Since its inception, the concept of ‘SoCal cool’ has been ingrained in LA Pride. Back in 1970, the three major queer meccas of New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles each wanted to commemorate the historic Stonewall Riots. While NY and SF staged somber protest marches, Los Angeles opted for something more jubilant, resulting in the world’s first Pride Parade. This choice of revelry over politics directly reflects the unique, flashy spirit of LA, the epicenter of the entertainment industry where every season is summer and every day is a weekend. This legacy of LGBTQ+ bacchanalia continues to this day with the latest iteration of LA Pride.
The festivities kicked off Saturday afternoon with LA Pride in the Park, hosted in LA Historic Park in downtown Los Angeles. This weekend-long festival showcased the spirit of the city, offering noshes from local food trucks, promos from queer-friendly companies such as Paul Mitchell, NYX, and Hulu, and cameos by the Dodgers and Rams mascots. However, as one would expect from the country’s entertainment capital, music was the event’s centerpiece.
This year’s iconic headliner, Ricky Martin, was joined by a line-up of music talent that included Muna Tokischa, Rainao, and most memorably, Dance Mom’s alum Jojo Siwa. The former reality star, who recently turned 21, stole the spotlight by infamously swigging vodka straight from the bottle on stage while later putting a hater on blast with a profanity-filled diatribe.
“You guys aren’t the dicks online,” she said to the audience. “Not going to lie. I have to deal with a lot of them online.”
“I woke up this morning and, as one does, I opened my phone and the first thing that came up was a picture of me performing back when I was in London a couple of days ago. Some guy – I stalked his page, he was definitely straight…This guy commented, and this was a new comment for me,” Siwa continued. “It wasn’t about a dance that I do. It wasn’t about my hairline, it wasn’t that I’m a 5-foot-9 giant toddler. It said, ‘This man needs to be stopped.’ Number one, my dick was bigger than his and number two, I fucked more girls than him.”
As usual, LA Pride’s embrace of queer Los Angeles’ fabulous culture permeated beyond DTLA, with annual speedo-clad pool parties such as Squirt and Reverb, as well as the Hard Candy dance party at the iconic Catch One. The revelries crescendoed into Sunday with this year’s LA Pride Parade, which marched down Hollywood Blvd, the same route it took back in 1970, circling back to its origin and reminding the world that celebrating queer Pride with mirth and merriment is in itself a form of protest.
For those who couldn’t attend LA Pride this weekend, we’ve snatched images of some of our favorite moments.
Photography by Mike Ciriaco.
