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WASHINGTON — When he first ran for office, Donald Trump appeared to be a new kind of Republican when it came to gay rights.

Years earlier, he overturned the rules of his own Miss Universe pageant to allow a transgender contestant to compete. He said Caitlyn Jenner could use any bathroom at Trump Tower that she wanted. And he was the first president to name an openly gay person to a Cabinet-level position.

But since returning to office this year, Trump has engaged in what activists say is an unprecedented assault on the LGBTQ+ community. The threat from the White House contrasts with World Pride celebrations taking place just blocks away in Washington, including a parade and rally this weekend.

“We are in the darkest period right now since the height of the AIDS crisis,” said Kevin Jennings, who leads Lambda Legal, a longtime advocacy organization. “I am deeply concerned that we’re going to see it all be taken away in the next four years.”

Trump’s defenders insist the president has not acted in a discriminatory way, and they point to public polling that shows widespread support for policies like restrictions on transgender athletes.

“He’s working to establish common sense once again,” said Ed Williams, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBT conservatives.

Harrison Fields, the principal deputy press secretary at the White House, said, “the overall MAGA movement is a big tent welcome for all and home to a large swath of the American people.”

“The president continues to foster a national pride that should be celebrated daily, and he is honored to serve all Americans,” Fields said.

Presidential actions were widely expected

Trump made anti-transgender attacks a central plank of his campaign reelection message as he called on Congress to pass a bill stating there are “only two genders” and pledged to ban hormonal and surgical intervention for transgender minors. He signed an executive order doing so in January.

His rally speeches featured a spoof video mocking transgender people and their place in the U.S. military. Trump has since banned them outright from serving. And although June is recognized nationally as Pride month, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters this week that Trump has “no plans for a proclamation.”

“I can tell you this president is very proud to be a president for all Americans, regardless of race, religion or creed,” she added, making no mention of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Williams described Pride activities as a progressive catch-all rather than a civil rights campaign. “If you’re not in the mood to protest or resist the Trump administration,” he said, “Pride is not for you.”

Trump declined to issue Pride Month proclamations in his first term, but did recognize the celebration in 2019 as he publicized a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality headed by Richard Grenell, then the U.S. Ambassador to Germany and the highest-profile openly gay person in the administration. (Grenell now serves as envoy for special missions.)

“As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation,” Trump posted on social media.

Times have changed where Trump is concerned

This time, there is no celebrating.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which Trump named himself chairman of after firing members of the board of trustees, canceled a week’s worth of events celebrating LGBTQ+ rights for this summer’s World Pride festival in Washington, D.C., at one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions.

Trump, who indicated when he took up the position that he would be dictating programming, had specifically said he would end events featuring performers in drag. The exterior lights that once lit the venue on the Potomac River in the colors of the rainbow were quickly replaced with red, white and blue.

Multiple artists and producers involved in the center’s Tapestry of Pride schedule, which had been planned for June 5 to 8, told The Associated Press that their events had been quietly canceled or moved to other venues.

Inside the White House, there’s little second-guessing about the president’s stances. Trump aides have pointed to their decision to seize on culture wars surrounding transgender rights during the 2024 campaign as key to their win. They poured money into ads aimed at young men — especially young Hispanic men — attacking Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for supporting “taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners,” including one spot aired during football games.

“Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you,” the narrator said.

Jennings flatly rejected assertions that the administration hasn’t been discriminatory. “Are you kidding me? You’re throwing trans people out of the military. That’s example No. 1.”

He points to the cancellation of scientific grants and funding for HIV/AIDS organizations, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “petty and mean” order to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, which commemorates the gay rights activist and Navy veteran.

Jennings also said it doesn’t help that Trump has appointed openly gay men like Grenell and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to high-profile positions: “I would call it window dressing.”

Less tolerance for the issues as time passes

Craig Konnoth, a University of Virginia professor of civil rights, compared the U.S.’ trajectory to that of Russia, which has seen a crackdown on gay and lesbian rights after a long stretch of more progressive policies. In 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court effectively outlawed LGBTQ+ activism.

Williams said Trump has made the Republican Party more accepting of gay people. First lady Melania Trump, he noted, has hosted fundraisers for his organization.

“On the whole, we think he’s the best president ever for our community. He’s managed to support us in ways that we have never been supported by any administration,” Williams said. “We are vastly accepted within our party now.”

Trump’s approach to LGBTQ+ rights comes amid a broader shift among Republicans, who have grown less tolerant in recent years.

While overall support for same-sex marriage has been stable, according to Gallup, the percentage of Republicans who think marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized as valid with the same rights as traditional marriage dropped to 41% this year. That’s the lowest point since 2016, a year after the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, and a substantial decline from a high of 55% in 2021.

There’s been a similar drop in the share of Republicans who say that gay and lesbian relations are morally acceptable, which has dropped from 56% in 2022 to 38% this year. Democrats, meanwhile, continue to overwhelmingly support same-sex marriage and say that same-sex relations are morally acceptable.

An AP-NORC poll from May also found that Trump’s approach to handling transgender issues has been a point of relative strength for the president. About half (52%) of U.S. adults said they approve of how he’s handling transgender issues — a figure higher than his overall job approval (41%).

Douglas Page, who studies politics and gender at Gettysburg College, said that “trans rights are less popular than gay rights, with a minority of Republicans in favor of trans rights. This provides incentives for Republicans to speak to the conservative side of that issue.”

“Gay people are less controversial to Republicans compared to trans people,” he said in an email, “so gay appointees like Secretary Bessent probably won’t ruffle many feathers.”

Megerian and Colvin write for the Associated Press. Colvin reported from New York. Linley Sanders and Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.

North Salinas High sophomore Clara Adams ran the fastest time in the girls’ 400-meter finals at the CIF State Track & Field Finals last weekend.

She crossed the finish line .28 seconds ahead of her closest competitor.

But Adams is not the state champion. She was stripped of that title after she used a fire extinguisher to spray her cleats while on the field inside the track moments after the race.

“I was robbed,” Adams, 16, told The Times shortly after being disqualified from that event as well the 200 finals, which took place later in the meet.

Adams said CIF officials told her that she was being disqualified because she had been “unsportsmanlike,” but that’s not how she saw it at all.

“I was having fun,” Adams said, noting her win in the 400 marked her first state title. “I’d never won something like that before, and they took it away from me. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

She added: “I worked really hard for it and they took it from me, and I don’t know what to do.”

Days later, David Adams, who said he is the sprint coach at North Salinas, told The Times his daughter was “doing better” but still trying to cope with everything that unfolded Saturday afternoon at Buchanan High in Clovis.

“Clara’s hurt. She’s hurt right now,” David Adams said Wednesday. “She’s better today than Saturday. Saturday was fresh. It just happened. It was a shock. She felt numb. They made her sit there and watch while they put those other girls on the podium, knowing Clara’s the fastest 400-meter runner in the state of California.”

Clara Adams has been running competitively since age 6, her father said. She finished fourth in the 400 at last year’s state meet and won the event with a state-best time of 53.23 at the Central Coast Section championships last month. After posting the top qualifying time in Friday’s preliminaries, Adams surged ahead of Madison Mosby of St. Mary’s Academy in Inglewood to win the race with a time of 53.24.

Immediately afterward, Adams walked over to the wall in front of the stands and found her father, who reached down and handed her what he described as a “small” fire extinguisher. She then walked back across the track into the grass, where she sprayed her cleats as if she was putting out a fire — a move her father said was a tribute to former U.S. sprinter Maurice Greene, who similarly celebrated his win in the 100 at the 2004 Home Depot Invitational in Carson.

CIF officials apparently were not amused and disqualified Adams on the spot, awarding first place to Mosby. According to rules established by the National Federation of State High School Assns., “unsporting conduct” is defined as behavior that includes but is not limited to “disrespectfully addressing an official, any flagrant behavior, intentional contact, taunting, criticizing or using profanity directed toward someone.” The penalty is disqualification from the event in which the behavior took place and further competition in the meet.

The CIF did not respond to a request for comment from The Times.

According to David Adams, the officials “were really nasty” toward his daughter. They “tugged on her arm,” he said, “they were screaming in her face. I could hear it from where I was at. I could see it — I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but they were just really nasty.”

Clara Adams said she specifically asked the officials to speak with her father about the disqualification, but they refused.

“They kept telling me, ‘It’s OK,’ and I was telling them, ‘It’s not OK,’ and they didn’t care,” she said. “They were trying to smile in my face, like them telling me ‘no’ amused them or something.”

David Adams said the officials would only speak to North Salinas head coach Alan Green, who declined to speak to The Times for this story.

“They told him that it was unsportsmanlike conduct,” David Adams said of the officials’ discussion with Green. “We were asking for the rule, the specific rule of what she did, and they didn’t really give anything. It was more of a gray area that gives them discretion to pick and choose what they feel is unsportsmanlike conduct.”

Adams disputes that his daughter behaved in a manner that could be considered unsportsmanlike.

“Looking at the film, Clara is nowhere near any opponent,” he said. “She’s off the track, on the grass. Her opponents are long gone off the track already, so she wasn’t in their face. It was a father-daughter moment. … She did it off the track because she didn’t want to seem disrespectful toward nobody. And they still found a reason to take her title away. They didn’t give her a warning or anything.”

He added that his daughter is a “very humble, really sweet kid.”

“I take responsibility for the situation. I’m taking full responsibility,” he said. “Clara has run several championship races and won and walked off the track. It’s just weird that she celebrates one time and now people, these strangers, these middle-aged people want to chase after her character?”

Greene, the four-time Olympic medalist who inspired Clara’s celebration, told KSBW-TV in Salinas that the CIF should reconsider its decision.

“If [the celebration] was away from everyone and not interfering with anyone, I would say reinstate her,” Greene said.

David Adams said he is trying to make that happen but so far the CIF won’t return his calls .

“We have an attorney on standby right now,” he said. “I don’t want to take it there, but I will fight this all the way. As long as I’m breathing I’m gonna fight it. But we’re trying to go through proper channels to give the CIF an opportunity to do the right thing. Having an attorney involved is our last resort, that means we tried everything.”

Vanessa Agabo-Davalos has spent hours watching the dystopian drama “Squid Game” on Netflix. But nothing could prepare the 21-year-old college student for seeing one of the show’s actors walk the red carpet a few feet in front of her.

She found herself starstruck in the presence of Kang Ae-sim, who portrays Geum-ja (Player 149) on the South Korean thriller. All the more so when they snapped a photo together.

“You forget everything. You forget how to talk — it’s just like ‘Wow, I saw you on TV,’” said Agabo-Davalos, who traveled an hour from the Inland Empire and can’t wait to see the final season this month. “I feel like it’s a dream come true for the ones that really enjoyed these shows.”

She was among the more than 9,500 Netflix fans who gathered Saturday at the Kia Forum in Inglewood for Netflix‘s Tudum live event, an hours-long extravaganza meant to hype up audiences for upcoming series, movies and returning franchises.

People traveled from all over the world to celebrate their love for shows including “Squid Game,” Addams Family series “Wednesday” and sci-fi show “Stranger Things.”

During Netflix’s variety-show like program onstage at the famed venue, the company showed off how its computer animated version of Tony Tony Chopper, a toddler-sized reindeer-boy character in the live action pirate series “One Piece,” would appear in the upcoming season.

Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro unveiled a new teaser trailer for his November Netflix movie, “Frankenstein,” starring Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth, who both appeared onstage with the filmmaker. Fans also saw the first six minutes of the first episode of Season 2 of “Wednesday,” which will be released in August.

The event, named after the sound that plays before a Netflix program begins (“tuh-dum”), was part of Netflix’s ongoing effort to harness the enthusiasm its viewers have for its most popular programs and inspire them to keep streaming.

“It is about celebrating fans and giving something back to them,” Netflix’s Chief Marketing Officer Marian Lee told The Times after the event. “Of course it is also about promoting … we have a huge slate coming up.”

Netflix hosted the first Tudum event in 2020 in São Paulo, which came from the company’s Brazil team, which had an idea for an event that rewarded the streamer’s fans of young adult shows. That later led to Tudum evolving into different formats including festivals and livestreams, events that were more like a fan convention.

In 2023, Netflix held Tudum again in São Paulo, drawing more than 35,000 attendees and more than 78 million views through Netflix’s social channels.

But Saturday’s festivities in Inglewood took Netflix brand promotion to a new level.

It was the first time Tudum was livestreamed directly on Netflix, rather than on YouTube or social media outlets. The event played like a roughly two-hour live variety show, featuring “ask me anything” segments, as well as performances from music artists including Lady Gaga, who appears in the next season of “Wednesday.”

Xavier Woods, left, and Kofi Kingston attend Netflix Tudum 2025: The Live Event at the Kia Forum on Saturday in Inglewood.

(Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Netflix)

There was plenty of cross promotion of Netflix content during the show, as WWE wrestlers talked about why people should tune into their weekly live show on the platform, while also speaking about their love for “One Piece,” based on manga.

Tudum host Sofia Carson touted her upcoming Netflix movie, “My Oxford Year,” which also stars Corey Mylchreest, known for portraying King George III in Georgian era romance series “Queen Charlotte” from the “Bridgerton” universe. Sesame Street‘s Cookie Monster also made an appearance with actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who star in the new Netflix movie “The RIP.”

“I don’t think another studio can pull this off in the way that we did,” Lee said. “Fandoms can be unique and distinct. They’re putting all those fans in a room together, WWE fans next to [mystery movie] ‘Knives Out’ fans next to Lady Gaga fans for ‘Wednesday.’ That’s an incredible achievement. That is something only Netflix can do.”

To some people, Tudum is a page borrowed from Walt Disney Co., which hosts the biennial D23 fan convention in Anaheim, pulling together disparate fandoms (Disney princesses, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars) to converge in the same place. It raises the question: Does Netflix, a streaming service that produces shows from just about every genre for just about every kind of audience, have fans in the same way that Disney does?

Over the years, Netflix has expanded its live events and in-person experiences to keep viewers engaged. Those have included “Bridgerton” balls, Netflix-themed eateries and retail stores selling merch based on “Stranger Things” and other shows.

Lee declined to say how much Netflix spent on the event. Some fans bought tickets, ranging from $25 to $75, while others said they scored free tickets. Netflix said tickets sold out in about a week.

Netflix doesn’t have iconic animated characters like Mickey Mouse or storied franchises like “Star Wars” or Marvel. But Netflix’s strategy is to have something for everyone, and because of that, people are reluctant to quit it, industry observers say, even as economic anxieties run rampant.

“That is the competitive advantage of Netflix,” said Larry Vincent, a marketing professor at USC Marshall School of Business. “It really has become the big tent of streaming. They’ve invested pretty significantly to develop a stockpile of content.”

The streamer said last year it had more than 301 million subscribers globally. On Saturday, the attendees reflected that expansive audience.

Netflix Tudum 2025: The Live Event at the Kia Forum on Saturday in Inglewood.

(Adam Rose/Netflix)

Fans dressed up as their favorite characters from Netflix shows. People wore black dresses similar to Wednesday’s attire, straw hats in support of “One Piece” and green tracksuits like the ones players wear in the deadly “Squid Game.”

When Cookie Monster appeared behind a DJ booth on the “N” shaped red carpet to sing “‘C’ is for Cookie,” adults in “Squid Game” tracksuits joined in the chorus.

“It’s all-encompassing and global and passionate,” Tudum host Carson, known for starring in Netflix movies including “Carry-On” and “Purple Hearts,” said in an interview after the event ended. “It is truly extraordinary to feel the love from every single part of the world — it crosses languages, it crosses cultures.”

Shaheidi Jimenez, 21, came to the Netflix event as a fan of “Wednesday” and “Squid Game.” She hadn’t watched “Stranger Things,” but seeing the screaming fans for the show’s actors on the red carpet made her more curious about the sci-fi series.

“When I see the cast, it makes me want to watch it now,” Jimenez said. “I’m familiar with them more. It makes me want to watch the show and probably get into it.”

CLOVIS, Calif. — Overcoming intense pressure to quit from President Trump, dozens of local protesters and other prominent critics of transgender athletes in girls’ sports, 16-year-old AB Hernandez bounded past many of her peers to win multiple gold medals at California’s high school track and field championships Saturday.

The transgender junior from Jurupa Valley High School — who competed despite a directive from Trump that she be barred from doing so — won state titles in the girls’ triple jump and the girl’s high jump and took second place in the girls’ long jump.

Hernandez’s success at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships in Clovis came amid high heat — with temperatures above 100 degrees for much of the day — and under an intense spotlight.

Earlier in the week, Trump had said on social media that he was “ordering local authorities, if necessary, to not allow” Hernandez to compete, wrongly alleging she had won “everything” in a prior meet and calling her “practically unbeatable.” Protesters gathered outside the meet both Friday and Saturday to denounce her inclusion and the LGBTQ+-friendly state laws allowing it.

Despite all that, Hernandez appeared calm and focused as she competed. When her name was announced for the long jump, she waved to the crowd. When she was announced for the high jump, she smiled.

Hernandez beat out all other competitors in the triple jump, though the runner-up was also awarded 1st place under new rules established by the California Interscholastic Federation after Trump issued his threats.

Hernandez tied with two other girls in the high jump, with the three of them all clearing the same height and sharing the gold.

Hernandez’s mother, Nereyda Hernandez, heaped praise on her after the events in a statement provided to The Times, saying, “As your mother, I cannot fully express how PROUD I am of you.”

“Watching you rise above months of being targeted, misunderstood, and judged not by peers, but by adults who should’ve known better, has left me in awe of your strength,” her mother said. “Despite it all, you stayed focused. You kept training, you kept showing up, and now you’re bringing THE GOLD HOME!!!

During some of Hernandez’s jumps, a protester could be heard on a bullhorn from outside the Buchanan High School stadium chanting “No boys in girls’ sports!” California Interscholastic Federation officials banned protest signs inside the facility, but outside protesters held a range of them — including ones that read “No Child Is Born in the Wrong Body,” “Trans Girls Are Boys: CIF Do Better,” and “She Trains to Win. He takes the trophy?”

Josh Fulfer, a 46-year-old father and conservative online influencer who lives near the stadium, said he was the protester on the bullhorn. He said Hernandez should not have been competing — regardless of how she placed — because her presence in the competition had a negative “psychological effect” on her cisgender competitors.

“I stand with truth,” he said. “Males should not be pretending to be females, and they shouldn’t be competing against female athletes.”

Loren Webster, a senior from Wilson High School in Long Beach who beat Hernandez in the long jump, said she wasn’t giving Hernandez much thought — instead, she was focused on her own performance.

“It wasn’t any other person I was worried about. I knew what I was capable of,” Webster said. “I can’t control the uncontrollable.”

A child holds a protest sign alongside a family member and others opposed to transgender athlete AB Hernandez competing in the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships, at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)

The intense focus on Hernandez over two days of competition Friday and Saturday reflected a broad rise in conservative outrage over transgender girls competing in sporting events nationwide, despite their representing a tiny fraction of competitors. It also reflected a concerted effort by Trump and other prominent conservative figures to single out Hernandez, individually, as an unwitting poster child for such concerns.

Recent polls, including one conducted by The Times last year, have shown that many Americans support transgender rights, but a majority oppose transgender girls participating in youth sports. California has long defended transgender kids and their right to participate in youth athletics, but other states have increasingly moved to limit or remove such rights entirely.

Marci Strange supports protestors as they protest against transgender athlete AB Hernandez competing In the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships, at Veterans Memorial Stadium In the campus of Buchanan High School in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)

Trump first latched onto transgender issues with fervor during his presidential campaign, spending millions of dollars on anti-transgender political ads. Since being elected, he has issued a wave of executive orders and other policies aimed at rolling back transgender rights and protections.

Again and again, Hernandez has been singled out in that discussion.

Earlier this week, Trump referenced Hernandez in a social media post in which he said his administration would cut federal funding to California if it didn’t block her from competing in this weekend’s state finals and more broadly get in line with his executive order purporting to ban transgender youth from participating in school sports nationwide.

The following day, U.S. Justice Department officials referenced Hernandez again, announcing the launch of an investigation into whether California, its interscholastic sports federation and the Jurupa Unified School District are violating the civil rights of cisgender girls by allowing transgender students such as Hernandez to compete in sports.

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez competed for Jurupa Valley High School in the high jump at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)

At the meet Friday and Saturday, Hernandez often blended in with the hundreds of other athletes, hardly drawing attention. She was less conspicuous by far than the protesters there to denounce her for competing.

Hernandez’s mother has pleaded with Trump and other adults in recent days to show her daughter compassion, calling it heartbreaking “every time I see my child being attacked, not for a wrongdoing, but simply for being who they are.”

She has said her daughter “is not a threat,” while the harassment directed at her is “not just cruel, it’s dangerous.”

Local protesters — some with ties to national conservative organizations — cast Hernandez’s competing in girls’ events in starkly different terms.

Before being escorted out by police, Sophia Lorey, outreach director for the conservative California Family Council, walked around the stadium Saturday wearing a hat reading, “Women’s Sports, Women Only.” She told members of the crowd that Hernandez was a boy and handed out pink “Save Girls’ Sports” bracelets and fliers directing people to an online petition calling on the California Interscholastic Federation to change its policies to bar transgender athletes from competition.

Trump administration officials have taken a similar stance.

In a letter Wednesday to interscholastic federation executive director Ronald W. Nocetti, Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon, who was appointed by Trump to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, called Hernandez’s success in recent track and field events “alarming.” And she said the California policies allowing Hernandez to compete are a potential violation of Title IX, the 1972 federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs and other activities that receive federal funding.

Dhillon also noted Gov. Gavin Newsom’s own recent remark to conservative activist Charlie Kirk that transgender girls competing in sports is “deeply unfair.”

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez competed in three events including the high jump, triple jump and long jump at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)

The remark came in a conversation on Newsom’s podcast in March, in which Hernandez was also singled out.

Kirk, a co-founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA, asked Newsom whether he would voice his opposition to Hernandez competing in girls’ track and field events. Newsom said he agreed such situations were “unfair” but that he also took issue with “the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities,” including transgender people.

When Kirk suggested Newsom could say that he has “a heart for” Hernandez but still thinks her competing is unfair, Newsom again said he agreed.

Newsom has issued no such statement since. But, the playing field has shifted in California for transgender athletes since Trump started talking about Hernandez.

On Wednesday, the CIF announced a change in its rules for this weekend’s championships. Under the new rules, a cisgender girl who is bumped from qualifying for an event final by a transgender athlete will still advance to compete in the finals. In addition, the federation said, any cisgender girl who is beaten by a transgender competitor will be awarded whichever medal she would have claimed had the transgender athlete not been competing.

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez competed for Jurupa Valley High School in the high jump at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)

The CIF did not mention Hernandez by name in announcing its policy change, but it did make direct reference to the high jump, triple jump and long jump — the three events in which she was to compete.

Under the new rules, Hernandez shared her place on each of the event podiums with other girls.

The CIF did not respond to a list of questions about its new policy. A spokesman for Newsom applauded the change, but others were unimpressed.

Critics of transgender athletes rejected it as insufficient and demanded a full ban on transgender athletes. Fulfer, the protester on the bullhorn, said the CIF was “admitting that they’ve got it wrong for a long time” while still not doing enough to fix it — which Trump would see clearly.

“I hope Donald Trump sees what happens this weekend, and I hope he pulls the funding away from California,” Fulfer said.

LGBTQ+ advocates also criticized the rule change, but for different reasons, calling it a crass capitulation that singled out a teenager to appease a crowd of bullies picking a political fight.

“The fact that these same political players continue to bully and harass one child, even after CIF changed its policy, shows this was never about sports or fairness,” said Kristi Hirst, co-founder of the public education advocacy group Our Schools USA.

“It was simply about using a child, while compromising their personal safety on a national scale, to score political points and distract from the serious issues families and communities in this country are actually concerned about,” Hirst said, “affording groceries, the loss of health care, and access to quality teachers and resources in their public schools.”

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez competed for Jurupa Valley High School in the long jump at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)

Nereyda Hernandez said she hoped AB’s wins would serve as inspiration for other kids who feel “unseen.”

“To every young person watching, especially those who feel unseen or unheard, let AB be your reminder that authenticity, courage, and resilience shine BRIGHTER than hate,” she said. “It won’t be easy, but definitely worth it.”

United States President Donald Trump has bid goodbye to Elon Musk at a White House event marking the billionaire’s departure from his role in government.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Friday, Trump showered Musk with praise for his work as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative to reduce federal bureaucracy and spending.

“ I just want to say that Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform programme in generations,” Trump said.

He credited Musk with delivering “a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington” and called Musk’s service “without comparison in modern history”.

Still, the president also assured reporters that DOGE would continue its work even after Musk is gone.

“With Elon’s guidance, [DOGE is] helping to detect fraud, slash waste and modernise broken and outdated systems,” Trump said.

The joint appearance comes as the two men seek to downplay reports of a growing rift, particularly after Musk criticised Trump’s signature budget bill on CBS News. It also coincides with the publication of a New York Times report alleging that Musk has struggled with increasing drug use and personal turmoil behind the scenes.

Musk declined to comment on the Times report during his Oval Office appearance. He also avoided remarking on speculation that his departure was connected to tumbling sales at his car company, Tesla.

Instead, he pointed out that, as a special government employee, he cannot work in the Trump administration for a period exceeding 130 days without facing stricter disclosure and ethics requirements.

He also focused on promoting his work with DOGE and criticising those on the political left who would impede Trump’s agenda.

“This is not the end of DOGE, but really at the beginning,” Musk said, clad in a black T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “The Dogefather”, written in the style of the gangster film The Godfather. “The DOGE team will only grow stronger over time.”

Trump, meanwhile, emphasised that his relationship with the billionaire – a prominent backer of his 2024 re-election campaign – would continue.

“Elon’s really not leaving. He’s going to be back and forth, I think,” Trump said.

Unclear accounting

Despite White House claims about its efficacy, the extent of DOGE’s cost-savings has remained foggy.

As of Friday, the panel claimed it had achieved an estimated $175bn in savings, made up of “asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions”.

But DOGE’s transparency and methodology have been repeatedly questioned. The only accounting made available to the public adds up to less than half of the claimed figure.

An analysis published on Friday by the news agency Reuters also suggests the actual sum is much lower. Using US Treasury summaries, Reuters found that only $19bn in federal spending had been cut, though it noted that some savings may require more time to be reflected in the Treasury Department’s data.

Regardless, all of those figures fall far short of the goal of $2 trillion saved that Musk initially set out to achieve.

When asked about the discrepancy on Friday, Musk maintained that $1 trillion in savings remained a long-term goal.

“I’m confident that over time, we’ll see a trillion dollars of savings, a reduction – a trillion dollars of waste and fraud reduction,” he said.

But critics have questioned if DOGE will continue with the same verve following Musk’s departure.

Musk and DOGE have long been lightning rods for public criticism, as they implemented sweeping changes to the federal government. Since Trump started his second term as president in January, organisations like the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have seen their funding cut and their staffing slashed.

As a result, employees, contractors, labour groups and state officials have sued to block DOGE’s efforts, with varying levels of success.

Behind the scenes, there have also been reports that Musk clashed with members of Trump’s cabinet, who may seek relief from cuts to their departments after Musk’s exit.

Musk’s foray into government has caused blowback for his companies as well, with protests at Tesla dealerships spreading across the country. Profits plunged 71 percent at Tesla in the first three months of the year, with shareholders calling for Musk to return to work.

When asked by a reporter if Musk’s time in government was “worth it”, he was circumspect. He explained that he felt DOGE had become seen as a “boogeyman”, blamed for any effort to overhaul the federal government.

But he reaffirmed his commitment to being a “friend and adviser to the president” and said the experience was worthwhile.

“I think it was. I think [it] was an important thing,” he added. “I think it was a necessary thing, and I think it will have a good effect in the future.”

Thousands of California Democrats will gather this weekend to be courted by gubernatorial and potential presidential candidates, rage against the Trump administration and organize for the 2026 election.

However, the state’s two most prominent Democrats — former Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newson — will not be attending the multiday gathering of roughly 4,000 party delegates, activists, donors, labor leaders and other powerful voices in the largest Democratic state in the nation, according to a source familiar with the event’s planning.

Their absences are notable given speculation about their political futures. Newsom and Harris are both viewed as potential 2028 presidential candidates. Harris also may jump into California’s 2026 race for governor, and is expected to make a decision by the end of the summer.

Both were invited to the state party convention in Anaheim, according to the source. Harris is expected to send a video greeting attendees. Harris representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Newsom is scheduled to participate in a Democratic Governors’ Assn.’ gathering in Portland to coordinate efforts to fight Trump’s tariffs, a spokesperson said. But the gathering doesn’t begin until Sunday, the final day of the state party convention. A letter from the governor to delegates is included in the convention program.

Darry Sragow, a veteran Democratic strategist, said there was little benefit to either one attending the gathering.

“There’s no question that well-known, well-defined political figures like the governor and former vice president could be met with mixed reactions,” he said. “If I was advising them, I’m honestly not sure I could come up with a justification for their going. What’s the upside?”

Prominent California Democrats have routinely faced backlash from liberal delegates at the party’s annual conventions. Anti-fracking advocates interrupted a speech by former Gov. Jerry Brown over his support for the controversial oil extraction practice and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein was booed during her 1990 speech supporting the death penalty. Her then-gubernatorial campaign turned the latter into a television advertisement aimed at that era’s more moderate electorate.

Newsom, once a darling at such conventions, could possibly face similar fallout among party loyalists because of recent statements about opposing transgender athletes being allowed to compete in women’s sports as well as bantering with conservative heroes such as Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk on his podcast.

If she attended, Harris could be criticized for complicity in hiding former President Biden’s alleged cognitive decline while in office, an allegation lodged in a recent book that argues that deception led to Trump’s 2024 victory.

However, Harris has the luxury of time as she decides what to do next in her political career. Harris’ delay in making a decision about the gubernatorial contest, however, has drawn scorn from some Democrats who have announced their candidacies.

Every prominent Democrat who has announced a gubernatorial run is expected to attend the convention.

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond have official speaking roles because they currently serve in elected office, as does former state Controller Betty Yee because she is the party’s vice chair.

Former state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, businessman Stephen J. Cloobeck, former Rep. Katie Porter and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will also be wooing attendees.

Potential 2028 presidential candidates Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and N.J. Sen. Cory Booker are also scheduled to speak to California Democratic Party delegates at the Anaheim Convention Center.

In addition to addressing delegates at caucus meetings, such as labor, environmental, Latino and women voters, candidates will meet with donors and court activists throughout the weekend. Social gatherings include a Friday night fireworks show, an ice cream social and a party titled “Punk the System” hosted by state Democrats as well as the powerful nurses’ and teachers’ lobbies.

“Dance. Drink. Rage for Democracy,” reads the invite to the gathering.

Candidates are also hosting events — Yee is offering “healthy breakfast bites” and coffee on Saturday morning. Cloobeck, a billionaire who made his fortune in real estate and hospitality, is planning a reception that night with the theme “Fight for California, Celebrate CA Dems!”

The longtime donor and fundraiser for Democrats and philanthropic causes has never previously run for elected office. In his first introduction to state party activists, Cloobeck said he plans to focus on lessons from the 2024 election and urging Democrats not to be tone deaf to the electorate’s needs.

“The party should work for everyone,” Cloobeck said. “It can’t cater to only special interests or well-connected individuals.”

State party chairman Rusty Hicks, who is widely expected to win reelection at the convention, said California Democrats have reflected and reckoned with last year’s election results, “some good and some bad and some ugly.”

While the party bucked national trends by performing strongly in congressional races, it also unexpectedly lost legislative seats and saw a decline in voter turnout among Latinos, Asian Americans and young people, Hicks said.

“We can’t just compete in targeted seats,” he said. “We have to compete everywhere in a different way. What happened in ‘24 — the good and the bad — informs what our work is in ‘26.”

Times staff writer Taryn Luna in Sacramento contributed to this report.

Charlie Woods has taken a big first step out of his father’s immense shadow in the golfing world.

The 16-year-old son of golf legend Tiger Woods made a huge statement this week by winning the American Junior Golf Association’s Team TaylorMade Invitational at Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green, Fla. He shot a 15-under-par 201 (70-65-66) to finish three shots ahead of a trio of players tied for second place.

“Being able to say to myself that I’ve won in an absolutely amazing event and to say I preformed under some high, high pressure situations is just huge going forward,” Charlie Woods said afterward, “because I haven’t been able to say that I have done that. And now that I can, it is just a big thing for my mental game going forward.”

Currently ranked as the No. 609 boys junior player in the U.S., Woods is expected to move into the top 20 next week, after topping a 71-player field that featured four golfers who currently rank in the AJGA’s top five. That includes top-ranked Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., who finished six shots behind Woods and in seventh place with a nine-under 207.

Playing in his first AJGA invitational, Woods finished the event with 26 birdies — the most ever at an AJGA Invitational, based on information available to the organization — to go with one eagle. He was tied for 14th place after Monday’s opening round but had pulled into a tie for second going into Wednesday’s final round.

“I didn’t look at the leaderboard once today,” said Woods, who gained fully exempt AJGA status with his victory.

A sophomore at Benjamin School in Palm Beach, Fla., Woods finished tied for 25th at the prestigious Junior Invitational at Sage Valley (a tournament that counts toward the AJGA rankings but is not an AJGA-sanctioned event) in March.

He and his father have competed in the parent-child PNC Championship every December since 2020. They finished as runners-up in 2021 and 2024, with Charlie Woods notching his first hole-in-one at the most recent event.

MINNEAPOLIS — Police reform and civil rights activists joined thousands of other people Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder at religious services, concerts and vigils nationwide and decry the Trump administration for setting their efforts back decades.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said at a Houston graveside service that Floyd represented all of those “who are defenseless against people who thought they could put their knee on our neck.”

He compared Floyd’s killing to that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman.

“What Emmett Till was in his time, George Floyd has been for this time in history,” Sharpton said.

In a park about 2 miles away from Floyd’s grave site, a memorial service was set to take place, followed by five hours of music, preaching, poetry readings and a balloon release.

Events started Friday in Minneapolis with concerts, a street festival and a “self-care fair,” and were to culminate with a worship service, gospel music concert and candlelight vigil on Sunday.

The remembrances come at a fraught moment for activists, who had hoped the worldwide protests that followed Floyd’s murder by police on May 25, 2020, would lead to lasting police reform across the U.S. and a continued focus on racial justice issues.

Events in Minneapolis center around George Floyd Square, the intersection where Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, used his knee to pin Floyd’s neck to the pavement for about 9½ minutes, even as the 46-year-old Black man’s cried, “I can’t breathe.” Even with Minneapolis officials’ promises to remake the Police Department, some activists contend that the progress has come at a glacial pace.

“We understand that change takes time,” Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said in a statement last week. “However, the progress being claimed by the city is not being felt in the streets.”

The Trump administration moved Wednesday to cancel settlements with Minneapolis and Louisville that called for an overhaul of their police departments following Floyd’s murder and the police killing of Breonna Taylor. Under former President Biden, the U.S. Justice Department had pushed for oversight of local police it had accused of widespread abuses.

President Trump has also declared an end to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the federal government, and his administration is using federal funds as leverage to force local governments, universities and public school districts to do the same. Republican-led states also have accelerated their efforts to stamp out DEI initiatives.

Vancleave and Lafleur write for the Associated Press and reported from Minneapolis and Houston, respectively.

After gunfire erupted outside a humanitarian aid event for Gaza at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington late Wednesday, Yoni Kalin and his wife, JoJo, watched as museum security rushed attendees away from the doors and others who had just left came tumbling back in.

Among those who came in, Kalin said, was a man who appeared agitated, who Kalin and others in the museum first took for a protester, and who “walked right up” to police the moment they arrived, Kalin said.

“‘I did this for Gaza. Free Palestine,’” Kalin recalled the man telling the officers in an interview with The Times Thursday. “He went into his, ‘Free Palestine. There’s only one solution. Intifada revolution’ — you know, the usual chants.”

Kalin, a 31-year-old Washington, D.C., resident who works in biotech, said he still had no idea that two Israeli Embassy employees had been fatally shot outside. So when police started to pull the man away and he dropped a red kaffiyeh, or traditional Arab headdress, Kalin picked it up and tried to return it to him, he said.

The event that night — which Kalin’s wife had helped organize with the American Jewish Committee and the humanitarian aid groups Multifaith Alliance and IsraAID — had been “all about bridge building and humanitarian aid and support,” Kalin said, and he figured returning a protester’s kaffiyeh was in line with that ethos.

“I regret that now,” Kalin said Thursday morning, after a nearly restless night. “I regret touching it.”

Like so many other mourners across the nation, Kalin said he was having a hard time processing the “surreal, horrific” attack, and its occurring at an event aimed at boosting collaboration and understanding between Israelis, Palestinians and Americans.

“I don’t think him shouting ‘Free Palestine’ or ‘Free Gaza’ is going to actually help Palestinians or Gazans in this situation, especially given that he murdered people that are actually trying to help on the ground or contribute to these aid efforts,” Kalin said of the shooter. “It’s a really sick irony.”

Israeli officials identified the two victims as employees of the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Yaron Lischinsky was an Israeli citizen and research assistant, and Sarah Milgrim was a U.S. citizen who organized visits and missions to Israel. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said the two were a couple, and that Lischinsky had recently purchased a ring and planned to propose to Milgrim next week in Jerusalem.

U.S. authorities called the shooting an “act of terror” and identified the suspect as Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said Rodriguez was seen pacing outside the museum before the shooting, and was later detained by security after walking inside.

Dan Bongino, deputy director of the FBI, said the agency was “aware of certain writings allegedly authored by the suspect, and we hope to have updates as to the authenticity very soon.” He said Rodriguez had been interviewed by law enforcement early Thursday morning, and that the FBI did not believe there was any ongoing threat to the public.

President Trump, who spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, and U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi have both promised justice in the shooting.

“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” Trump posted on social media. “Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”

Israel Bachar, Israel’s consul general for the U.S. Pacific Southwest, based in Los Angeles, said security has been increased at consul facilities and at other Jewish institutions, with the help of American law enforcement and local police.

The shooting comes amid Israel’s latest major offensive in the Gaza Strip in a war since Oct. 7, 2023, when Israel was attacked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The attack, launched from Gaza, killed 1,200 people, while Hamas claimed about 250 hostages. Israel’s response has devastated Gaza and killed more than 53,000 people, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi visits the site of the shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum on Thursday.

(Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images)

About 90% of the territory’s roughly 2 million population has been displaced. Much of urban Gaza has been bombed out and destroyed, and Israel has blocked huge amounts of aid from entering the territory, sparking a massive hunger crisis. Protests of Israel’s actions have spread around the world and in the U.S., which is a major arms supplier to Israel.

Brian Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, said that for decades, antisemitic and anti-Muslim attacks have increased in the U.S. when conflicts arise in the Middle East — and Israel’s current war is no exception.

“With the worst conflict the region has seen in years, with a horrifying loss of life and moving images of the suffering taking place in Gaza, what ends up happening is the soil gets soft for antisemitism,” Levin said.

In recent years especially, the spread of such imagery — and of misinformation — on social media has produced “a rabbit-hole where people can get increasingly radicalized,” and where calls for retribution against anyone even tangentially connected to a disfavored group can drown out messages for peace, compassion and aid, Levin said.

“We have unfortunately been caught in a time when the peaceful interfaith voices have been washed over like a tsunami, leaving a vacuum that allows conflict overseas to generate bigotry and violence here,” he said. “We see that again and again — we saw that with 9/11 — where communities become stereotyped and broad-brushed and labeled in certain niches as legitimate target for aggression, and that feeds upon itself like a fire, where you end up having totally innocent people being murdered.”

Several organizations have described Lischinsky and Milgrim as being committed to peace and humanitarian aid work. Kalin said many of the people at the museum event were — and will continue to be.

“This act of violence just makes me want to build bridges even stronger. I think we need to strengthen the coalition. We need more Muslims, we need more Christians, we need more Israelis, we need more Palestinians,” Kalin said. “We need people that believe that peace is the answer — and that hate and violence isn’t going to solve this issue.”

Nick Garcia, the throws coach at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, calls shotputter and discus thrower Aja Johnson “the dragon slayer.”

She’s only 5 feet 3 but slays taller girls competing in those events.

Last weekend, she won the Southern Section Division 3 shotput and discus titles. This weekend she will try to qualify for the state championships when competing at the Masters Meet at Moorpark High. She won the state discus title last year. She was state champion in the shotput in 2023.

Aja Johnson of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Under Garcia’s guidance, Johnson uses technique, athleticism, agility and explosiveness to excel in the two events. She has committed to Louisville. Notre Dame athletes have won every Division 3 shotput or discus title since 2021. …

The City Section Division I baseball semifinals will be held Wednesday at Stengel Field in Glendale with a trip to Dodger Stadium on Saturday at stake. Carson will play Taft at 3 p.m., followed by Banning taking on Verdugo Hills at 6 p.m.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

Is there anything more like a fairy tale than thousands of glowing lanterns floating heavenward into the night? Long before the luminescent spectacle awed viewers of Disney’s 2010 film “Tangled,” real-life lantern festivals have been taking place around the world. In China, sky lanterns were first used as a means of communication in warfare during the Eastern Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago.

Since then, sky lanterns have taken on a more ceremonial and celebratory significance, marking occasions such as the end of Chinese New Year and the coming of spring. Yet, as wondrously beautiful as these floating mini hot air balloon launches are, the reality is there’s only a fine line — and a gust of wind — that can turn a sky lantern into a free-floating Molotov cocktail. Outlawed in many regions due to the fire risk and environmental hazards, the idea of releasing thousands of them indiscriminately into the sky literally wouldn’t fly here in Southern California, where memories of the January wildfires are all too fresh.

This is why when OC Japan Fair hosted a lantern release as part of its three-day festival at Costa Mesa’s OC Fairgrounds last month, organizers opted for a safer alternative: lantern-shaped helium-filled balloons tethered by string and lit by lithium battery-powered LEDs. I was among the hundreds of people who released their glowing boxy “lanterns” inside the OC Fair’s Hangar after a set by Japanese singer Minmi. For a few seconds, save for a piano playing a few pensive notes, there was silence. All eyes — and cellphones — were focused upward at the flickering white cubes.

“When you let go of a lantern in the air or in the water, you let go of your feelings behind it,” said attendee Charles Mendoza, who drove to the event from West Covina. Anything that’s been weighing your thoughts, “you just let it go.”

Whether you attend a lantern festival to release pent-up emotions, send a message to a loved one you’ve lost or cast a prayer into the great beyond, the experience can become a quiet moment of reflection. Here are four lantern events happening at various locations in and near Southern California until the end of the year, where, at the very least, you will be awed by the beauty and peacefulness of the idea — one that ironically started from war.

Water Lantern Festival, Crestline and Lake Elsinore

When: May 16-17

What: The Water Lantern Festival returns to Southern California. It happens Friday and Saturday at Lake Gregory Regional Park in the city of Crestline, and on Saturday only at Elm Grove Beach in Lake Elsinore. As the festival name and venues suggest, these are water lantern launches. But just like sky lantern events, they will be visually spectacular and, hopefully, spiritually impactful.

Originally launched in Utah in 2018, the Water Lantern Festival first came to Lake Gregory Regional Park in 2020 and has since expanded nationwide. Though it is a for-profit event, the festival has partnered with Water.org, an organization that helps bring clean water and sanitation to communities in need around the world.

Admission is $57.99 at the event. It includes a drawstring bag with one floating lantern kit with a lantern, tealight and marker to write your wishes, hopes or messages. Beyond the lantern release, the festival offers an array of food via food trucks, shopping, and entertainment. You are allowed to bring your own picnic and snacks, but not alcohol as the event is alcohol-free.

Details: waterlanternfestival.com

44th Lotus Festival, Los Angeles

When: July 12-13

What: One of Los Angeles’ beloved summer traditions — the Lotus Festival — is returning to Echo Park Lake. It began in 1972 as “The Day of the Lotus,” created to highlight the contributions of Asian American communities in Los Angeles. It was renamed the Lotus Festival in 1990, and each year since, it has spotlighted a different Asian or Pacific Islander culture. The event is timed with the blooming of the lake’s iconic lotus flowers, which was once the largest outside Asia.

Last year’s celebration honored the Philippines and its L.A.-based diaspora. This year it will honor South Korea, showcasing the richness of Korean culture through live music, traditional dance, cuisine and artisan vendors.

While the highlight of the weekend is usually the Dragon Boat Races — which have drawn competitors and crowds since 1991 — the sentimental favorite is the water lantern release onto the lake. Admission is free, but details on the cost of the water lanterns has yet to be announced. Check the website closer to the date for more information.

Details: laparks.org/lotusfestival

Rise Festival, Mojave Desert

When: Oct. 3-5

What: This fall, Rise Festival returns for three nights at Jean Dry Lake Bed, a desolate patch of Mojave Desert (three miles from Jean, Nev.) that has been used as a filming location for “The Hangover,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and other movies. In its 10th year, Rise is the only sky lantern release festival on this list. But because it also features large scale art installations and a stage that sets up the night with live music, it is the Burning Man of lantern release festivals. (Though unlike at Burning Man, you can drive less than 20 miles to the Las Vegas Strip when it’s done and end your evening with a shower in a hotel room of your choosing.)

Ticket packages start at $129 for the Silver tier, which includes the lantern release ceremony, live performances on two desert stages, access to large-scale art installations, meditation spaces known as Rise Halos, two lanterns per guest, a portable cushion for desert seating, and unlimited water refills. Higher-tier packages add perks such as gourmet dining, open bar access and reserved viewing areas.

Details: risefestival.com/

Saint Martin Lantern Parade, Huntington Beach

When: Nov. 9

What: Celebrated for centuries in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, St. Martin’s Day honors the life of Martin of Tours, a 4th century Roman soldier turned monk and bishop. He is best known for a simple but profound act of compassion — sharing his cloak with a freezing beggar on a winter’s night. That moment of generosity defined his legacy.

When he died, his body was carried by boat along the river to Tours. Legend has it that children bid farewell by standing on the riverbank with candles to light the way. Since then lantern processions, or Laternenumzüge, became tradition, symbolizing the light and the enduring warmth of human kindness embodied by the saint.

On Nov. 9 at around 5 p.m., this tradition continues in Huntington Beach’s Old World Village. Children and families will carry illuminated lanterns through the mall while singing traditional songs sung for generations. Hosted by German School Campus of Newport Beach, this St. Martin Lantern Parade is free to attend (but a $5 donation and reserving your spot online is requested).

Details: events.oldworldhb.com/event/st-martin-day-lantern-parade

May 14 (UPI) — Award-winning actress, comedian, television host and entrepreneur Whoopi Goldberg will headline the Cannabis Means Business event next month in New York City.

The Cannabis Means Business trade event is scheduled June 4-5 at the Javits Center, where Goldberg plans to launch her “Whoop-Tea” hemp-derived beverage.

Goldberg will join CNBC’s Tim Seymour at the CMB event’s opening day to hold an “exclusive conversation” in the special events area at the cannabis trade show.

The pair will discuss the rapidly growing cannabis beverage market and her Whoop-Tea product, which is being produced with the help of the Pure Genesis cannabis beverage brand.

“I wanted to create something that’s fun, relaxing and brings people together without the hangover,” Goldberg said in a news release.

“Whoop-Tea is exactly that,” she said. “It’s tea. It’s lemonade. It’s THC, and it’s all about unwinding and enjoying the moment.”

Goldberg said she is “excited” to “be a part of this incredible shift in wellness culture” and unveil her beverage during the cannabis industry event.

CMB organizers said the global cannabis beverage market was valued at $1.16 billion and is projected to top $3 billion in 2025.

Pure Genesis and Goldberg have partnered to produce Whoop-Tea, which is a non-alcoholic beverage that has THC and blends lemonade and iced tea.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Whoopi, a cultural icon who shares our passion for quality, community and breaking stigma,” Pure Genesis co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Faye Coleman said.

Pure Genesis co-founder Priscilla Wynn called the beverage a “testament to what’s possible when visionary women lead.”

Event attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy free samples.

Some advice: If you love something, set it free — even the Miu Miu heels.

This was the notion that two friends, Quinn Shephard and Francesca Goncalves, were discussing in a sun-kissed setting (a “pool somewhere,” Shephard recalls). They wanted to barter their old clothing, but that was a sticky prospect in Los Angeles — the scene is riddled with suspicious stares from thrift store employees and digital cold wars with teenagers on Depop. There’s pomp and circumstance at every turn.

Kristen Vaganos and Kate Mansi help a shopper try on some shoes.

(Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)

“So many people are like: I go to Wasteland or Crossroads and I get $3,” Shephard explains. “They’re not nice to me.”

Shephard and Goncalves wanted to start a closet sale that felt more like a fun hangout with friends. So one day last summer, Shephard and Goncalves hit the streets of Silver Lake, asking small businesses if they’d host an event that they were calling Outfit Repeater L.A. Shephard jokes that Goncalves is the “mayor of Silver Lake” — the kind of Gatsby-like woman who makes Los Angeles feel like a small town, chatting with strangers with an endearing openness. Finally, they arrived at Constellation Coffee, a contemporary, sleek coffee shop. To their surprise, the manager agreed to host Outfit Repeater L.A. that upcoming Sunday.

“She’s used to indie filmmaking, where you have to go up and ask people for things, and there’s power in that,” Goncalves says of Shephard, the director of TV shows including the Hulu drama “Under the Bridge.” Goncalves works in Stanford Medicine’s genetics department.

With their event fast approaching, Shephard and Goncalves created a blitzkrieg of advertisements across social media and posted fliers on lampposts throughout the neighborhood to drum up excitement. “We literally put up fliers until 2 am. It’s so funny because Quinn doesn’t do anything unless it’s 100%, and I’m like that too,” says Goncalves.

Clockwise from left: A shopper looks at a skirt. Seller Samantha Rose and Liv Hoffner. Outfit Repeater L.A. co-founder Francesca Goncalves talks with seller Mitch deQuilettes. (Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)

The first Outfit Repeater L.A. event was a success, drawing a crowd of fashion enthusiasts and women who wanted to sell their beloved wardrobes directly to buyers, bypassing the intermediary of a thrift store. Women attendees eagerly inquired about selling their own clothes at the next event, offering up locations and contacts. “New coffee shops wanted to host us, and new girls wanted to sell,” Goncalves says. “It snowballed into this thing where it’s just getting bigger and bigger, completely by accident.”

Since then, Outfit Repeater L.A. has garnered a reputation as the Eastside’s hippest trading post for “it” girls, creatives and fashion trendsetters. Sellers have included independent film darlings like Geraldine Viswanathan and Francesca Reale, as well as fashion influencers with enviable style, such as Macy Eleni.

Despite its newfound fame, at its core, the closet sale is inclusive and accessible to people of all income levels. “I wanted to keep it very accessible. I charge a seller fee that’s so low, just to cover expenses. It’s not just vintage resellers or influencers that can afford to sell,” says Goncalves.

Outfit Repeater L.A. co-founder Francesca Goncalves.

(Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)

Goncalves attributes the success of the event to a hunger for social events that offer an alternative to the monotony of bar hangs. “People are tired of the bar scene,” she says.

Shephard explains that the appeal is simple: “It’s like going to a party with your friends for the day, plus you make money.”

At a recent Outfit Repeater L.A. event at Lamill Coffee in Silver Lake, actor Kate Mansi was selling her wardrobe after discovering the event through a friend’s recommendation. “I’m always selling stuff on Instagram,” Mansi says. “It’s nice to do it face to face. Clothes have a story. It’s nice to hear the story of the piece you’re inheriting.”

Kate Mansi in front of her closet rack.

(Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)

Mansi adds, “I have a very Virgo system with my closet where I turn the hanger backwards if it’s something I haven’t worn, and if in a year, I still haven’t worn it, it must go.” On this Sunday, one of those items was a well-loved blue polka-dot romper with puff sleeves, which Mansi found at a vintage store years earlier, and she sold it for $20. Another was an All Saints trenchcoat, priced at $40, and a gray A.L.C. blouse, for $30. A classic denim Levi’s jacket found a new home for $30.

Mansi parted ways with a black dress by Jonathan Simkhai, one of her favorite designers. To the woman who bought it, Mansi wisely prescribed that she wear the dress casually with flats or boots.

At a time when fashion retail has shifted online due to the pandemic, an in-person thrifting event has been warmly received by the community. “I’m focused on each sale being a unique thing that people walk away from, having gotten a cool piece and making a few new friends and maybe a lover or boyfriend,” says Goncalves.

Alena Nemitz, who has been creating social media content for Outfit Repeater L.A., met her partner of five months at one of the events. “I was selling, and they were walking through and introduced themselves to me,” she says. “Now we’re dating, which is so cute.”

Eleni, who wrote a book on thrifting called “Second Chances,” was one of Outfit Repeater’s earliest sellers and champions. Growing up with a single mother in Dayton, Ohio, Eleni explains that she was bullied for thrifting during her childhood and is overjoyed to see a new generation embrace it. She believes some of the newfound eagerness for thrifting comes from an increased awareness of the devastating impact of fast fashion. “When I was a teenager, I wasn’t seeing videos on my phone of the inside of a Shein factory,” she says. “The curtains have been lifted, and there’s no way to claim ignorance as to where things are coming from anymore.”

Outfit Repeater L.A. has built a community of shoppers excited about clothing, Eleni explains. “Everyone is gassing each other up about how fabulous they look,” she says. “I love seeing people’s faces light up over other people’s things that they’re ready to be done with. It’s less [about] people trying to flip a profit and more people just trying to swap their clothes, share their clothes with each other.”

Goncalves describes the endearing experience of spotting items she sold from her closet on other women around Silver Lake. The world suddenly feels smaller and warmer. “I think clothes are so personal, but they are fleeting in a way,” she says. You love something and you want to pass it on, but it’s still your life and your ecosystem, even if it’s not right for you anymore.”

A furry friend passes through the event.

(Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)