PROUD OF IT!
PRIDE 2012
Los Angeles’s annual celebration of LGBT Pride will boast many new features during the 2012 event
running from Friday through Sunday, June 8, 9, and 10: A newly redesigned and expanded festival site
at the West Hollywood Park; an affirming new theme slogan (“…and Proud of it!”); a fresh new lineup with 75 performers, DJs and celebrity hosts; and a new
spirit of optimism. Emboldened in the wake of recent pronouncements of support for same-sex marriage
from President Obama, Vice President Biden and the NAACP are only a handful of things to celebrate.
by chris carpenter 30 RAGE monthly | JUNE 2012 L.A.
L.A. Pride is now in its 42nd year and this one promises to be a stand out!
The first LGBT Pride parade not only in Los Angeles, but in the U.S. was held on June 28, 1970, just one year after the Stonewall riots in New York. The festival was added in 1974, and L.A. Pride is today one of the largest such events in the world. This year’s festival, in the newly renovated West Hollywood Park, will run from 12:00 noon to 12:00 midnight on Saturday, June 9, and from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Sun- day, June 10. The parade will march down Santa Monica Boulevard starting at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 10. This year’s Grand Marshal is native Californian Molly Ringwald, who has been a
busy woman since her ‘80s introduction in the John Hughes’ films Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. She can currently be found on The Secret Life of the American Teenager as the title character’s mother, telling real stories of issues facing teens today such as coming out, relationships, sex and teen-parenting. When asked in this month’s issue of OUT magazine if her character will be the rumored next to come out, Molly said, “I would love it. It would give me an opportunity to explain why I don’t think I am ruining America’s youth.” She and her husband offered more of their long- standing support during the No On Prop 8 Campaign, with a light-hearted yet poi- gnant PSA saying, “Same sex marriage has been legal here for months and nothing’s happened. I would feel really horrible if two people who loved each other as much as we do couldn’t get married.” Molly’s upcoming second book, When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories, includes one about a six-year-old transgender boy. The Trevor Project, a longtime lifeline for LGBTQ youth in crisis or thinking about suicide, will be honored during the parade as the 2012 Community Grand Marshal. This special title is reserved each year for one group that has been particularly effec- tive in forwarding the mission of L.A. Pride’s presenting organization, Christopher Street West, in advancing equality and fostering better understanding of LGBTQ issues. “We are grateful to Christopher Street West and the community of West Hol- lywood for supporting a culture that encourages young people to reach out for help,” said Abbe Land, executive director and CEO of The Trevor Project. Several other significant people have been named Community Honorees such as
film writer-director Dee Rees of last year’s acclaimed movie, Pariah, who will receive the Osborn/Michaels Media Award. Trans activist, author and recent Dancing with the Stars participant Chaz Bono will be crowned L.A. Pride’s 2012 Person of the Year. Katy Butler, a teenager who launched a successful national campaign to have the initial “R” rating for the powerful documentary Bully changed to a “PG-13,” is this year’s Outstanding Youth Leader. Other 2012 Pride Community Honorees include: Kamala Harris, California’s first
(and current) female, African-American and Asian-American Attorney General; event producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist Tom Whitman; and Steve Jimenez, Los Angeles Unified School District’s go-to teacher and resource on LGBT issues. Of course, the main reason many turn out for L.A. Pride is to check out the all-star
mix of entertainers set to perform during the festival. Popular, out actor-comedian Alec Mapa will be making his L.A. Pride debut on Sunday, June 10 (check out our interview with Mapa), as will Saturday, June 9’s headliner Hayla, the international songstress best known for her dance hit “I’m Free.” Of note, Hayla recently disclosed that her father is gay and she was raised by her two lesbian mothers. Other performers slated to appear on the festival’s multiple stages include power-
house singer Frenchie Davis, former Go-Gos member Belinda Carlisle, Decolletage, Damien Christopher, Dev, Jessica Sutta, Karmin, Beverly McClellan, Playboy School and the Upright Cabaret. Several of the female singers will be featured dur- ing L.A. Pride’s women-centric Purple Party, now in its second year. It will kick off the weekend the night of Friday, June 8. SummerTramp, a large-scale water park/party venue also inside the West Holly-
wood Park, will be incorporated into L.A. Pride for the very first time. It is described by its co-creator as “a hidden paradise where drag queens flirt with lesbians, leather
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