The event at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration kicked off LGBTQ+ Pride Month and marked the first time a Pride flag flew over a Los Angeles County building.
The Progress Pride Flag will fly daily at county offices during Pride Month, and the timing felt right to Janice Hahn, the board chair. She co-authored the resolution with Lindsey Horvath, supervisor for District 3.
“We are seeing anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-trans bills being passed at an alarming rate across the country,” Hahn said in a statement after the five-member board unanimously voted in March to fly the Pride flag at county offices every year. “Here in Los Angeles County we’re making our position clear: in the largest county in the nation, LGBTQ+ residents have the unwavering support of their government.”
The Progress Pride Flag, designed by Daniel Quasar, is modified from the original rainbow flag to include chevron in black, brown, pink, white and light blue on the left side to represent Black and brown LGBTQ people and the trans community, respectively.
Hahn and Horvath were joined at the flag-raising event Thursday morning by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Kathryn Barger, Dist. Atty. George Gascón and Assessor Jeff Prang.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Also in attendance was Sister Tootie Toot, a member of the L.A. Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a LGBTQ activist group of drag nuns. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence received national attention after the Dodgers announced they would bestow the sisters with a community heroes award during a June 16 Pride Night event at Dodger Stadium, then rescinded it after getting backlash from conservative religious groups before reinstating it over the course of several days.
The unveiling of the Pride flag at the Hall of Administration comes amid a climate in which states have restricted the rights of transgender and other LGBTQ communities, banning drag performances in public spaces and prohibiting gender-affirming procedures or hormone replacement therapies for minors.
The Progress Pride flag flying at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration was designed by Daniel Quasar.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
There are currently more than 490 bills restricting rights for the LGBTQ community this legislative session, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
In a 3-2 vote, the Redlands City Council voted last month not to fly a Pride flag because flying an unofficial flag violates city policies.
The Huntington Beach City Council voted in February to no longer fly the rainbow flag at City Hall and to limit what flags can fly on city property.
“It’s not about getting rid of the Pride flag. I have a nephew and a niece that are both gay, and we love them dearly,” said Councilmember Pat Burns, who authored the ordinance. “But in my family, we recognize everyone equally. … Let’s just stick with our beautiful American flag and everything else.”
The ordinance bars flags outside those representing the U.S., the state of California, the city of Huntington Beach and Orange County, as well as the POW/MIA flag and those representing the branches of U.S. armed forces, from being raised on city property.
Last week, a transgender teacher at Saticoy Elementary School in North Hollywood discovered a Pride flag that had been displayed in a flower pot was burned and the pot broken by an intruder. Los Angeles police confirmed they were investigating the vandalism.
Tensions have flared at the school after some parents protested the school’s Pride month assembly, in which administrators planned to talk about families with gay parents.