The bright and spirited procession is organized by non-profit Christopher Street West. One of its board members, Brian Pendleton, told the Los Angeles Times that, on June 11, there will be "people moving through the streets" demonstrating against anti-LGBTQ bigotry and discrimination.
Pendleton explained, "We're getting back to our roots…We will be resisting forces that want to roll back our rights, and politicians who want to make us second-class citizens."
The first Los Angeles Pride Parade was organized to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion, in which the city’s LGBTQ community, supported by thousands of others, battled with police against harassment and constant repression.
Homosexuality was illegal in California at the time, and LAPD Police Chief Edward M. Davis told Pride organizer Reverend Troy Perry, "As far as I’m concerned, granting a permit to a group of homosexuals to parade down Hollywood Boulevard would be the same as giving a permit to a group of thieves and robbers."
The event, after moving to West Hollywood, has grown into a multi-day festival celebrating gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
This shift in policy comes a year after Christopher Street West faced criticism for trying to appeal to millennials by changing the commemoration into a music festival, prompting detractors to label the event a "gay Coachella" and used the hashtag #NotOurPride to organize a successful boycott.
Inspired by the popular women’s marches that took place in Washington DC and around the world following Donald Trump’s January inauguration, the Pride demonstration will be called the Resist March, but Pendleton noted that the action will be non-partisan, not Anti-Trump.
"It's not a red thing or a blue thing…It's about marching for human rights, which are a Republican concept and a Democratic concept…. We're changing the format this year to let people know we care about human rights, whether you're a woman, a Dreamer, or an LGBTQ person," he said.
The Christopher Street West website states, "Just as we did in 1970s first LGBTQ+ Pride, we are going to march in unity with those who believe that America’s strength is its diversity…Not just LGBTQ+ people but all Americans and dreamers will be wrapped in the rainbow flag, and our unique, diverse, intersectional voices will come together in one harmonized proclamation."
