WEST HOLLYWOOD — Three fun-filled days honoring the LGBT community concluded June 1 with West Hollywood’s annual Pride Parade, featuring music, dancers, floats and marching contingents.
The parade began at noon, starting at Crescent Heights and Santa Monica boulevards, and traveled westbound along Santa Monica into the Rainbow — a stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard from La Cienega Boulevard to Doheny Drive, with rainbow flags and multicolored crosswalks at San Vicente Boulevard — to Robertson Boulevard.
Parade icons were actress-model Cara Delevingne, Emmy-nominated actress and filmmaker Nava Mau, “Love on the Spectrum” star Pari Kim, and former UCLA and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe.
Each year, parade icons are selected for their contributions to the LGBT community, visibility, civic involvement and advocacy.
“They’ve each made a big difference in popular culture by shining a light on LGBT voices, in pushing for social justice, and by helping more people feel seen,” West Hollywood Mayor Chelsea Lee Byers said in an announcement earlier in May.
“Ground in Pride,” an outdoor wellness event billed as a “queer sunset sound-movement experience,” followed the parade and accompanying street festival during the evening.
Also continuing was the two-day Outloud Music Festival at West Hollywood Park, which featured headliner Lizzo May 31 and Remi Wolf, Honey Dijon and Paris Hilton June 1.
“Pride Starts Here,” city officials said. “For four decades, West Hollywood has been home to one of the largest pride celebrations in the nation with hundreds of thousands of LGBT people and allies from around the world traditionally making the city their regular destination during pride season.”
WeHo Pride kicked off May 22 with the Harvey Milk Day Celebration and José Sarria Drag Pageant, and was followed by the WeHo Pride Arts Festival. Pride celebrations will continue throughout June, which is known as Pride Month.
