The L.A. Pride Parade and Festival in West Hollywood is a fixture of Los Angeles life. This year it celebrates its 50th anniversary. It would have been a grand celebration, but because of the pandemic, Christopher Street West Association, the organization producing the event, had to scramble to pivot virtually. The organization is going virtual this year, with a primetime special airing on a major network. Despite this, Estevan Montemayor, Board President of the organization, says L.A.’s LGBT won’t be beat.
Half a century ago, Los Angeles’ pride parade began to commemorate the Stonewall uprising the year before. There were pride marches in New York City and Chicago, but Montemayor says L.A. was different: it was a parade, not a march.
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While it may seem like semantics at this point, by calling it a parade instead of a march (a constitutional right to assemble), the LGBT community opened the door to governmental regulation. “We had to get permits to close the street down, to have a parade go down Hollywood Boulevard. It wasn’t easy,” said Montemayor. “The [Los Angeles Police Department] wasn’t supportive at the time, and we had to fight LAPD unfairly targeting our community. They put incredible financial burdens on us, which would have made it financially impossible to parade.”
Among the stipulations the LAPD put on was that the organization had to put up a bond for $1 million to pay out any damage to businesses incurred along the way on top of a $500,000 cash bond, as well as get 5,000 people to participate in the parade.
In the face of such insurmountable financial burdens, the American Civil Liberties Union got involved and managed to argue Christopher Street West’s side effectively. The judge ordered the city of Los Angeles to “protect these people even if you need to call out the National Guard.”
Today, celebrations like L.A. Pride Parade and Festival may seem like such a part of the cultural fabric that it’s easy to forget how difficult it was half a century ago to even set foot in public as an LGBT person. “That was a historical moment, when this organization said, ‘No, LAPD we will not back down; we are going to proceed,” said Montemayor.
Montemayor says these posters of the parade all tell a story of a yearly reminder not to back down, not to give up. The 1972 poster is one that can be seen adorning the walls of Rocco’s. 2003’s poster shows Cyndi Lauper and Belinda Jo Carlisle, which clues viewers in on how important women allies were to the organization. “These posters really tell the story of the times, even with just specific nuances and color choice and font,” said Montemayor.
See posters from 50 years of L.A. Pride. Click right or left below.
5/36 Christopher Street West parade poster featuring themes related to the bicentennial of U.S. independence, 1976. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
10/36 Christopher Street West/Los Angeles presents the 1981 gay pride festival featuring the words "A salute to our gay spirit," poster. | Walker & Meyers, Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
11/36 Christopher Street West/Los Angeles presents the 1982 gay pride festival featuring the words "A new gay dawning," poster. | Walker & Meyers, Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
12/36 Christopher Street West/Los Angeles presents the 1983 gay pride festival featuring the words "Feel the pride, share the magic,” poster. | Walker & Meyers, Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
13/36 Christopher Street West/Los Angeles presents the 1983 gay pride festival featuring the words "Unity & more in '84,” poster. | Walker & Meyers, Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
15/36 Alive with pride in '85 poster featuring the words “Gay pride; It begins with everyone,” poster, 1985. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
16/36 Forward together: Christopher Street West/Los Angeles presents the gay pride celebration, 1986, poster. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
17/36 Welcome to West Hollywood: Christopher Street West gay pride festival '86, poster. | Marion Sampler, Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
18/36 Festiveall! Gay pride celebration: West Hollywood Park poster featuring the words “June 27-28, 1987 Christopher Street West; proud, strong, united.” | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
19/36 Christopher Street West/Los Angeles presents the gay and lesbian pride celebration poster featuring the words “Rightfully proud,” 1988. | John Klamik, Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
20/36 Christopher Street West/Los Angeles presents the 1989 gay and lesbian pride celebration poster featuring the words “Stonewall 20: a generation of pride; June 24 & 25, 198, West Hollywood Park, West Hollywood, CA." | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
21/36 Take Pride poster featuring the words “With pride in yourself, you can appreciate the differences in others” from the 1990 gay and lesbian pride celebration. | David Jensen, Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
22/36 Christopher Street West Los Angeles, 1991, featuring the words “Together in pride” and Morris Kight, Connie Norman and Miki Jackson. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
23/36 Gay and lesbian pride celebration: pride = power '92 : Los Angeles : Christopher Street West/Los Angeles poster. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
24/36 A family of pride '93 poster for "23rd gay & lesbian pride celebration!” featuring Morris Kight, Connie Norman and Jewel Thais-Williams. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
25/36 Stonewall 25: a global celebration poster from the Los Angeles gay & lesbian pride celebration, 1994. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
26/36 CSW: 25 years of pride poster from the Los Angeles gay & lesbian pride celebration, 1995. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
27/36 Pride without borders poster from the Los Angeles gay & lesbian pride celebration, 1996. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
28/36 “See Me” poster featuring the words “Equality through visibility” from the the Los Angeles gay & lesbian pride celebration, 1997. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
29/36 A new beginning, June 11-13 1999: the 29th annual gay and lesbian pride celebration poster, 1999. | McMan & Tate, Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
30/36 Pride: the next generation poster for the Los Angeles gay & lesbian pride celebration, 2000. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
32/36 Christopher Street West presents true colors: LA pride 2003 poster featuring Cindy Lauper and Belinda Carlisle. | Christopher Street West/Los Angeles,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
35/36 Celebrate pride : lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender poster from the Los Angeles gay & lesbian pride celebration featuring the words "Putting all of our community together,” 2006. | Consolidated Association of Pride, Inc.,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
36/36 Gay lesbian bisexual transgender pride 2008 poster from the Los Angeles gay & lesbian pride celebration. | Consolidated Association of Pride, Inc.,
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
The project to digitize early pride posters and other political graphics from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries has been made possible by a major grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources' Digitizing Hidden Collections program.
Top Image: "PROBE Summer of 1980" float at Los Angeles Christopher Street West pride parade, 1980. | ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries
