The ACLU of Southern California believes in celebrating our authentic selves, championing the rights of the LGBTQ community, and speaking up and fighting back when our community is under attack.

This year, in our centennial year, the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundastion invited us to participate in its 10th annual Pride Night and receive a Community Hero Award alongside the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and L.A. Pride organizers. Weeks before the game, the Dodgers rescinded its invitation to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence after ultra-conservative groups called out the inclusion of the sisters. The Dodgers were in the wrong. 

Founded in 1979, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a longstanding, volunteer-led charity tending to marginalized groups within the LGBTQ community particularly people living with HIV/AIDS and unhoused youth. They are guided by the principle of creating “room in our world for each person to be who they are, as they are, free from shame or guilt, and alive in love and joy for their own self.” 

As extremist groups and legislators across the country attack the LGBTQ community, it’s crucial to support organizations that champion unity over division. In solidarity with the sisters, we decided to pull out of Pride Night.  

Thanks to the activism by the sisters and other LGBTQ groups, days later, the Dodgers apologized and reinvited the sisters to Pride Night. 

On Friday, June 16, ACLU SoCal Executive Director Hector Villagra and our former client and trans activist Christynne Wood stood on the field at Dodgers Stadium to accept the award. In 2021, Wood won a settlement in her case against Crunch Fitness El Cajon after the gym refused to allow her to use the women’s locker room and restroom, even though it is her right under California law.  

Our staff, interns, family, and friends attended the sold-out baseball game.  

The events leading up to this year's Pride Night demonstrated the ACLU SoCal's relentless defense of LGBTQ people in all arenas – including sports — and its commitment to its centennial pride motto: "we the people means all of us."

When LGBTQ rights are under attack…  

What do we do?  

SPEAK UP, FIGHT BACK! 

On June 11, the ACLU of Southern California marched at the 53rd annual Los Angeles Pride Parade as this year's Community Grand Marshal. It was an honor we took to heart — and an opportunity to bring our community together to celebrate our affiliate's pioneering support of the LGBTQ community.  

In fact, in 1970, we helped L.A. Pride parade organizers secure the permit for the first permitted pride parade in the nation. Fifty-three years later, the march down Hollywood Boulevard was louder and made us even prouder. Over 250 activists, supporters, and former clients showed up to march, chant, and celebrate with us in our largest L.A. Pride parade contingent ever.

"Hey hey! Ho ho! Cops at Pride have got to go!”

In true ACLU fashion — and a big middle finger to anti-drag legislation across the country, we produced the parade's opening number on ABC7 featuring a spectacle of drag performances set to tunes by legendary songwriter and Bill of Rights Awards honoree Diane Warren. 

Drag artist Big Dee as Lady Liberty led our marching contingent followed by dancers, flag bearers, and a balloon-festooned float, where singer and actor Janelle Monáe brought the party to the people, vibing with drag performers, chanting, and singing her newly released and aptly-titled single "Float."

In an interview, Monáe encourages people to "Love yourself. Even when it makes others uncomfortable, just know that it will get better." 

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L.A. City Councilmembers, former ACLU SoCal clients, and Abby Thomas, who days before was violently arrested by the L.A. Sheriff's Department for defending her trans friend at West Hollywood’s Pride Parade, joined our contingent. 

After the two-mile parade procession, we topped off the day poolside at an after party with our closest supporters and former clients, sponsored by Forever Dog and SKYY Vodka. DJ Brynn Taylor spun the mood and Sister Unity of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence graced us with her humor as host and gave a fiery introduction to surprise guest U.S. Senator Cory Booker.

Senator Booker wrapped up the festivities, pumping up the crowd and congratulating the ACLU SoCal for "100 years of fighting to make this nation live up to its promise to be a place of liberty and justice for all."