Los Angeles Magazine - Pride Guide 2022 by The Lifestyle Magazines of SoCal

L.A. MAGAZINE CELEBRATES THE QUEEREST MONTH OF THE YEAR

COMING ON STRONG

JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL ON JOE EXOTIC, HEDWIG, AND THE PERILS OF PLAYING GAY

IN LIVING COLOR 50 YEARS OF PRIDE (IN PICTURES) BEFORE STONEWALL: HOW L.A. SPARKED THE GAY REVOLUTION

CONCERTS! PARTIES! DUELING PARADES!

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO PRIDE 2022 PRESENTED BY

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PRIDE 2022 | JUNE

PRIDE PRESENTED BY

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL

BEFORE STONEWALL

50 YEARS OF PRIDE IN PHOTOS

GET YOUR GAY ON!

The trailblazing star who created the smash hit Hedwig and re-created Tiger King Joe Exotic looks back on his very queer career BY DAVID A. KEEPS

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How a brutal police raid in 1967 at Silver Lake’s Black Cat Tavern ignited the global fight for gay rights

Decades after it kicked off in Hollywood, the modest March for civil rights has become L.A.’s biggest party

BY BEN EHRENREICH

EDITED BY GREG GARRY

From parades to parties, concerts to art shows, a select roundup of Pride events in June (and all summer long)

DAV I D M C N E W/G E T T Y I M AG E S

ANGELS IN AMERICA A reveler with wings at the L.A. Pride Parade in 2014.

STAND UP. BE WELL. BE YOU.

Scan for more about UCLA Health's LGBTQ champion providers and Pride 2022 events

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PRIDE 2022 | EDITOR'S NOTE

“

AFTER ALL THOSE MONTHS OF LOCKDOWNS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING, I’M GUESSING THERE’S ENOUGH BOTTLED-UP EXUBERANCE OUT THERE TO FILL A THIRD PARADE.

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T WASN'T the worst part of

these past two years, but still—I missed L.A.’s gay pride parade. It’s been an annual fixture of life in town since June 1970, when about 2,000 people gathered at Hollywood and Vine for the very first city-permitted gay parade anywhere on our planet. It was one of the many, many bummers of the COVID pandemic that West Hollywood health officials canceled the event in 2020 and 2021. But this year, at long last, the parade is making a comeback. In fact, it’s multiplying, with one celebration scheduled for June 5, taking place at its original historical location at Hollywood and Vine, and another on June 12 on what’s become its usual route along Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. After all those months of lockdowns and mask mandates and especially social distancing, I’m guessing there’s enough bottledup exuberance out there to fill a third parade. Even a fourth. As we return to the streets to celebrate, though, it’s worth taking a beat to measure not only how far we’ve come since that first parade more than 50 years ago but also where we seem to be headed. Because since gay marriage became legal in 2015, I fear we may have

Maer Roshan, Editor-in Chief

DAV I D M C N E W/A F P V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S

SKY CANDY The annual L.A. Pride Parade in West Hollywood, 2019.

grown a bit overconfident and complacent. And there are some pretty alarming signals coming from Washington and elsewhere that the forces of repression are attempting to mount a serious comeback of their own. In Florida, for instance, Republican governor Ron DeSantis recently signed the so-called Don’t Say Gay bill, which forbids teachers from mentioning gay and trans topics in elementary schools. On its face, it’s a laughable law that proports to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. But peel it back a bit, and there are insidious stereotypes coiled in this legislation. It’s no accident that DeSantis’s communications director described it as an “anti-grooming” measure—an extremist dog whistle spreading the lie that gays are pedophiles. It’s an old slander that goes back to the 1970s, when Florida orange juice pitchwoman and virulent gay baiter Anita Bryant made a name for herself by spreading it on TV talk shows. Beyond Florida, there are other ominous signs. The leaked Supreme Court decision reversing Roe v. Wade, if it comes to be enacted, could very well embolden Republicans to use that same legal logic to strike down gay marriage. Indeed, they’re already emboldened: just a day after the leak was made public, conservative activist Ben Shapiro took to Twitter to goad the court into overturning its 2015 decision on same-sex marriage. Expect a lot more of that in coming weeks and months. And prepare to fight back, because a battle certainly looks like it’s looming. Meantime, enjoy the parades! And enjoy this special issue of Los Angeles, our very first dedicated to gay pride month. I’m pretty sure it won’t be our last.

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PRIDE 2022

T H E G OS P E L ACCO R D I N G TO

JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL THE TRAILBLAZING STAR WHO CREATED THE SMASH HIT HEDWIG AND RE-CREATED TIGER KING JOE EXOTIC LOOKS BACK ON HIS VERY QUEER CAREER

By David A. Keeps | Photograph by Magnus Unnar P R I D E 2 022 |

PRIDE 2022

JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL AIN’T NOBODY’S BOTTOM.

“I have never wanted to be told what to do in my life,” says the Tony Award-winning creator and star of the legendary gender-queer rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Indeed, over the last 40 years, Mitchell has largely done exactly what he wanted, including currently bedazzling the small screen as Tiger King’s Joe Exotic in Joe vs. Carole, a series based on Exotic’s murder-for-hire plot against Carole Baskin, streaming now on Peacock. Building a cult-hero career on the shoulders of Hedwig—the redemptive tale of a man coerced into a botched gender-reassignment surgery—Mitchell has outperformed mere Hollywood hyphenates as a producer-director-filmmaker-playwright-screenwriter-actor-singerpodcaster-DJ. Recently, he has added yet another hyphen: nonbinary. “Someone went on my Wikipedia page and changed my pronouns to ‘they,’” the 59-year-old says with a boyish grin. “I’m too old to change my pronouns, because I can barely remember my phone number.” Mitchell understands that younger generations want their labels to be “accurate,” but as an amalgam of hippie, punk, and activist, he stays open to fluidity and change. “To me, ‘nonbinary’ feels temporary, because it’s defining yourself by what you’re not. And yet that’s the closest thing to what I’ve been,” he says. “I think I am a natural androgyne. I mean, at 10, I played the Virgin Mary at Carlekemp Priory in Scotland.”

Drag is more than just clothes, wigs, and makeup, isn’t it? Drag is always a reflection and exaggeration of the times; sometimes it’s a funhouse mirror and sometimes it’s a brilliant social statement. When I watch Twelfth Night, I think Shakespeare is queer. I consider Mae West and Marlene Dietrich drag performers. Punk was invented by a Black drag queen, Little Richard. And when Tucker Carlson is vaccinated and pretending he isn’t, he’s wearing populist's poses just like drag. What about Joe Exotic and his sense of style? I realized playing Joe had a lot in common with playing Hedwig—the showmanship, the blonde wig, the bitterness. To me, Joe vs. Carole is Shakespearean. I see him as Richard the III; he was bullied his whole life and had to control everything, which destroyed him. He’s almost imitating his oppressors, thinking that more guns and more mullets mean more protection from being hurt. Do you think that’s how Exotic thinks of himself? He posted about the casting: “John Cameron Mitchell was going to make me look like a flaming fag, when I’m just a hardworking gay male.” I responded to his post with the painted fingernails emoji. You wanted that role so much, you even auditioned for it. Which I haven’t done in decades! And I do feel like I gave Joe his due as a human being with feelings. I wasn’t going to do a hatchet job or a Saturday Night Live sketch. Joe liked being a redneck. He exaggerated it. But in some ways, he was also a

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caring guy. Exercising my masculinity in the role was fun, like stage diving and slam dancing at punk shows or playing sports when I was younger. The truth is, I could’ve been like Joe; we both grew up in the South and I had enough heterosexual competence. I played straight a lot when I was younger and saw it as a badge of honor, because masculinity is the currency of gay men.

itchell’s path to revered queer artist was not— you should excuse the expression—a straight shot. The eldest son of an U.S. army general (who in later years revealed to his son that he had been bisexual before getting married) and a devoutly Catholic, Scottish homemaker, Mitchell lived in 15 places growing up, many of them in the Bible Belt. “Army life made me fearless and adaptable,” he recalls. “It was a macho, misogynistic, and homophobic environment, but it was also a socialist state with free housing and healthcare. And everyone was from somewhere else, so, just like in the theatre, it was all about what you could bring to the party.” Mitchell found acceptance and opportunity in the theater department at Northwestern University in Chicago during the early-’80s heyday of Second City improv, Steppenwolf, and teen rom-com director John Hughes. “Being a polymath was the order of the day,” he says. “My heroes—David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith—tried everything. Why limit yourself?”

N E W L I N E C I N E M A / P H OTO F E ST

DRAGON! Mitchell starring in 2001’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which he also wrote and directed.

P R I D E 2 022 |

PRIDE 2022

How did you test your limits? I started out looking for Broadway theatre work in 1985, during the AIDS and crack epidemics, when New York was rough and one broken condom meant you were dead. And then I got a big movie—Band of the Hand—and went to L.A. thinking, “OK, I will have to go in the closet like you’re supposed to.” [But instead] I got more political. Homophobic remarks on the set were de rigeur at that time, but when I said I had a boyfriend, people would behave. What was Los Angeles like back then? I lived there the last four years of the 1980s and, maybe partially because of AIDS, there was a desperate adventurism in the air with drag queens like Vaginal Davis and performance artists like Ron Athey. There was a DJ, Billy Limbo, who had crazy underground queer clubs where he played the Ramones and the Partridge Family, and he taught me to DJ. So I would go and do work on MacGyver and Head of the Class, and then do experimental theatre and hang out in the queer clubs and learn from the punks. Los Angeles formed me. By contrast, Hedwig seems like a New York creation. How did it come to be? I love comedy, drama, rock and roll, drag, standup, and performance art, so I wrapped it all up with Plato’s concept of the origin of love. And Steven Trask wrote these amazing songs. We played them at Squeezebox, a gay rock club hosted by drag queens, so I had to perform in drag. That was the best thing I ever did for my psyche. I was forced to deal with my feminine side before I was ready, and then nothing scared me anymore—except, perhaps, romantic love, and that’s something I still want to learn about. You directed and starred in the 2001 film version of Hedwig and have seen it performed by the likes of Neil Patrick Harris, Taye Diggs, and Ally Sheedy. Why do you no longer want to play the role? I will always love her, but I don’t want to calcify in that wig. The role allowed me to exercise muscles I didn’t use and exorcise parts of me I didn’t like, until I got to the point where I didn’t need to act, because I liked who I was.

tive tour through the Manhattan underground, made videos for Scissor Sisters and films for Christian Dior, played Andy Warhol and a persnickety gay literary agent on the HBO shows Vinyl and Girls, and dove into podcasting with an autobiographical series called Anthem: Homunculus. Mitchell has also forged a kinship with graphic novelist Neil Gaiman, as the director of 2017’s How to Talk to Girls at Parties and as an actor in the forthcoming City on Fire. “I grew up with sci-fi,” he says. “It’s always been a sanctuary for the queers and the misfits.” Mitchell embraces an outsider status. “If I could have one, my superpower would be the ability to make people interesting.” As queerness becomes more acceptable, Mitchell has seen it breed mediocrity. “I miss the freaks and the countercultural role of being queer. We all know straight people who are queer and gay people who are Republican conservatives. David Bowie was pretty straight, but he’s a lot queerer than that gym-going gay who is so obsessed with masculinity he can’t see past his own tits.”

So what does Pride mean to you? Pride was very important for me when I was young and coming out in Chicago. I remember the first time someone wolf whistled at me was at Pride. But in the last few years, I have found the corporateness in New York Pride—endless ugly floats paid for by companies—to be repulsive. Even so, Pride is vital to shore up community, make you feel you belong, and remind ourselves we are gorgeous.

TIGER, TIGER, BURNING BRIGHT Mitchell as Joe Exotic in Joe vs. Carole.

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M A R K TAY LO R / P E ACO C K

edwig opened doors for Mitchell, and he marched through them to the beat of his own drum. “I was offered a lot,” he remembers. “But more money means more problems, and I would feel terrible losing my autonomy. I don’t have that much money or fame, and I’m much happier without them. I can walk down the street, afford my rent, and keep my dignity.” Hardly a dignified slouch, he has thrived under the radar. Over the past two decades, he has, among many other achievements, written and directed the 2006 film Shortbus, a sex-posi-

PRIDE 2022

GE: T H I S PA

CO U R T

R ONE A E SY O F

BRAR USC LI AT T H E CHIVES

POS IES; OP

KT I T E : T KT

KT KT K

SICK OF IT A group called PRIDE—Personal Rights in Defense and Education—led protests after police raided the Black Cat in February 1967.

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E R O F E B

E R O

L L A W E N STO

BLACK S ' E K A SILVER LAY RIGHTS T A 7 6 9 1 G RAID IN AL FIGHT FOR E C I L O RUTAL PITED THE GLOB B A W HO ERN IGN V A T T A C

If you live anywhere

long enough, you begin to see in layers, as if the present were a thin wash of pigment brushed over the past, or over several pasts. This is perhaps truer in Los Angeles than elsewhere, if only because we discard our histories so hungrily here. Look at the sign outside the Black Cat Tavern on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake. The grinning cat face, bubble eyed, is there as it has been for more than half a century. The sign beneath looks just like the one that hung there nearly 50 years ago; it’s new. Until a few years ago, the space it filled was empty, a painted frame that you could see the sky through. By Ben Ehrenreich

P R I D E 2 022 |

On New Year’s Eve of 1966, the Black Cat had been open for just two months. It had joined a dozen or so gay bars huddled around a single square mile of Silver Lake. Affection between men was officially a perversion, a crime, a sign of mental illness. But in a few bars in a few neighborhoods, gay men could find acceptance, companionship, the indispensable solace delivered by music, dancing, laughter. That night, the Black Cat was packed, the barroom strung with Christmas lights.

A trio called the Rhythm Queens was performing, and when the costume contest concluded at New Faces, the saloon down the block, 15 or 20 men in wigs and gowns squeezed in. The clock struck 12. Balloons tumbled from the ceiling. The Rhythm Queens belted out “Auld Lang Syne,” and for a moment there was time to grab a kiss. But not all the revelers were there for the same party. At five minutes after midnight, plainclothes policemen began swinging clubs and pool cues, dragging

CLARION CALL The L.A. police had been beating on all minorities, not just gays, and so all showed up to the Black Cat protest.

ELVESXICAN. S M E ND THK, AND ME U O F C . GAYSHITE, BLA A . L , 7 IN 196 ALLIES, W WITH 16

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patrons out the door and into the street. They pulled the bartender over the bar, lacerating his face on broken glass. Two patrons ran across Sunset and took cover in the crowd at New Faces, where Medicine of the Angels now stands. Officers followed, breaking one bartender’s nose, leaving another with a ruptured spleen. Sixteen people were arrested that night—six of them charged with lewd conduct (also known as kissing). The raid itself was nothing new. Police attacks on gay and lesbian establishments were so routine that most bars had developed warning systems. (The owner of the Patch, in Wilmington, would play “God Save the Queen” whenever he recognized an officer from the local vice squad.) Over the next week, the LAPD would raid the Ramm’s Head, also in Silver Lake, and the Stage Door, on 6th Street. But defiance was in the air. “We were angry,” Alexei Romanoff tells me, sitting in the living room of his Pasadena home. Romanoff was an owner of New Faces before the New Year’s raid. “It had gone on too long,” he says with a boyish pride that erases at least half of his 77 years. The stigma attached to homosexuality was so profound that earlier gay groups—like the Mattachine Society, founded in Los Angeles in 1950—resembled secret societies. But in 1967, L.A. gays found themselves with allies. The police had been beating white kids on the Sunset Strip, African Americans in Watts, and Mexicans on the Eastside and in the Valley. A string of protests were scheduled for February 11 from Venice to East L.A. Romanoff and a corps of other activists began meeting at bars, handing out flyers, hitting the phones to spread the word. “Homosexuals, who have always been dependably meek, are fighting back,” announced the newsletter of the Southern California Council on Religion and the Homophile. Founded in L.A. the year before, the more radical PRIDE— short for Personal Rights in Defense and Education—urged its members to demonstrate against “the Establishment war on minorities.”

CO U R T E SY O F O N E A R C H I V E S AT T H E U S C L I B R A R I E S

PRIDE 2022

TO P L E F T: CO U R T E SY O F O N E A R C H I V E S AT T H E U S C L I B R A R I E S ; TO P R I G H T: LO S A N G E L E S T I M E S V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; M I D D L E A N D B OT TO M R I G H T: DAV I D M C N E W/G E T T Y I M AG E S

That Saturday, hundreds of people (estimates range from 200 to 600) showed up at the corner of Sunset and Hyperion. The turnout was unprecedented. It was the largest rally for gay rights that had ever occurred in the United States. The protesters, Romanoff says, were terrified of police beatings but willing to take the risk. Only the Free Press covered the demonstration. Official L.A. was not eager to claim its foundational role in the gay rights movement. Activists in New York and San Francisco regarded events in L.A. with the usual mix of myopia and disdain. After the June 1969 police raid on New York’s Stonewall Inn, the protests at the Black Cat two-and-a-half years earlier would be eclipsed and, in the years that followed, forgotten. The Black Cat has closed and been reborn under many names over the years—the Bushwhacker, Basgo’s Disco (home, on Sunday nights in the early 1990s, to the famous Club Fuck), and Le Barcito. In its final incarnation as a gay bar with a mainly Mexican clientele, it won historic monument status in 2008 but still closed its doors on Halloween in 2011. The neighborhood had changed. Most of Silver Lake’s gay bars, and nearly all those catering to Latino customers, had gone straight and white or disappeared. Only the sign remained. In 2012, a restaurant opened where the Black Cat had been. The new owners revived the old name. There’s valet parking now, low lights, and shiny dark wood. The crowd is young, good-looking, and, by all appearances, straight. Except for the busboys, almost everyone is white. On the walls are a few framed ar-

A CHANGE IS GONNA COME Clockwise from top right: The Black Cat in 2021; people gathered on the 50th anniversary of the attack, holding signs like those at the original protest in February 1967; Alexei Romanoff, perhaps the last surviving participant in the Black Cat protest, speaks at that rally; a protester in 1967.

tifacts of the building’s past life: a copy of a handbill for the 1967 protest (“Crisis: Police Lawlessness Must Be Stopped!”), a black-and-white photo of a clean-cut young man holding a picket sign reading “Blue Fascism.” But there are Life magazine covers, too, and old photos from other eras, and the overall vibe is speakeasy chic. Brandy punch is served in teacups; Schlitz, in the can. The product for sale is not so much food or drink as it is a painless brand of nostalgia, not any specific past so much as pastness, kitsch tidied up and winking at itself. I sat at the bar and tried to imagine the Rhythm Queens crooning, the bartender yanked from his place and dragged across the bar. I couldn’t conjure them. Those ghosts, at least, have been exorcised.

THAT SATURDAY, HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE SHOWED UP. THE TURNOUT WAS UNPRECEDENTED. IT WAS THE LARGEST RALLY FOR GAY RIGHTS THAT HAD EVER OCCURRED IN THE UNITED STATES. P R I D E 2 022 |

PRIDE!

PRIDE 2022

H OW A M O D E ST M A R C H FO R C I V I L R I G H TS B E C A M E T H E B I G G E ST PA RT Y I N L . A . EDITED BY GREG GARRY

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P R I D E 2 022 |

L E E M A S O N /O N E A R C H I V E

PRIDE 2022

1970s

K I S S I N G B O OT H : PAT R O CCO/O N E A R C H I V E ; A L L OT H E R P H OTO S : O N E A R C H I V E

PRECEDING PAGE: IN 1971, A DRAG QUEEN AND HER SUBJECTS AT WHAT WAS THEN CALLED THE LOS ANGELES CHRISTOPHER STREET WEST PRIDE PARADE. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: POLICE ACTIVITY AT THE 1976 PARADE; MARCHERS HOLDING PLACARDS SPELLING OUT “GAY PRIDE” IN 1975; BETH CHAYIM CHADASHIM IN 1979; A “GAY THINK” KISSING BOOTH, 1975; REVELERS IN 1975.

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ONE ARCHIVE

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: THEN-CITY COUNCILMAN JOEL WACHS AT THE L.A. CHRISTOPHER STREET WEST PRIDE PARADE IN 1981; AN AIDS-SAFETY FLYER AND ONE ADVERTIZING A BENEFIT DANCE IN 1989; “25 YEARS OF PRIDE” FLOAT, 1982; KCET EMPLOYEES DOING INTERVIEWS AT THE 198OS PRIDE FESTIVAL; A GAY FATHERS GROUP, 1982.

1980s P R I D E 2 022 |

1990s

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: GAY MEMBERS OF THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT IN 1994; RUPAUL AT THE WEST HOLLYWOOD PARADE THAT SAME YEAR; A CHER IMPERSONATOR IN 1997; GAY RELIGIOUS LEADER AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST TROY PERRY SPEAKS AT THE 1995 PARADE.

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L . A . P. D. A N D T R OY P E R RY: O N E A R C H I V E ; P U PAU L : R O N G A L E L L A , LT D. / R O N G A L E L L A CO L L E C T I O N V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; C H E R I M P E R S O N ATO R : H E C TO R M ATA /A F P V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S )

PRIDE 2022

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: DYKES ON BIKES OPEN THE PARADE ON SANTA MONICA BOULEVARD IN 2008; THEN-LOS ANGELES MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, 2009; LESBIAN NURSES, 2002; WOMEN DRESSED IN RAINBOW COLORS ROLLER SKATE IN THE 2014 PARADE; AT THE ANNUAL LONG BEACH LESBIAN AND GAY PRIDE FESTIVAL AND CELEBRATION IN 2008.

2000s 24

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B I K E R S A N D M AYO R V I L L A R A I G O SA : VA L E R I E M ACO N /G E T T Y I M AG E S ; N U R S E S : U N I V E R SA L I M AG E S G R O U P V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; S K AT E R S A N D LO N G B E AC H : DAV I D M C N E W/G E T T Y I M AG E S ; DAV I D M C N E W/G E T T Y I M AG E S

PRIDE 2022

M AYO R V I L L A R A I G O SA

“

SCRC made the entire process understandable from selecting an egg donor and a surrogate to watching the implantation on camera with Dr. Ghadir. We were surprised and impressed at how smoothly it went.

”

- Daniel, Jack, Ezra, and Ava

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PRIDE 2022

2010s 26

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DAY O F T H E D E A D, M AYO R E R I C G A R C E T T I , G LO R I A A L L R E D : DAV I D M C N E W/G E T T Y I M AG E S ; R I C H A R D S I M M O N S , PA R T I C I PA N TS W I T H FA N S : C H E L S E A G U G L I E L M I N O/ F I L M M AG I C

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: MEXICAN AMERICAN MEN WEAR “DAY OF THE DEAD”-INSPIRED COSTUMES, 2018; LOS ANGELES MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI AT THE PARADE IN 2019. RICHARD SIMMONS AT THE 2013 PARADE; WOMEN'S RIGHTS ATTORNEY GLORIA ALLRED AND A LOOKALIKE IN DRAG IN 2019; REVELERS STRIKING A POSE IN 2019

Kaleidoscope serves LGBTQIA+ neurotypical and neurodivergent youth and young adults, as well as their families, in developing self-acceptance, mental health stability, strong social connections, and resiliency. •

Individual, group and family therapy & diagnostic evaluations

•

Peer and parent support groups (in English & Spanish)

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Social events & interest clubs

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Community & educational trainings

JOIN US FOR A LIVE WEBCAST - FREE! Providing Affirming Therapeutic Support to LGBTQ+ Youth & Young Adults Tuesday, June 7, 2022 | 10am PT RSVP: thehelpgroup.org/webcasts 13130 Burbank Blvd. I Sherman Oaks, CA 91401 I 818.779.5163 kaleidoscope@thehelpgroup.org | kaleidoscopeLGBTQ.org

R I C H A R D S I M M O N S , PA R T I C I PA N TS W I T H FA N S : C H E L S E A G U G L I E L M I N O/ F I L M M AG I C

Kaleidoscope LGBTQ

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Visit our free library of queer oral histories: THEOUTWORDSARCHIVE.ORG

Funding provided by:

PRIDE 2022

TO P A N D B OT TO M L E F T: G R E G G A R RY; FA R R G H T F R O M TO P : STA N TO N S H A R P E /S O PA I M AG E S / L I G H T R O C K E T V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; M A R I O TA M A /G E T T Y I M AG E S ; R O D I N E C K E N R OT H /G E T T Y I M AG E S

2020s

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MARCH REPLACED THE PRIDE CELEBRATION AFTER GEORGE FLOYD’S MURDER IN JUNE 2020; A PROTESTOR WITH HER FIST RAISED; DONALD TRUMP’S DEFACED STAR ON HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD NEAR THE STARTING POINT OF THE BLM MARCH; ACTIVIST GERALD GARTH LEADS PROTESTERS IN A CHANT; A PARTICIPANT WITH A SIMPLE SIGN.

60 YEARS

1962

2022

ANNIVERSARY

Casita Del Campo celebrates 60 Years of love, fine food and community! Thank you for your patronage and cheers to PRIDE!

Casita Del Campo

Fine Mexican Restaurant in the heart of Silverlake Famous Margaritas, Mexican Specialities & a Lively Atmosphere! 1920 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027 (323) 662-4255 @ casitadelcampo

STEPHANIE TRAN, MD

Family Medicine, HIV, Gender Affirming Care

Dr. Stephanie Tran is a dual board certified family medicine and HIV physician practicing in Beverly Hills. She is renowned for her expertise in LGBTQIA + and gender-affirming care with the Cedars Sinai Transgender Surgery and Health Program. She is a modern day alchemist providing cutting-edge treatments and state-of-the-art innovations to treat chronic disease with an integrative approach. A highly influential author and clinician, she is a trailblazer with a dynamic approach to hormonal therapeutics. Patients praise her affable rapport, compassion, and knowledge base. She offers a signature lifestyle medicine experience unparalleled in primary care. She holds numerous accolades for inclusive care, including The Standing Ovation Award for Commitment to Quality Care and Service. She is currently one of the most sought out doctors by top physicians, captains of industry, HNW, and celebrities alike.

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PRIDE 2022

G E T YO U R G A AFTER A TWO-YEAR HIATUS, Pride is back, live and in person. Weary of virtual celebrations, the city's queer community has been eagerly awaiting the return of L.A.'s annual Pride festivities, which draw thousands of revelers to town every year. In fact, demand is so strong, L.A. will be hosting two back-toback Pride celebrations this year. The WeHo Pride Parade, on June 5, caps a rainbow-tinged weekend filled with poetry readings, parties, and a concert starring Lil’ Kim. If you're still feeling proud a week later, LA. Pride features an equally dazzling array of events and performances, including a concert headlined by Christina Aguilera. Readings, ballgames, and movie festivals will stretch through August. We teamed up with the Los Angeles Blade to single out some of the more notable events.

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G AY O N ! FROM PARADES TO PARTIES TO BALLGAMES AND ART SHOWS, A SELECT ROUNDUP OF PRIDE EVENTS IN JUNE (AND ALL SUMMER LONG) JUNE 1

WEHO PRIDE LGBTQ ARTS FESTIVAL Assorted Locations

R I C H P O L K /G E T T Y I M AG E S FO R WO R L D O F C H I L D R E N

West Hollywood’s LGBTQ Arts Festival features a monthlong cornucopia of readings, art exhibits, plays, and concerts at venues across the city. Through June 30. Pride.weho.org.

JUNE 2

A BEVERLY HILLS PRIDE CONCERT Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Beverly Hills’s first ever Pride celebration features an evening of live music, poetry, and performances by local luminaries like Celeste X, Jeshua, and San Cha. Pride.weho.org.

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PRIDE 2022

JUNE 5 THE WEHO PRIDE PARADE WeHo's pride extravaganza kicks off at noon along Santa Monica Boulevard at Fairfax and ends up at Robertson. Weho.org.

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THRIVE WITH PRIDE AT THE BEVERLY CENTER The Beverly Center

The landmark L.A. shopping mall is throwing the first of its Thursday night Thrive with Pride events (also part of Beverly Hills Pride) featuring gaythemed movie nights, special performances, and rainbow cocktails. Lapride.org.

DIGITAL L.A. LGBTQ+ CREATORS AND INFLUENCERS Stache West Hollywood

An annual WeHo panel with LGBTQ+ creators and influencers sharing advice on creating content, engaging with viewers, and working with brands. Digitalla.net.

JUNE 3

LGBTQ+ PRIDE NIGHT Dodger Stadium

The Los Angeles Dodgers are teaming up with L.A. Pride for “Pride Night at the Stadium” as they face off with the New York Mets. A special pre-game ceremony will recognize frontline workers and feature surprise guests. A raucous post-game

THE LONG-RUNNING WEHO PRIDE PARADE IS BACK AFTER TWO YEARS. BUT THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED L.A. PRIDE PARADE, WHICH TAKES PLACE A WEEK LATER, MAY GIVE IT A RUN FOR ITS MONEY

celebration will include fireworks and music from DJ Bowie J. Mlb.com/dodgers.

OUTLOUD RAISING VOICES MUSIC FESTIVAL West Hollywood Park

Our culture defines who we are as a company and is an embodiment of our values, clarity, and purpose. As we continue to build a culture of inclusion and belonging, we are committed to building global communities that celebrate intersectionality and authenticity.

WeHo’s 2022 Pride weekend debuts with a rollicking threeday concert series at the newly refurbished West Hollywood Park featuring a glittery lineup of musical divas like Lil’ Kim, Marina, Years & Years, Greyson Chance, and Madison Beer. June 3 through 5. Weareoutloud.com.

With our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), we’ve aligned collaborators and supporters from across regions and departments, and our Pride ERG is an extraordinary example of that. Through the leadership of employees all around the world, we’ve created a safe space for employees to come together, educate, and learn from each other about the LGBTQIAP+ community.

CHERRY BOMB WEHO PRIDE TAKEOVER Hotel Ziggy

ERGs are paramount to our culture, and we are excited to continue to foster inclusivity and empower the voices of our employees.

Cherry Bomb, a social group for queer women and gender expansive folks, is colonizing the entire hotel for a weekend of female-friendly dinners, pool parties, comedy performances, and VIP open bars. Hotelziggy.com.

T H I S PAG E : I N STAG R A M .CO M /A L I S O N DJ F ; O P P O S I T E : J E R R I T T C L A R K /G E T T Y I M AG E S

Founded in 1915, Deluxe is the world’s leading content creation-to-distribution company, offering global, media services in Cinema, Localization, and Distribution.

The LGBTQIAP+ community is an integral part of the Entertainment industry. When I got the opportunity to be a member of the Pride ERG, I leapt at the chance. I am honored to be a leader on Deluxe’s journey towards real progress that allows everyone to feel a true sense of belonging. - Greg McCummings, Chair of the Pride ERG

www.bydeluxe.com

@deluxe1915

@LosAngelesmag @lamag @LAmag

P R I D E 2 022 |

ANTHONY FRIEDKIN: THE GAY ESSAY Leica Gallery L.A.

The Leica Gallery’s new exhibition will feature works made between 1969 and 1973 by photographer Anthony Friedkin. Artists and humanitarians like Leslie Jordan, Angelica Ross, Michaela Jaé, Amy Schneider, Shakina Nayfack, Trace Lysette, and more will be featured. June 3 to August 1. Leicagalleryla.com.

JUNE 4

VENICE PRIDE FESTIVAL Venice Beach Recreation Center

JUNE 11

PRIDE 2022

PRIDE IN THE PARK A Musical Extravaganza in Three Acts

L.A. Pride starts off the weekend with a three-day concert at L.A. State Historic Park starring a dazzling array of female and trans performers. This year's lineup includes Christina Aguilera, Michaela Jaé, Latina Sensation Anitta, Eureka, and Bob the Drag Queen. Lapride.org.

America's premiere LGBTQ celebration by the beach features a weekend of musical performances by local grandees like Stewart Taylor, Luna Lovebad, and Zee Machine, and stage readings produced by Queer Moment. Plus, DJs, hot lifeguards, food trucks, art installations, and a dance

party called Gaywatch. Venicepride.org/tix. PRINCE AND PRIDE L.A. Kings Burbank Sports Center

Who wouldn't want to go to a funky roller-skating celebration of Prince’s birthday and Pride month? Lakingsburbanksports center.com

JUNE 5

PRIDE PAWTY Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel

Reserve your spot for pawdicures and fun activities like a dog-friendly photo booth and crafting matching pup and human accessories. Free puptails and $15 cocktails will be available. A portion of the proceeds will go to the L.A. LGBT Center. loewshotels.com.

JUNE 10

THE YARD X LEZ CROIX Catch One

The special Pride lineup at the historic Mid-City venue features performances by local legends and a far-flung band of musicians and performers flown in from across the gay universe. Catch.one.

Award-winning writercomposer-performer Eli Hans portrays all 25 characters in this moving musical about a newly diagnosed gay cancer patient struggling to find love and make peace with his troubled past. Meredith Grundei directs. June 10 and 11, outoftheblueshow.com.

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B OT TO M : M A R K R A L STO N /A F P V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S

OUT OF THE BLUE—A MIRACULOUS MUSICAL Zephyr Theatre

JUNE 11

UNITED IN PRIDE Various locations

Masterbeat’s four-day Pride Bacchanalia starts with a boisterous Saturday afternoon pool party on the rooftop of the Andaz Hotel. Other highlights include a Saturday night dance party with DJs Deanne and Tom Stephan at the Avalon nightclub and a Sunday evening Pride tea dance at Academy L.A. June 11 through 14, masterbeat.com.

VELVET TSUNAMI 2022 W Hotel

The Hollywood Boulevard hotel celebrates L.A. Pride weekend with a “Tsunami party” that features Abel Aguilera, Matt Suave, Cali Miles, Bears in Space, Karl Kay, and Dan De Leon. There will be five stages on multiple levels and a voguing competition hosted by Banjeball. Facebook.com/ thenightbreedla.

JUNE 12

THE 50TH ANNUAL L.A. PRIDE PARADE Hollywood and Vine

L.A. Pride celebrates its golden anniversary by returning to the neighborhood where it first began 50 years ago, when it became the first legally permitted Gay Pride parade in the country. The event, which kicks off at 10:30 a.m. sharp, heads west on Hollywood Boulevard to Highland Avenue. From

there, it moves south to Sunset and then east to Ivar Avenue. It’s within walking distance of two Metro stations. lapride.org

GET BACK IN THE GAME

WE’LL GET YOU UP

THE CATALINA ISLAND PRIDE FESTIVAL Wrigley Stage

A daylong event featuring music, food, and local performers will take place at the main Wrigley Stage and culminate in a dance party on the Avalon Bay waterfront. Lovecatalina.com/pride.

JUNE 23

PRIDE AT THE FOWLER: ARCHIVING GAY HISTORY

ONE LOW TESTOSTER M O FR G IN ER SUFF SFUNCTION? OR ERECTILE DY

Contact the Men’s Health Clinic at Tower Urology towerurology.com | 310-854-7822

Justin Houman, MD

Cedars-Sinai Office Towers . 8635 W 3rd St Suite 1W . Los Angeles, CA 90048

An online screening and discussion sponsored by UCLA’s Film & Television Archive and USC’s ONE Archive celebrates the work of artist Sadie Barnette and filmmaker Whitney Skauge. Their latest collaboration is on underrepresented icons of queer history, like 1992 presidential candidate Terence Alan Smith, also known as “Joan Jett Black” and Black Panther Rodney Barnette, who opened the first Black gay bar in San Francisco. Fowler.ucla.edu.

JUNE 25

OC PRIDE PARADE & FESTIVAL Downtown Santa Ana

Headliners at the annual Orange County Pride parade and festival will include Monique Heart,

(213) 483-8435 SALONFOLKLORE.COM

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PRIDE 2022

Pride and Roosterfish is hosting a special Pride Month party at James’ Beach, the longest operating gay-owned bar in Venice. DJ Spencer H will be spinning. Jamesbeach.com.

JULY 14

OUTFEST: SUMMER FILM FESTIVAL Various Locations

Outfest, the annual showcase of queer films and filmmakers, opens its 11-day summer film festival on July 14. The weeklong event, founded in 1982, offers screenings and parties at movie theaters across the city. Outfest is the oldest continuous film festival in SoCal. Outfest.com.

AUGUST 5

JUNE 28 JEREMY ATHERTON LIN On “Gay Bar: Why We Went Out" Book Soup Strobing lights and dark rooms, throbbing house music and drag queens on countertops, first kisses and last call, the gay bar has long been a place of solidarity and self-expression. Jeremy Atherton discusses his book and the escalating decline of America's gay bars in a Pride Month talk at the landmark L.A. bookstore. Booksoup.com

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Pepper Mashay, Big Dipper, Madison Rose, and Boi Band. Prideoc.com.

JULY 8

LONG BEACH PRIDE

Long Beach’s three-day Pride festivities start on Friday night and continue all weekend. The annual event attracts over 80,000 revelers from all across the SoCal area, and culminates this year with a blockbuster concert featuring Iggy Azalea and Natalia Jiménez. June 8 through 10, longbeachpride.com.

JULY 9

VENICE PRIDE TEA DANCE AT THE JAMES James’ Beach

The famous monthly dance party presented by Venice

DTLA PROUD ’22 PERSHING SQUARE

Founded by a group of local residents, business owners, and community leaders, the annual Pride event at the

WHO WOULDN’T WANT TO GO TO A FUNKY ROLLERSKATING CELEBRATION OF BOTH PRINCE’S BIRTHDAY AND PRIDE MONTH? main stage of Pershing Square will feature a special screening of the full-length documentary Proud in a Pandemic, as well as two days of stage performances, DJs, art, fancy food trucks, and a dance party at a pop-up waterpark. Dtlaproud.org. Reported by Troy Masters and Kaila Nichols.

TO P : K E V I N S U L L I VA N /O R A N G E CO U N T Y R E G I ST E R V I A G E T T Y I M AG E S ; B OT TO M : H A R M O N Y G E R B E R /G E T T Y I M AG E S

ORANGE COUNTY PRIDE CELEBRATION

how palm springs plays.

2022

8 8 8 . 9 9 9 .1 9 9 5 | Ag u a C a l i e n te C a s i n o s . co m

PALM SPRINGS

RANCHO MIRAGE

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CATHEDRAL CITY

2022