Organizers with the nonprofit that puts on Los Angeles' annual Pride Parade and Festival announced today that they will stage a protest march in solidarity with the Black community and Black Lives Matter.
The 501(c)3 nonprofit Christopher Street West had previously announced that all in-person events with the LA Pride Parade and Festival were canceled due to COVID-19. However, following a week of protests against police brutality, the CSW Board of Directors voted unanimously on Wednesday to peacefully assemble against racial injustice, systemic racism and all forms of oppression.
“Fifty years ago Christopher Street West took to the streets of Hollywood Blvd in order to peacefully protest against police brutality and oppression,” said Estevan Montemayor, President of CSW Board of Directors.
“It is our moral imperative to honor the legacy of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who bravely led the Stonewall uprising, by standing in solidarity with the Black community against systemic racism and joining the fight for meaningful and long-lasting reform.”
The march is scheduled for Sunday, June 14 at 10:00 a.m. It will begin at Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave. in Hollywood, where the parade normally takes place. The march's route will take them through to West Hollywood where it will end at San Vincente and Santa Monica Blvds.
The California Department of Public Health recommends that participants engaging in the march should wear face coverings at all times.
“We encourage all community members who believe that we must root out this racial injustice and stand in solidarity with the black community and fight for real reform and change in this country on all levels of government to join us in this peaceful protest, in this march for justice,” Montemayor said, the Los Angeles Times reported.
L.A. Pride itself grew out of the ACLU and Christopher Street West's challenge to the Los Angeles Police Commission in court to get the permit for the city's first Pride, which was a commemoration of the uprising at Stonewall, a year earlier.
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