As our banner year for protests rolls on, it looks like the latest addition to the rally roster is showing up in an unexpected — and yet completely logical — place: The annual Los Angeles LGBTQ pride parade.
The Advocate reports that the usual celebratory pride festivities will be replaced by a protest march this year, because obviously. What with the Trump administration's attitudes towards queer and gender-nonconforming people, which so far seem to range from wishy-washy at best to downright dangerous at worst, protests from the LGBTQ community have been widespread. It's no surprise that most of us feel like there's more reason for a protest than a party this year.
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Chris Classen, the board president of Christopher Street West, which organizes L.A. Pride every year and is teaming up with The LGBT Resist March for this year's more political iteration, expressed some concern about having adequate space for the event. "We may have half a million people who come on the march," he said, according to local publication WeHoVille. "If I only have room for 5,000 people on San Vicente, where do they go?”
The goal, he added, is to keep the protest within West Hollywood, as usual Pride events have been, since it means a lot — in terms of inspiration and economics — for local businesses that cater to LGBTQ folks. Each Pride weekend tends to produce about $9 million in revenue for these businesses, The Advocate reported.
"Given the current political climate where divisiveness and discrimination continue to be part of mainstream dialogue, Christopher Street West is determined to make the L.A. Pride brand a unifying force for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies across all of Los Angeles," said the event's website.
We've been royally impressed by this year's roster of protests and the tremendous steps they've taken in raising awareness and getting shit done. We've got to say, though, we have particularly high hopes for this one.