Maliyah Heaven Espinoza was speeding down Hollywood Boulevard on Sunday morning, clutching her sash and crown and flanked by a friend wearing paper wings. She had a buoy to catch.
The 32-year-old transgender woman and human resources business partner, who was dubbed the “LA Pride Lady” a few weeks ago, joined marchers and revelers in Hollywood on Sunday for the 54th annual Los Angeles Pride Parade, the oldest One of the Celebrations of LGBTQ+ Culture in America
“I was inspired by the trans women I saw growing up,” Espinoza said. “So I’m happy that now I’m the person I respect and aspire to be. I also hope to inspire the younger generation.
Despite June’s gloomy clouds, the colors of the rainbow shone along Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue as marchers grabbed prime spots as early as 8 a.m., three hours before the parade was expected to start.
The business was filled with banners representing multiple LGBTQ+ groups, including rainbow flags, transgender flags and pansexual flags. The dinosaur at the top of the Believe it or Not museum! Wearing a colorful scarf, oversized heart-shaped glasses and a sign that read “The Power of Pride,” queer icons including Donna Summer and Madonna sang hymns.
Parade director Mariela Spirelli said about 5,000 people will participate in the parade this year, including LGBTQ+ icon and former “Star Trek” actor George Takei and Los Angeles Fire Chief Christine Kristin Crowley, the city’s first female fire chief. Spirelli said the parade was expected to attract about 100,000 people.
Espinosa said her friend Karina Kendrick, who wore angel-like tissue paper wings and white fur-covered calfskin boots when she was 18, was her “trans mother.” Helped her transition when she was young.
Kendrick, a 37-year-old hairdresser, pointed to the wings and said she was dressed like a “transgender angel.”
“I felt that biblically, angels are neither male nor female, so I incorporated that into my costume,” she said.
This year’s Pride celebrations kicked off last weekend in West Hollywood amid a political battle over the rights of transgender youth in California schools. Last month, an effort to force schools to require teachers to notify parents of changes in their children’s gender identities and limit access to gender-affirming care failed to qualify for the November ballot.
Supporters promised to try again in the future, although Democrats in Sacramento have introduced a bill that would ban such policies and California attorneys. Gen. Rob Bonta sued a conservative school district that took similar measures in 2023.
While a recent national poll by the Los Angeles Times found significant increases in support for same-sex marriage, same-sex couples raising children, and efforts to protect queer people from job discrimination, the poll found that Americans are dissatisfied with transgender people. and non-binary people have lower levels of support.
While Sunday’s Hollywood march has always been a celebration, organizers and participants never lost sight of the civil rights focus, Spirelli said.
“Although the parade is about celebration, its origins are about protest. We are absolutely not going to lose that essence while maintaining a festive atmosphere and making it a safe place for the community,” she said. “We definitely encourage our groups to make it clear that this is a First Amendment march so they can express their overarching thoughts each year.”
Gina Campa, 56, arrived early from Palm Springs to secure a prime spot. Campa paired rainbow socks with a progressive pride flag and matching sunglasses, wearing a custom T-shirt reminiscent of the one Taylor Swift wore in her “22” video.
Campa, who has been a regular at Pride since 2006, stressed that the event celebrates the freedom to come out and commemorates the fight for LGBTQ+ rights since the Stonewall riots.
Campa said she grew up in a strict Christian home. When she told her mother she was a lesbian at age 18, her mother accused her of being “possessed by the devil.” It wasn’t until she was 34 years old, after her mother passed away, that she fully opened up.
Crowds of onlookers erupted as the parade began around 11 a.m., as a group of motorcyclists known as the Equality Motorcycle Task Force revved their engines, honked their horns and waved rainbow flags as they rode.
Kendrick, who medically transitioned at age 18, recalls a more difficult time when transgender resources were scarce and medical care was often obtained through the black market. While she believes acceptance of transgender people will eventually increase, she expects the backlash and fear-mongering to persist for the time being.
Until then, Espinosa said she has a message for the haters: “We will keep fighting, stay proud, stay visible, show up and pave the way.”
