Easter Sunday Brings Thousands to Drag March in West Hollywood

Instead of people looking for colorful eggs, West Hollywood was filled with thousands of demonstrators in colorful outfits on Sunday. They marched to show their support for the trans community. They stood in solidarity with LGBTQ+ individuals who have been attacked by right-wing extremist policies across the country.

In support of LGBTQ+ people nationwide and as a protest against recent anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, organizers pulled off an inaugural Drag March.

Opening remarks were made at 10 a.m. in West Hollywood Park. West Hollywood City Council member Sepi Shyne, Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Joe Hollendoner, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath spoke. Kerri Colby and Honey Davenport, stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race, performed.

As of April 9, at least 450 such bills have been introduced in the U.S. in 2023, including one in California. The American Civil Liberties Union reports that this is more than double the number from last year.

As protesters marched, they chanted, “When gay rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back. When trans rights are under attack, stand up, fight back,” KTTV, the Los Angeles Fox affiliate, reports.

West Hollywood resident and drag performer Aurora Sexton attended the march supporting the motto. Formerly, she lived in Tennessee, a recent hotbed for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

“What we are being made of in the conservative press right now is us being vilified as groomers,” she said, according to local news site LAist. “We’re just human beings trying to live a happy life and achieve our dreams.”

Following theWest Hollywood march, city officials renewed their support for the drag community and signed a resolution to ensure the safety of a rtists and performers.

California Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener attended a similar event in San Francisco over the weekend and spoke to the assembled crowd about Republican attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.

He's been out since the early 1990s.

“If you had said to me that in 2023 we would still have to be arguing about whether we have a right to exist — that they would still be calling us pedophiles and predators and groomers — if you had told me that, I would’ve said,’ there’s no way that in 2023, that’s what would be happening,” he said.

“They don’t want to talk about the fact that children are getting shot and killed in classrooms in this country. They don’t want to talk about the fact that so many people are dying of drug overdoses because of lack of access to health care. They don’t want to talk about the climate emergency or income inequality or any of the real issues that are facing our country.”

He asked, "What do they want to talk about?”

“That drag queens and trans people are somehow the biggest threat to this country. That’s what they want to talk about,” Wiener said.