L.A. Pride Parade Becomes a Protest March
Back in 2013, then–L.A. Weekly staff writer Patrick Range McDonald complained that L.A. Pride had become an "outdated, adolescent mess," a celebration more about good times than about "fighting for our right to serve our country, to legally marry the person we love, to be out and not be fired for it and to play in professional sports without some kind of retribution."
Pride, McDonald said, should be "a political statement." Well, now it is. This year, L.A. Pride's annual parade will be taken over by the June 11 Resist March, organizer Brian Pendleton says. The switch is clearly a response to the presidency of Donald Trump, who last month rescinded an Obama administration directive allowing transgender students to use the public school bathrooms of their choice.
"We had eight strong years of progress, and now we face a political climate that could roll back our rights," Pendleton says. "We're resisting homophobia, xenophobia, sexism and racism."
Pendleton says his idea for the annual parade, which often includes colorful costumes, partygoers and political statements, to become a march was inspired by the success of the national Women's March following Trump's inauguration. In Los Angeles the event drew an estimated 350,000, possibly more. He posted the concept for the Resist March on his Facebook page that month, and within weeks he was on the board of the group that organizes L.A. Pride, the Christopher Street West Association.
Read more: http://www.laweekly.com/news/la-pride-parade-becomes-a-protest-march-8026892