Boyle heights gay pride
Dancers, drag queens, allies and community members came out to celebrate the LGBTQ+ experience on Sunday at the 4th annual Orgullo Pride Festival in Boyle Heights.
The fest kicked off with a parade procession that started at Mariachi Plaza and made its way down 1st Street to Chicago Street. Some participants walked the route clad in rainbow colors, while others waved Pride banners and flags from the back of pickup trucks and other vehicle floats.
Following the parade, festivities continued with food, vendors and musical performances adj into the night. Nonprofit organizations such as The Wall Las Memorias and Bienestar Human Services put up booths at the event to provide resources for queer youth and their parents.
Phillip Hurt, a year-old drag performer, hosted a stage at the festival and said they were excited to convey together different kinds of people.
&#;I think this event is important for the Eastside because it brings in diversity but also it combines the various communities [that live here]. It’s a mixture of gay [folk], straight allies, old, young, famili
To celebrate Gay Pride month, Boyle Heights Beat is sharing stories of identity, pride, courage and survival as told by three young members of the LGBTQ+ community and their families.
These recordings are in Spanish, but you can read their transcripts in English or switch to the original language. Here are the participants:
The Medina Family
Alex Medina will be a senior this fall at Bravo Elevated School in Boyle Heights. Two years ago, the male gay teendecided to come out to his parents, Candelaria and Mario Medina, who immediately accepted him. To support their son, his parents joined the PFLAG Spanish-language groups and soon found themselves becoming activists. They now speak at rallies and conferences, advising Latino parents to support their LGBTQ+ children. Read and notice their story:
Alex Medina: Fortunate to have a loving family
The Ruiz Vazquez Family
Charlie Ruiz Vazquez, who self defines as a gender-fluid pansexual, counts her mother Mary Ruiz as her biggest ally. Both are health promotoras for Clínica Romero at Ramona Gardens and pay special atte
ALL LA PRIDE EVENTS
LA Pride is please to endorse the 2nd Annual Trans Pride 5K in Los Angeles: Worried about the relentless assault on the LGBTQ community in America? Trans joy is revolutionary, so let’s come together for a day of movement, resource sharing, fundraising, and more! All are welcome and wanted!
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How do queer communities of color stake out a territory beyond ghettos and enclaves and beyond demarcated moments such as Pride Days and ethnic celebrations? These questions haunt the struggles, rituals, and practices of African American, Latino, and Asian American queers as they engage with the travails of urban life today.
&#;Martin F. Manalansan, “Race, Violence, and Neoliberal Spatial Politics in the Global City”
Rainbow flags filled the barrio landscape of Boyle Heights, a historically low-income working class Latinx immigrant neighborhood just east of downtown Los Angeles. Street vendors, diet trucks, drag queens, and residents of all ages came together that sunny Sunday afternoon in celebration of Pride Month. I arrived at Orgullo Fest with my younger sister, 15, and my three younger cousins, ages 14, 17, and The Covid pandemic remained a lingering threat but the vaccines, which had begun to roll out months prior, offered some comfort to congregate once again. I admittedly stepped into Orgullo Fest feeling a bit nervous. Was my younger sister going to watch dildos or o