The City of West Hollywood has announced that it will recognize Janelle Monáe as Grand Marshall Icon and JoJo Siwa as Next Gen Icon during the upcoming #WeHoPride Weekend Pride Parade on Sunday, June 5, 2022. The free WeHo Pride Parade will step off at noon on Santa Monica Boulevard starting at N. Crescent Heights Boulevard and will head west into the heart of the City’s Rainbow District to N. Robertson Boulevard.
“The City of West Hollywood is thrilled to be producing #WeHoPride for our community this year,” said City of West Hollywood Mayor Lauren Meister, “and our amazing icons – Janelle Monáe and JoJo Siwa – truly reflect the core values of our city. Pride celebrations have always been more than festivals or parades. Pride events give the diverse LGBTQ community a place to advocate for equality as well as a place to celebrate exactly who they are – exactly who they were meant to be. As our icons join parade contingents rolling down Santa Monica Boulevard on Sunday, June 5, West Hollywood will give #WeHoPride Parade participants and spectators from around the world a safe space and a loving, accepting home. At this moment in history, with women’s rights and LGBTQ rights under attack, our icons stand as proud, outspoken beacons of light and hope for a better tomorrow. West Hollywood has been the home of the largest Pride celebration in Southern California for nearly four decades. We’re looking forward to continuing that tradition this year for WeHo Pride. I can’t wait for our city to be filled with all the colors of Pride as we welcome the global community to our historic Rainbow District, filled with LGBTQ bars, clubs, restaurants, and retail shops. Come celebrate Pride with us in West Hollywood! Pride starts here!”
This year, Janelle Monáe will be honored as the Grand Marshal Icon for the inaugural WeHo Pride Parade for continuing to inspire the world with her incredible artistry and advocacy. Monáe is a renowned American singer, songwriter, producer, rapper, author and actor. She has become an icon for queer people of color by illuminating the community’s most important conversations about identity and being true to who you are. She has received numerous award nominations and has won multiple awards for her music, including eight Grammy nominations. Monáe made her theatrical film debut in two high-profile productions: Hidden Figures and Moonlight. In 2019, Monáe won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Artist. In April 2022, Monáe published her book, The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories from Dirty Computer, which became a New York Times bestseller. She will soon star as icon Josephine Baker in De La Resistance, which is also produced under her Wondaland banner. In addition, Monáe recently wrapped production for Netflix’s Knives Out 2, headlined the dramatic thriller Antebellum, and starred in the second season of Amazon’s critically acclaimed series Homecoming. Along with her film and television work, Monáe officially launched her non-profit, Fem the Future, which provides young women and girls the resources and support they need to overcome the challenges associated with upbringings in under-resourced communities of color. Fem the Future aims to expand their world of opportunities by supporting and creating after-school and summer enrichment activities that increase exposure and access to a variety of careers.
JoJo Siwa will also be joining the parade as WeHo Pride’s Next Gen Icon. Siwa is a global superstar, entrepreneur, singer, television and film star, New York Times bestselling author and social media sensation. In 2021, Siwa came out as gay to her millions of fans on social media and inspired a generation of young LGBTQ+ community members and their allies. Siwa has more than 66 million followers on social media and more than 3.7 billion views on YouTube. In 2020, she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. She has bridged a fan following across a broad demographic by promising and delivering on her messaging of “positivity, self love, inclusivity and acceptance.” Siwa’s newest TV venture finds her on the judges panel for Season 17 of So You Think You Can Dance. Facebook Watch will be following alongside JoJo at WeHo Pride as part of its docuseries-format JoJo Goes which will premiere on Facebook Watch this summer and will be available on Watch Together via Messenger and Instagram video calls. On June 14, 2022, Siwa will be hosting P&G and iHeartMedia’s Can’t Cancel Pride, a fundraiser for the LGBTQ+ community celebrating visibility and inclusivity for all.
The City is reminding community members about events surrounding the upcoming #WeHoPride season and is providing regularly updated information about WeHo Pride 2022 programming as it becomes available:
- WeHo Pride Weekend will take place on Friday, June 3, 2022, Saturday, June 4, 2022, and Sunday, June 5, 2022 in and around West Hollywood Park, located at 647 N. San Vicente Boulevard and will include will include a free WeHo Pride Street Fair representing a diverse array of LGBTQ+ community groups as part of visibility, expression, and celebration.
- The annual Dyke March and the Women’s Freedom Festival will take place beginning on Friday, June 3, 2022 at 5 p.m. The Dyke March will feature the presentation of the Melissa Etheridge and Community Activist awards, a poetry reading, sign-making and supplies, speakers, a DJ, and the Dykes on Bikes contingent. The Dyke March will step off and return to the corner of Robertson and Santa Monica Boulevards. The Women’s Freedom Festival will take place immediately following the Dyke March at the #WeHoPride Street Fair stage on Robertson Boulevard and will feature emerging LGBTQ and BIPOC women and non-binary musicians, comedians, poets, and activists.
- WeHo Pride Weekend will feature OUTLOUD: Raising Voices, the award-winning three-day LGBTQ concert series produced by JJLA at West Hollywood Park. Headliners, artist lineup, and ticket information are available by visiting https://weareoutloud.com.
- The City of West Hollywood’s Pride Parade will step-off at noon at N. Crescent Heights Boulevard on Sunday, June 5, 2022 and will make its way west along Santa Monica Boulevard to the City’s Rainbow District.
- WeHo Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival began on Sunday, May 22, 2022 (Harvey Milk Day) and continues for 40 days, closing out the Festival on Thursday, June 30, 2022. Events will be live at various locations throughout the City of West Hollywood and will also feature selected online programming. The theme for 2022 is With Liberty, Diversity, Inclusion, and Progress For All. The WeHo Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival is organized by the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division with input from the City’s Lesbian & Gay Advisory Board, Transgender Advisory Board, Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission, and community partners. A full calendar of events is available online.
Updated details about WeHo Pride Weekend are posted as they become available at www.weho.org/pride.
For nearly four decades, the City of West Hollywood has been home to the largest Pride celebration in Southern California, as hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ people and allies from around the world make West Hollywood their destination for the Pride season. Home to the “Rainbow District” along Santa Monica Boulevard, which features a concentration of historic LGBTQ clubs, restaurants, and retail shops, the City consistently tops lists of “most LGBTQ friendly cities” in the nation.
Since incorporation in 1984, the City of West Hollywood has become one of the most influential cities in the nation for its outspoken advocacy on LGBTQ issues. No other city of its size has had a greater impact on the national public policy discourse on fairness and inclusiveness for LGBTQ people. More than 40 percent of residents in West Hollywood identify as LGBTQ and three of the five members of the West Hollywood City Council are openly gay. The City has advocated for nearly four decades for measures that support LGBTQ individuals and the City is in the vanguard on efforts to gain and protect equality for all people on a state, national, and international level.
The City of West Hollywood is one of the first municipalities to form a Lesbian & Gay Advisory Board and a Transgender Advisory Board, which each address matters of advocacy. As part of its support of the transgender community, the City has a Transgender Resource Guide available on the City’s website, which provides information about a variety of resources including legal, health, and social services, available in the Greater Los Angeles area to enhance and improve the well-being of transgender people.
For more information about WeHo Pride, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Events Services Division at eventsinfo@weho.org. For more information about the WeHo Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Coordinator Mike Che at (323) 848-6377 or mche@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
The City of West Hollywood remains in a declared local emergency in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. West Hollywood City Hall is open for in-person walk-in transactions at public counters or by appointment; to make an appointment, visit www.weho.org/appointments. City Hall services remain accessible by phone at (323) 848-6400 and via the City’s website at www.weho.org.
City of West Hollywood coronavirus updates are available at www.weho.org/coronavirus. For up-to-date news and events, follow the City of West Hollywood @wehocity on social media, sign up for news updates at www.weho.org/email, and visit the City’s calendar of meetings and events at www.weho.org/calendar.
For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information about the City of West Hollywood, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Public Information Officer, Sheri A. Lunn, at (323) 848-6391 or slunn@weho.org.
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