In 1970, a
year after the modern transgender, lesbian, gay, and bisexual
liberation movement was launched by the rebellion at the Stonewall Inn
on New York's Christopher Street, activists around the country were
thinking of ways to mark the anniversary. Los Angeles TLGB community
leaders, Reverend Troy Perry, Reverend Bob Humphries and Morris Kight
stepped up and created the world's first Pride Parade.
"At the time we had no idea what we were creating, we just wanted to acknowledge a courageous group that stood up to being bullied by police. It was a microcosm of what was taking place throughout the country and we thought, what better way to make noise, get attention and excite our community than by dressing up and putting on a parade," said parade founding father, Reverend Troy Perry.
The
original parade was met with many obstacles including permit denials
and police hostility but the organizers persevered, along with the help
of ACLU and several community organizations which helped to push the
parade forward. Originally taking place in the streets of Hollywood,
the first parade included thousands of community participants who
chanted "two, four, six, eight, gay is just as good as straight" down
Hollywood Boulevard while holding signs calling for equality and
justice.
Today,
the annual LA PRIDE Parade attendance has grown to hundreds of
thousands, regularly pulls in major celebrity participants and
performers and takes place over a three-day period in West Hollywood.
The celebration includes an unrivaled TLGB music and arts festival and
incorporates a combination of both ticketed and free-to-all-ages
experiences. With the celebration continuing to grow year after year it
attracts some of the best performers from new up-and-coming acts to
Grammy award winners and is supported by major brands such as Wells
Fargo, Anheuser-Busch and Delta Air Lines. While the mood of the
weekend is celebratory, the non-profit organization, which produces LA
PRIDE, Christopher Street West, continues to focus on supporting the
community through various programs including grants, non-profit
partnerships and sponsorships and even low-income housing for people
living with HIV/AIDS with Casa Del Sol, an APLA partnership. In
addition to community outreach, Christopher Street West has used the
massive exposure that LA PRIDE receives to raise awareness around social
issues that affect the community from Transgender equality to community
diversity and acceptance.
"While
a lot has certainly changed for our community since the original Pride
Parade took place, there are still many issues that affect basic TLGB
equalities. It's because of these issues that Pride events are just as
relevant now as they were when they started 45 years ago," says
Co-President Patti DiLuigi. "What hasn't changed is our ability to
celebrate our community, our diversity and the core of what it means to
be TLGB," said Co-President Steve Ganzell.
