots in the streets of Portland just last week. And while the lgbt groups have not specifically organized violent protests under the lgbt flag, there have been several lgbt people participating in those protests that became violent.
Neonegro
Does that mean, no half naked grown azz men parading and bouncing on floats and wearing high heels and makeup?
DarkZephyr
I hope not. Personal freedom to be who you want was once a great hallmark of the LGBT community and has slowly ceased to be so. I would LOVE for it to return to that.
David
I remember being in the first gay pride in Phoenix. Every time we ccame around a corner we didn’t know what to expect. A car coming through the barricades, people throwing things, what ever. It turned out to be a very civilized event. I do feel like we showed the world something special that day. The community had pride and it showed it. Maybe the community in LA thinks the same. The message has to be very clear and I fell they will be doing it this year.
Doug
Spoke too soon… disregard my comment above. Just read this:
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/south-dakota-becomes-first-us-state-pass-anti-lgbt-legislation-2017/#gs.7Pb6hc8
natekerchel
No surprise here – the homophobes are out in force on this one – positively crawling out from under their rocks. For those who claim to be gay and think that means you can’t be homophobic – think again.
This issue is not about ‘leftists’ or Democrats or even Republicans. It is about human and civil rights and the direction they are taking in the USA. Let’s get it clear – Trump is not a Republican in the traditional sense we think of – he is an emotionally unstable narcissistic sociopath. I have no doubt this will appeal to the malcontents and maladjusted types who regularly appear on this site to defend him – they, and he, thrive on the politics of chaos.
The roots of gay pride are in protesting against the lack of, or threat to, those civil and human rights. All that is happening here is a return to those roots in the face of the most openly unapologetic discriminatory ‘administration’ for more than 100 years. There will be no return to pre Stonewall days. so for all you pretend gays/homophobes – get used to it. You will not be allowed to spew your venom all over us ever again.
jay_starr
So your definition of “homophobic” appears to be anybody who disagrees with your views? I’ve spent over three decades fighting for our civil rights in Memphis, and I am extremely proud of our community! That does NOT mean that I agree with EVERY “issue” promoted by EVERY LGBTQ group, but it also doesn’t make me “homophobic”…
daisydave
After the Stonewall raid in New York, IT WAS A MARCH. Always HAS been POLITICAL. This year it will be getting back to its roots AS a MARCH. Research & fact check.
bjoh249
In 1969 it was political. There is no reason for it today. NONE! I am gay and I love President Trump. He has done nothing to hurt me. So kindly take your “not my President” meme and shove it. Thank you
o.codone
Why? Because they’re idiots. That’s why.
ShowMeGuy
toeMAYtoe toeMAHtoe I doubt anyone will be able to tell the difference.
bjoh249
Do we really have to get political? This is ridiculous. Leave the controversial, divisive stuff out of it please. President Trump isn’t doing anything to hurt gay rights.
RTL2
It’s nice to know SJW snowflakes don’t discriminate and ruin everyone’s fun equally. I’d rather have the Westboro Baptists, at least they keep to their one little spot of loud obnoxious stupidity instead of having to kidnap the entire event. If these self-centered party crashing SJW is who is against Trump than maybe I need to give Trump a second chance.