West Hollywood to Honor LGBTQ+ Icons at Pride Kickoff Event
The City of West Hollywood will kick off its WeHo Pride season with a celebration of LGBTQ+ history and culture. It will begin with its annual Harvey Milk Day event on Thursday, May 22, 2025, followed by the WeHo Pride Arts Festival and WeHo Pride Weekend.
This year’s Harvey Milk Day celebration will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the South Lawn of West Hollywood Park at the base of the Aquatic and Recreation Center Grand Staircase. The event will feature the third annual José Sarria Drag Pageant, honoring the legacy of José Sarria, a pioneering drag performer and political figure who laid the groundwork for Harvey Milk’s historic political career.
The pageant will be hosted by West Hollywood Drag Laureate Pickle. Judges will include Queen Mother Karina Samala and Emperor Eugene Maysky of the Imperial Court, among others to be announced.
The event, which is free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Imperial Court, Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath, and One Institute. In addition to the performances, attendees can participate in voter registration, enjoy complimentary milk and cookies, and pose for a Harvey Milk/José Sarria photo opportunity.
Harvey Milk Day honors the life and legacy of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, who was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk was assassinated in 1978, but his legacy lives on in the LGBTQ+ rights movement. In 2009, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Milk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the California Legislature officially declared May 22, his birthday, as Harvey Milk Day. West Hollywood became the first city in the U.S. to formally observe it as a city holiday in 2015.
The celebration will lead into the WeHo Pride Arts Festival, which will take place May 23–25, 2025, at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza in Hollywood. The three-day festival will feature a diverse lineup of theater, poetry, literary readings, dance, film, and interactive workshops. All events are free, and RSVP links will be available at www.wehopride.com/artsfestival.
The festivities culminate in WeHo Pride Weekend, scheduled for May 30 to June 1, 2025, in and around West Hollywood Park and Santa Monica Boulevard. The weekend will include the OUTLOUD Music Festival, a free street fair, the Dyke March, the Women’s Freedom Festival, and the WeHo Pride Parade.
For more information on Harvey Milk Day, the WeHo Pride Arts Festival, or WeHo Pride Weekend, visit www.wehopride.com. For questions, contact Mike Che, West Hollywood’s Arts Coordinator, at mche@weho.org.
For accessibility assistance, California Relay Service is available at 711 or 1-800-735-2929 (TTY) / 1-800-735-2922 (voice).
