The LA Pride Parade will take place in Hollywood, returning to the area where it began more than 50 years ago.
The LA Pride Parade originally was a protest march demanding gay rights. It took place June 28, 1970, to commemorate the Stonewall Rebellion on Christopher Street in New York City in 1969.
Due to the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, LA Pride did not celebrate the parade’s 50th anniversary. This year, it will, said officials with Christopher Street West, the nonprofit that produces LA Pride.
The parade will take place June 12, but the route and other details have not yet been released.
“LA Pride is thrilled to come together this year to commemorate the historic anniversary at the parade’s first and original location,” Gerald Garth, Christopher Street West’s vice president of programs and initiatives, said in a statement. “Considering feedback gathered since the pandemic began, we are committed to creating experiences and access to our entire community, including many of those who have been most underserved and underrepresented.”
Not in WeHo anymore
This will mark the first LA Pride Parade since Christopher Street West dissolved its partnership in July 2020 with the City of West Hollywood, where it had produced the festival and parade since 1979.
West Hollywood announced earlier this month that it will produce WeHo Pride during the first weekend in June.
That event will coincide with Venice Pride.
LA Pride Parade origins
For much of the 20th century, including the 1960s and 70s, the Los Angeles Police Department made life miserable for the LGBTQ community.
Officers and undercover vice decoys relentlessly terrorized the community with false arrests, bar raids, and violence. It was a fact of life for LGBTQ people.
In 1970, three gay men stood up to the police and decided to do what was unthinkable at the time — They organized a Gay Pride parade in Hollywood.
Bob Humphries (founder of the United States Mission), Morris Kight (a founder of the Gay Liberation Front), and Troy Perry (founder of the Metropolitan Community Church) came up with the idea as a way to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City.
Protestors marched along Hollywood Boulevard.
