Los Angeles Pride is withdrawing from hosting an LGBTQ+Black Lives Matter march following criticism it was working with police for the event.
Christopher Street West, which organizes the annual parade in L.A., originally announced back in March that the festivities would be cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Christopher Street West said in a statement that the event, scheduled for June 14, would honor the first LGBTQ+ Pride parades in 1970, during which marchers “took to the streets of Hollywood Boulevard to peacefully protest against police brutality and oppression.”
Consoletti touted a “strong unified partnership with law enforcement in the annual organization of PRIDE here in Los Angeles and West Hollywood.”
The news outraged author and trans activist Ashlee Marie Presten, who told NBC News that Christopher Street West “has been asked many times... to not have the sheriff or police present” and that involving the LAPD is “tone deaf.”