The inaugural WeHo Pride Parade will have two grand marshals.
Janelle Monáe will be the Grand Marshall Icon and JoJo Siwa will be the Next Gen Icon during WeHo Pride Parade June 5.
The free parade will step off at noon Santa Monica and Crescent Heights Boulevards and head west into West Hollywood’s Rainbow District. It will end at Robertson Boulevard.
“…Our amazing icons – Janelle Monáe and JoJo Siwa – truly reflect the core values of our city. Pride celebrations have always been more than festivals or parades,” West Hollywood Mayor Lauren Meister said in a statement. “Pride events give the diverse LGBTQ community a place to advocate for equality as well as a place to celebrate exactly who they are – exactly who they were meant to be.
“At this moment in history, with women’s rights and LGBTQ rights under attack, our icons stand as proud, outspoken beacons of light and hope for a better tomorrow,” Meister said.
The parade is part of WeHo Pride that will take place from June 3 to 5 at West Hollywood Park and the surrounding area.
WeHo Pride will also feature OUTLOUD: Raising Voices, a three-day LGBTQ concert series.
Tickets run from $59 to $205, plus service fees.
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Janelle Monáe
Monáe has received eight Grammy nominations and won multiple awards for her music.
Monáe made her film debut in “Hidden Figures.”
In 2019, Monáe won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Artist.
In April, Monáe published her book, “The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories from Dirty Computer,” which became a New York Times bestseller.
She will soon star as icon Josephine Baker in “De La Resistance,” which is also produced under her Wondaland banner.
Monáe confirmed during a new season premiere of “Red Table Talk” in April that she is nonbinary.
“I just don’t see myself as a woman, solely,” Monáe, 36, said on her “RTT” appearance. “I feel all of my energy. I feel like God is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the ‘she.’ If I am from God, I am everything. I am everything, but I will always, always stand with women. I will always stand with Black women. But I just see everything that I am beyond the binary.”
The “Antebellum” star came out as pansexual in 2018, she said in an interview with Rolling Stone at the time.
During her interview on “RTT,” she further discussed her pansexuality, noting that she’s attracted to others based on their energy rather than their sexual or gender identity.
“I don’t see how you identify,” she said. “And I feel like that opens you up to fall in love with whoever, with any beautiful spirit.”
JoJo Siwa
Siwa is a dancer, singer, and YouTuber, known for appearing on two seasons on “Dance Moms” with her mother, Jessalynn Siwa, and for her singles “Boomerang” and “Kid in a Candy Store.”
Siwa came out as gay to her millions of fans on social media last year and inspired a generation of young LGBTQ+ community members. Siwa has more than 66 million followers on social media and more than 3.7 billion views on YouTube.
In 2020, she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2020.
Last year, Siwa competed on the 30th season of “Dancing with the Stars,” where she was part of the first same-sex dancing partnership in the show’s history.
