Results tagged “march”

Shortly before noon, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved moving the LA Marathon back to a Sunday date in the month of March beginning next year. During public comment, most speakers supported the date change, but a few stood up to save Sundays. "For those who have made this into a religious issue, this is not a religious issue... This has not and has never been a religious issue," said a determined Father John Bacchus who said that a single event should not tie down the city to the degree it prevents people of faith attending their institution. A compromise within the approved motion instructs city agencies involved with the race's logistics "to design a new point-to-point route which will minimize disruption to Sunday church services." The agreement also allows for the "Stadium to Sea" route, which could include Santa Monica, announced last week.

Tomorrow, the City Council will likely vote to change the Los Angeles Marathon's date back to a Sunday in March after last year forcing organizers to choose a holiday Monday to avoid conflict with religious institutions on Sunday, the traditional day for a race. In the end, traditionally hot and sunny Memorial Day was chosen only to scare off a large number of runners from registering.

                     

The annual Dyke Day L.A. march and celebration took place Saturday, moving from the top of the hill in Barnsdall Art Park to Edgecliff Dr in Silver Lake. "Dyke Day L.A. is a day in the park for all self-identified dykes and allies, including gay families, transgender dykes, and dykes of all ages. The mission of Dyke Day L.A. is to create an inclusive space that brings together the past, present, and future of our east side Los Angeles dyke community," explains their Facebook contingency.

We first met the roving band Killsonic last year on Valentine's Day roaming the streets of downtown during the monthly art walk. The quality of music and the random nature of how it all felt gave us a fantastic feeling. Then last night, at the tail end of the Prop 8 march in Hollywood was the band, rocking it out, once again.

                     

Last night's large Day of Decision protest and march went peacefully through nearly six and half miles of West Hollywood and Los Angeles streets. There was lots of frustration, but also chants of encouragement, statements written in yellow chalk on the sidewalks and streets and people to meet.

After this morning's ruling that gay marriage will remain illegal in California, things outside the California Supreme Court in San Francisco started to get a little out of hand. Locally, the LAPD announced logistics to the media about tonight's permitted protest in Hollywood. They advised reporters of media staging areas, the route and what to do if the march is declared as an unlawful assembly.

Prop 8 is upheld? Protests. Prop 8 is defeated? Celebrations. No matter the outcome, today is the long-planned-for Day of Decision with events across the nation. Most are taking place this evening, but if you go, make sure to check the time for your preferred location:

A little update to the LAUSD teacher protests happening downtown. Now some police, clad in riot gear, are taking action, apparently separating perambulatory teachers from sitting ones. Police have warned the media and others to "back off" and gave teachers two minutes to disperse or be arrested, according to UTLA's Twitter.

LAUSD teachers planned a walk out today over budget cuts forcing massive teacher layoffs, then a judge said no, the teachers okay, we won't walk out, we'll protest before school begins and now some teachers haven't stopped protesting.

                     

Around 500 people gathered in Echo Park yesterday for the "May First Day of Action in Support of Workers Rights" march that ended in downtown. It was one of at least seven marches in Los Angeles that either started and/or ended as one big rally around in the civic center area.

Although the turnout is expected to me much smaller than in 2005 and 2006, today's marches will bring tens of thousands of people together over the causes they believe in. "Most of the groups agree on the same policy measures -- legalize illegal immigrants, stop work-site and residential raids, and end the separation of families through deportations," the LA Times reported.

                     

Taking aim at state politicians and local school administrators, thousands of teachers took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles last night to protest budget cuts and the looming threat of teacher layoffs. For at least three hours, the streets were clad with red shirts, the official color of the United Teachers of Los Angeles union. Here's how it looked...

Watch out, downtown traffic. The United Teacher of Los Angeles will be holding an afternoon protest and march over education budget cuts.

A peaceful protest march aimed at expressing opposition to the passage of Prop 8 is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon in East Los Angeles. The "Marcha Somos Familia: We are Family" event has been organized by Lambda Legal, and will begin at 10 a.m. at the corner of N. Soto St. and E. Cesar Chavez Ave in the city of Los Angeles and will stop 2.6 miles way at Belvedere Park in unincorporated East Los Angeles. According to their press release, the march's "purpose is not only to publicly express [their] disapproval of all forms of constitutional discrimination but to encourage dialogue and love among the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and heterosexual friends and family members. The march is a first for the predominantly Latino community living in the East Los Angeles area."

       

It was quiet, people seemed happy and overall, the Prop 8 candlelight vigil on Saturday night in Hollywood was positive. Light Up the Night was a nationwide demonstration that aimed to make an impact on the private sector by holding the vigils in high traffic business or shopping areas. Organizers estimate the vigils reached one million people with the message of equality.

Albeit a great idea, yesterday's "call in gay" day seemed to have little effect. It "drew spotty participation nationwide," found the Daily News and one participant e-mailed LAist saying that the event in West Hollywood last night was a "huge flop." He said a meager 150 people turned out to march on the streets. Up in San Francisco, a larger and much more peaceful (than those in early November) march took to the streets.

Sparked by the unsolved 1998 murder of Rita Hester, the Transgender Day of Remembrance has grown from a little candlelight vigil on the streets of San Francisco to a worldwide memorial in major cities across the world. This Thursday marks the 10-year anniversary of that event and the city of West Hollywood will celebrate it with a reception, memorial service and a 9 p.m. candlelight march that will travel west on Santa Monica Boulevard to the Matthew Sheppard Square at the intersection of Santa Monica and Crescent Heights where a memorial service will encourage members of the transgender community to take a stand for their rights.

                 

Beneath the blazing sun and high temperatures, thousands gathered yesterday before Los Angeles City Hall to protest Proposition 8. The public demonstration was one of many throughout the state and even spanned to cities outside of California, including Portland, Chicago and New York City. Here in LA, the crowd marched from downtown to Chinatown to Los Angeles State Historic Park (the former Not a Cornfield site).

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who publicly supported the opposition to Prop 8, which sought to eliminate gay marriage in California, said Sunday that opponents should not give up and he would like to see the Supreme Court take up the issue again. "It's unfortunate, obviously, but it's not the end," he said in an interview Sunday on CNN per the LA Times. "I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area... I learned that you should never ever give up," he said comparing it to a learnt lesson from his bodybuilding days when he tried to lift weights too heavy at first. "They should never give up. They should be on it and on it until they get it done."

Last night's protest, initially assembled by ANSWER LA, moved from Silver Lake to Hollywood and Highland by 10 p.m., closing down Hollywood Boulevard for some time, and continuing all the way to West Hollywood down Sunset Boulevard via Highland. An estimated 10,000 people took part in the protest, and although there was a definite police presence, no arrests have been reported.

A fight that broke out between opponents and proponents of Prop 8, the November 4th ballot initiative that sought to ban gay marriage in California, ended with two people apparently being sent to the hospital. Leah Murphy of Westwood said she was walking with a group of ten friends at Thursday's protest outside the Mormon Temple on Santa Monica Blvd. when two women who were said to have come from within church grounds began to call them derogatory names.

Today's rally and protest over the passage of Proposition 8 has spilled into the streets of West LA and Westwood leading to erratic closures. The 405 north and south exit ramps are closed at Santa Monica Blvd, which remains a parking lot. The protest began at the Mormon temple at 2 p.m. where the crowd swelled into the thousands before taking to the streets. The protesters marched westbound from the Mormon temple to Veteran, then east on Wilshire to Santa Monica where a gathering continues outside the Mormon temple.

       

An estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people gathered protested in the streets of West Hollywood and Hollywood last night (as well as in San Francisco). "Maybe losing a right was what our community needed to get us out of the bars and into the streets, but I feel more energized than ever tonight," wrote blogger Boi from Troy who left the march early when the LAPD showed up. "Things started getting tense, as the crowd was blocked in on both sides by LAPD... LAPD’s mistake was stopping the crowd rather than directing it back to West Hollywood. LAPD went on tactical alert, which seemed like an over-reaction, when they should have coordinated with the Sheriff, which handled things well."

          

As 2,500 protesters hit the streets of West Hollywood and Hollywood tonight in protest of Prop 8, the LAPD went into a citywide tactical alert calling all available officers to the Hollywood area to help control the march that has overtaken streets. According to users on Twitter, streets around Hollywood/Highland and Sunset/Cahuenga are completely shut down with various helicopters hovering above (also Santa Monica and Robertson in WeHo is shut down). Radio reports say that police batons were used on at least one protester who may have been arrested, but the event has been mostly peaceful. Apparently, the march is growing as it goes on.

              

On Saturday morning, hundreds of Northeast LA residents marched for Peace in the Northeast. Crime, drugs and gangs have all been spotlighted in the community this past year and it was time to take back the streets. "It was amazing to see the people who came out and to have hundreds of folks standing for peace in their own community," explained Councilman Eric Garcetti, who represents part of the region, over the phone on Monday.

       

Kicking off LA Pride Weekend, the 2008 West Hollywood Dyke March (the first of two lesbian cycle events) hit West Hollywood streets Friday night and was presented by the Lesbian Visibility Committee. The first Portraits of Pride photo gallery from this weekend's events, including the parade, can be viewed here.

Today, the Office of Vital records told all California counties can start issuing same-sex marriage licenses the minute after the California Supreme Court's order goes into effect, which is June 16, 5:01 p.m.

Now that same-sex marriages are legalized in California (they begin June 17), this weekend's 38th annual Los Angeles Lesbian, Gay, Bi, and Transgender Pride celebration will probably have more energy than ever before. From Friday through Sunday, events including the Dyke March, the two-day Christopher Street Festival (with headliners Joss Stone and Olivia Newton John) and the parade, West Hollywood will be abuzz with activity.

       

The difference between last year and this year was night and day. Last year, the police were in riot gear, got injured, shot rubber bullets into crowds full of innocent people including, children, the elderly and reporters live on air (see this video). This year, the LAPD retrained and chilled out... a lot more. By the end of the day, only five people had been arrested.

              

More scenes from yesterday's various May Day marches from LAist Featured Photos contributor Tom Andrews.