Did you know that the Los Angeles Pride Parade was the first official permitted Pride parade in the world?
On June 28, 1970, Rev. Bob Humphries (founder, United States Mission), Morris Kight (founder, Gay Liberation Front) and Rev. Troy Perry (founder, Metropolitan Community Church) and the Christopher Street West Association banned together to organize the first Pride parade in Los Angeles. It was held simultaneously with events in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising in New York that took place a year earlier.
Over 50 years later, we continue to celebrate June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month across the United States. Locally, over a dozen Pride parades, resource fairs, concerts, and festivals are taking place across our communities. From Glendale to Glendora, LGBTQ+ individuals and allies are making their voices heard!
Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley (PPPSGV) is proud to uplift, celebrate, and stand with our local LGBTQ+ community. Here are a few of the actions that we have been a part of this month:
- We kicked the month off at Pasadena City Hall, where I spoke at the city’s Second Annual Progress Pride Flag Raising with Mayor Victor Gordo and SGV LGBTQ Center President Camila Camaleon.
- We were honored by the City of La Puente and SGV LGBTQ Center for our role as health care providers for the LGBTQ community at the city's first ever Pride event.
- We participated in the San Gabriel Valley Pride festival organized by the Alhambra Teacher’s Association and the City of Monterey Park. We were joined by Congresswoman Judy Chu and nearly a thousand young people and their families to celebrate!
- In Glendale, we supported our friends at GlendaleOut at their Pride in the Park event!
- We spoke at Huntington Hospital’s second annual Pride flag raising ceremony.
- We hosted a Pride Talk with our friends at Foothill Transit.
- We donated furniture and goods to the new SGV LGBTQ Center which will be opening in El Monte soon.
As we celebrate Pride Month, it is important to recognize that continued attacks on sexual and reproductive health care directly impact the LGBTQ+ community. As a community leader at Planned Parenthood and the Board Vice President of the San Gabriel Valley LGBTQ Center I know how much is at stake with the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision threatening to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Let’s be clear – sexual and reproductive rights ARE LGBTQ+ rights, and any attempts to take away those rights are an attack on us all.
Later this month we will continue to participate in Pride events across the San Gabriel Valley, while also continuing our fight to protect and expand sexual and reproductive rights. To stay updated with what’s happening this month, be sure to follow @pppsgv and @sgvlgbtq on social media. We hope to see you out and proud in at Pride events throughout the San Gabriel Valley!
With Pride,
Christian Port
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