Allan Millan knows how to serve a look on LA Pride Parade day.
Black bomber jacket to ward against the cold? Check. Bright red T-shirt and black sweatpants with a rainbow stripe on the side? Check. “Happy Pride” flag? Got it. Loud and proud attitude and good vibes? So there.
Millan, 28, of Venice Beach, was one of about 145,000 revelers at the 53rd annual LA Pride Parade. Gray skies didn’t deter crowds from cheering on a three-hour display of 150 entries, including LGBTQ+ nonprofits, businesses, clubs, dancers, bands, and floats marching the 1.5-mile route along Hollywood Boulevard.
“It’s Pride Month, for me, it’s time to party and say we’re here and queer,” Millan said. “I’m not here to change anyone’s mind but to celebrate living my life openly, especially this year.”
The nonprofit Christopher Street West Association produced the LA Pride celebration, which included a street fair on Hollywood Boulevard after the parade. Mariah Carey and Megan Thee Stallion headlined a weekend festival at LA State Historic Park.
Comedian, actor and activist Margaret Cho served as this year’s Icon Grand Marshal, joining parade entries that included Disney Company employees, the Los Angeles Rams cheerleaders, TV personalities and Katharine Jefferts Schori, former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
“We need this Pride more than ever,” Cho said. “I’ve been attending Pride celebrations since 1978 and this time around the need to celebrate as well as unite is more urgent than it has ever been. Our love is greater than their hate.”
Jana “Cricket” Jordan, sister of the late actor and singer Leslie Jordan, rode in a custom purple vehicle decorated with photos of her Emmy Award-winning brother. Jordan was honored as the event’s Legacy Grand Marshal. The openly gay actor was 67 when he passed away of natural causes on Oct. 24, 2022.
“This honor further solidifies the positive impact he made in the world, but more importantly for the LGBTQ+ community,” Jana Jordan said. “His spirit continues to bring love and light.”
This year’s Community Grand Marshal is the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU SoCal), which helped make the first LA Pride Parade possible in 1970. That was the year organization was instrumental in fighting the L.A. Police Commission’s unconstitutional requirement of a $1 million insurance policy by parade organizers, resulting in the first permitted gay parade in the world, according to strategist Nicholas Reiner.
“For a century, we’ve been on the front lines fighting for people to be their true, authentic selves,” said Hector Villagra, executive director of ACLU SoCal. “We’re honored to be the Community Grand Marshal and proud to love, live among, and protect LGBTQ Californians.”
Reiner said the work continues beyond the Hollywood street party and festival.
“The ACLU SoCal fights for our rights to freely express ourselves, to get the healthcare we need and deserve, and to feel welcome and safe in all spaces,” Reiner said.
Sarah Marcelo, 26, of Los Angeles, said she loved the part street party, part fashion show feel of LA Pride. As she watched Mariachi Arcoiris on the festival stage post-parade, she pointed out families, couples and teenagers in the crowd. She said she is grateful her family was supportive when she came out eight years ago, and that Los Angeles has a long history of supporting the LGBTQ community.
“Personally, I’m happy but politically, I’m mad and scared,” she said. “You don’t understand what transgender means, what any word in that (LGBTQ) acronym means? Then find out. Understand. Educate yourself,” she said. “Ask me. I’m not controversial at all.”
