International Transgender Day of Visibility

International Transgender Day of Visibility is a global annual event occurring on March 31 dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society. 

The City of West Hollywood recognizes March 31, 2023 as the “Transgender Day of Visibility”. Since its incorporation in 1984, the City of West Hollywood has led the region in the pursuit and implementation of progressive and humane policies, fostering an environment of acceptance in which diversity is celebrated.

In recognition of the Transgender Day of Visibility, the City will be participating in the following:

• The City will fly the Transgender flag over West Hollywood City Hall from Friday, March 24, 2023 through Friday, March 31, 2023. The City will also light the lanterns above Santa Monica Boulevard in blue, pink, and white – the colors of the transgender flag – from Friday, March 24, 2023 through Friday, March 31, 2023.
  
  

• Special Digital Bus Shelter Ads will run along digital bus shelter ads in the City, from Friday March 24, 2023 - Friday, March 31, 2023, celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility. 
  
  

  
  
  
• The National Trans Visibility March will be held on Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 11 a.m. at West Hollywood Park, located at 647 N. San Vicente Boulevard. The event kicks off with a rally and remarks from a national line-up of speakers at 11 a.m., followed by trans and non-binary individuals taking their voices and feet to the streets at 12 p.m. Those who are interested in attending can join in the March in-person or virtually online at https://nationaltransvisibilitymarch.org 
  
  
• A special digital tribute curated by the City of West Hollywood Transgender Advisory Board highlighting the contributions of historic and contemporary transgender and gender non-conforming leaders can be viewed on by clicking here.. 

As part of its support of the transgender community, the City of West Hollywood 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.

The City of West Hollywood recognizes April 24, 2023 through April 30, 2023 as Lesbian and Queer Women Visibility Week. As part of Lesbian and Queer Women Visibility Week, the City will display the Lesbian Pride flag in medians along Santa Monica Boulevard and West Hollywood City Hall and the lanterns over Santa Monica Boulevard will be lit in pink, orange, white, and red to reflect the shades of the Lesbian Pride flag.

Events during the week will include:

• Lesbian Speaker Series: I Know You See Me, a panel focusing on the topic of visibility for lesbian/queer women in the arts. This panel, moderated by Jasolyn Harris, LCSW and multidisciplinary healing artist, features Diana Diaz, co-founder of the Queer Mercado craft fair; Dorothy Randall Gray, who is one of two new poets featured on the City of West Hollywood’s National Poetry Month banners this year; traci kato-kiriyama, a multidisciplinary artist and poet who recently published a new poetry book titled Navigating With(out) Instruments; Britt Westveer, an artist who will have a new mural on West Hollywood City Hall this June; and Gina Young, writer, director, performer and creator of SORORITY, a new works salon. The panel takes place on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 7 p.m. at the City’s Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. For questions or more information, please email LSS@weho.org.

• The City invites community members to spend the day at West Hollywood Park, located at 647 N. San Vicente Boulevard, for a Meet Me in the Park gathering on Sunday, April 30, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Meet Me in the Park will feature fun lawn games for everyone and DJ Bri Giger will spin tunes all day long. All activities are free. Feel free to bring a blanket, yoga mat, lawn chair, sunscreen, and picnic accoutrements and meet new and old friends in the park. There will be a full schedule of programming taking place in and around the Great Lawn including:
• • 11 a.m. – A Flex and Stretch session led by Chris Baldwin and the L Project. Join in light stretches to get warmed up for the rest of the day!
  • 12 p.m. – Pup Meet Up and Contest including gold, silver, and bronze prizes for Cutest WeHo Dog!
  • 1 p.m. – Kickball Game #1 – This will be one of two games coordinated by “Captain” Nancy Mancini. Participants will be required to sign a waiver on-site. Sign up early by emailing Captain Mancini at mancini777@yahoo.com.
  • 2 p.m. – Kickball Game #2 – Missed the first one? This is the second of two games coordinated by “Captain” Nancy Mancini. Sign up early by emailing Captain Mancini at mancini777@yahoo.com.

For more information and to RSVP for activities, please visit https://meetme2023.eventbrite.com.

Bi+ Visibility Week and Bi+ Ice Cream Social

This year, the City of West Hollywood will be celebrating Bi+ Visibility Week from Saturday, September 16, 2022 through Saturday, September 23.

During this time, City Hall will be illuminated with the colors associated with the Bisexual Pride Flag, the lanterns on Santa Monica Boulevard will be lit with the colors of the Bisexual Pride Flag, and the Bisexual Pride Flag itself will be flown at City spaces.

The City of West Hollywood also invites everyone to join our 2nd annual Bi+ Picnic Day celebrating and marking the end of Bi+ Visibility Week. Bring your blanket and friends, and join us! This is a totally free and open event!

We'll be at Plummer Park's Fuller Lawn from 1-5PM with a DJ, free ice cream (limited supply), and park games for all to enjoy! Bi+ organizations will be on-site too, and we will have a pop-up monkeypox vaccination clinic. 

Come by, have fun, and meet other members of the bi+ community!

If you are a bi+ organization that would like to participate, please email mmarquez@weho.org

Trans Day of Remembrance

The City will host an in-person Transgender Day of Remembrance Ceremony on Sunday, November 19, 2023 at 6 p.m. at the City’s Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. The ceremony will feature speakers and a reading of names to memorialize people who have been murdered as a result of anti-transgender violence. Transgender Day of Remembrance is part of the City of West Hollywood’s annual recognition of Transgender Awareness Month, which is recognized throughout the nation each November. Transgender Day of Remembrance is an opportunity to look forward to the future and recommit to ending discrimination and transphobia by amplifying the visibility and voices of the transgender community. The City encourages every community stakeholder to honor the lives and memories of community members and to take the opportunity to reflect on the work that remains to be done. 

The Transgender Day of Remembrance Ceremony will be broadcast live on the on the City’s WeHoTV channels and streams. For details, visit www.weho.org/wehotv. WeHoTV broadcasts are available within the City of West Hollywood on Spectrum Cable Channel 10. In addition, programming may be viewed using streaming platforms by searching “WeHoTV” within the search functions of AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, and Roku services. It will also be available live and for replay at the City’s WeHoTV YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/wehotv.

If you have any questions, please email mmarquez@weho.org

Join us at the Rainbow Key Awards
on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 - 7PM
honoring the 2023 Rainbow Key Awardees

RSVP Here - This event is free and open to the public

For those unable to attend,
the event will also be live streamed and recorded for viewing
on the City’s WeHoTV channel at www.youtube.com/wehotv

The City of West Hollywood and its LGBTQ+ Commission (formerly the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board) will host the City’s annual Rainbow Key Awards ceremony to recognize people and groups who have made outstanding contributions to the LGBTQ community.  

This year’s Rainbow Key Awards, which will honor the nominees selected in 2023, will be held in person on Tuesday, January 30, 2024 at 7 p.m. at the West Hollywood City Council Chambers, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. For those unable to attend, the event will also be live streamed and recorded for viewing on the City’s WeHoTV channel at www.youtube.com/wehotv.

Every year, the City’s LGBTQ+ Commission selects nominees from a public process. This year’s Rainbow Key Awards honorees, though held in 2024, will honor the 2023 nominees who were selected by the former LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. These honorees are:

• Bert Champagne, a volunteer in the Community who has worked for AIDS Walk LA for more than 32 years, served as a Board Member of the California Lesbian Project, and has volunteered for more than three decades at Project Angel Food. Bert currently is the Vice President of Sheryl Lee Ralph’s DIVA Foundation and has been part of DIVAS Simply Singing for more than three decades.
• Nahshon Dion is a multi-talented artist, author, producer, and host of TRANSBRATIONS, a YouTube show.
• Reverend Stephen Pieters, a gay pastor in West Hollywood who became well-known for his extensive AIDS activism after his own AIDS diagnosis in the early 1980s. His soon-to-be-published memoir, Love is Greater than AIDS: A Memoir of Survival, Healing, and Hope, will chronicle his life story. Sadly, Rev. Pieters passed away in 2023, and this award will be presented to his family posthumously.
• Steven Reigns, West Hollywood’s inaugural Poet Laureate, whose writings focus on the gay experience and people with HIV. He has taught poetry workshops across the country to LGBTQ youth groups and people living with HIV.
• Brody Schaffer, a young, 8-year-old dancer who inspires other children to be themselves by fiercely dancing on his social media channels and other dance projects, including TV ads and Nickelodeon programming.

We hope you can join us at this year's Rainbow Key Awards Ceremony - RSVP for this free event here.

The City of West Hollywood Celebrates
Lesbian and Queer Women's Visibility Week
with Three Free Events

The City of West Hollywood and its LGBTQ+ Commission proudly celebrate Lesbian and Queer Women's Visibility Week from April 21 - April 28th, 2024. During this week, the City will display the Lesbian Pride flag in medians along Santa Monica Boulevard and West Hollywood City Hall and the lanterns over Santa Monica Boulevard will be lit in pink, orange, white, and red to reflect the shades of the Lesbian Pride flag.

This year’s celebration will feature three events in West Hollywood, created in collaboration with the City's LGBTQ+ Commission alongside community groups like the L Project and the Fan Girl Cafe: 

• A NextGen Coffee and Convo at Fan Girl Cafe, featuring a panel on queer activism, challenges faced by LGBTQ+ women in business, and advocating for non-binary and gender-nonconforming identities with panelists Marquita Thomas, Chanel Lumiere, and Melanie Vesey. This free event will be held at Fan Girl Cafe, located at 8157 Santa Monica Boulevard, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., and will also feature an opportunity for community members to network and meet one another. For more information on the City's NextGen, please visit https://www.wehonextgen.com/ 
• Lesbian Speakers Series Film screening of the award-winning documentary Ahead of the Curve and Q&A with Franco Stevens and filmmakers Jen Rainin (Franco’s wife) and Rivkah Beth Medow. Ahead of the Curve captures the story of Franco Stevens, founder of the most successful lesbian magazine in the world and her fight to keep Curve magazine alive. This free event takes place on Saturday, April 27, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. at the City’s Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. This event will begin with a reception with light snacks and refreshments at 5:30 p.m. The screening will begin at 6 p.m. The Q&A will follow the film. For more information on the Lesbian Speakers Series program, please click here. 
• The City invites community members to spend an afternoon at West Hollywood Park, located at 647 N. San Vicente Boulevard, for a Queer Art in the Park gathering on Sunday, April 28, 2024 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The event will feature lawn games, music, and queer arts and crafts vendors. Entry is free. Feel free to bring a blanket, yoga mat, lawn chair, sunscreen, and picnic accoutrements and meet new and old friends in the park.

We hope you can join us at this year's celebration of Lesbian and Queer Women's Visibility Week! 

The City of West Hollywood Observes 
Bi+ Visibility Week Sept 16 - 23, 2024

The City of West Hollywood will celebrate Bi+ Visibility Week, which commences on Monday, September 16, 2024 and runs through Monday, September 23, 2024. The City’s recognitions during this week are intended to raise the visibility and increase awareness of the Bisexual+ community.

These include:

Street Lanterns: On Monday, September 16, 2024 the City’s lanterns over Santa Monica Boulevard between Hancock Avenue and N. Robertson Boulevard will be lit in pink, purple, and blue, which are the colors of the Bisexual+ Pride flag, in homage to the community. West Hollywood City Hall will also be lit with the same colors. 

Pride Flags: Bisexual+ Pride flags will be flown on the City’s medians where flags are currently displayed. Additionally, Bisexual+ Pride flags will be displayed on the rooftop of City Hall and at Plummer Park.

Bi+ Visibility Week Park Celebration: On Sunday, September 22, 2024, from 11AM-3PM, the City would like to invite the bisexual+ community to a free, outdoor celebration at Plummer Park’s Vista Lawn at 7377 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90046. Members of the public are encouraged to bring a blanket, some snacks or food, and co-mingle with fellow members of the bisexual+ community. The event will feature a music set from DJ Michael Ian, a Drag Queen performance from Acacia Forgot, free lawn games for use, plus free Yoga and Zumba classes hosted by The Phoenix (bring your own water bottle and yoga mats!) In addition, the Translatin@ Coalition, AmBi, the LA Bi+ Task Force, and Stacked Deck Press will be tabling at the event. Also attending will be STICKITIN and the LA County Health Department, who will be providing free Flu and Monkeypox (mpox) vaccines on site.  

11:15 AM – Yoga

12:30 PM – Zumba!

2:00 PM – Drag Queen Acacia Forgot Performance

We hope you can join us at this year's celebration of Bi+ Visibility Week!