United States: in Los Angeles, a pride march between fear and unity
Audio 03:34
Pride march on Hollywood Boulevard on June 12, 2022. AP - Richard Vogel
Text by: RFI Follow
4 mins
It is expected by the end of the month that the Supreme Court of the United States will reconsider the right to abortion.
That was the meaning of a memo from one of his judges, Samuel Alito, which leaked to the press in April.
And this questioning of a decision dating back to 1973 by a Court where six conservative judges sit raises fears of a return to other rights, in particular homosexual marriage validated by the court in June 2015. Much more recently than the Roe case against Wade who had endorsed the right to abortion.
And this Sunday, the Hollywood Pride march was held.
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With our correspondent in Los Angeles
,
Loïc Pialat
Believers replace tourists.
After all, it's Sunday.
The Methodist Church of Hollywood took a double-decker bus to parade on the main boulevards, the time of the Pride March.
Aboard, Brendan.
The young man recently
came out
.
He found a church that accepts him as he is and he saw his first Gay Pride, in a particular context.
By questioning the constitutional right to privacy, the Supreme Court is not only threatening
the right to abortion
.
“
It would set a precedent for the rights of gays and other minorities.
Marriage is not on my immediate radar because I recently started dating other men.
But yes it worries me a lot.
If I don't have the opportunity to get married one day, my life will be different from what I imagined.
And that scares me
,” says Brendan.
A cloudless Californian blue sky above rainbow flags.
Calls for love and unity are displayed on the hundred parade floats.
Even in the current climate, political messages are rare.
The Pride march, “a movement for social justice”
But for Eric, a life coach, the march is a claim in itself: “
There is no doubt that they will attack our rights, but that is not what matters today.
We are here to love and tell others that they are loved for who they are.
We spend a lot of time thinking about those who try to oppress us.
Now is our time to claim our space.
Yes, the march is a celebration, but it's also a movement for social justice.
It started with the Stonewall riots and we carry that legacy by letting people know that we exist and we won't move.
»
In the crowd following the parade, Cassie, a transsexual, stands out with her Statue of Liberty costume.
In place of the torch is a sign: “
Vote as if your rights depended on it.
»
"
A lot of people in the LGBT community are politically apathetic,
" Cassie said.
You have to vote, especially in November for the mid-term elections.
But we are not organized.
These marches are cute, but you have to exist politically.
There is something very frustrating.
I find the left divided while the extremists on the right are extraordinarily well organized.
They understood that they could impose their ideas through the states rather than at the federal level.
»
►
To read: LGBT + rights: New York commemorates 50 years of the Stonewall riots
Bills hostile to the LGBT community
The attacks on the LGBT community did not wait for the Supreme Court.
The Human Rights Campaign has counted 340
hostile bills
across the country in recent months.
So California looks like a haven.
Calvin lives an hour by plane in Phoenix and it's another world: “
Here, I walk freely in the street.
In Arizona, I dare not, in 2022, living in downtown Phoenix.
Every time I watch the news, there's a new lawsuit against our rights.
»
Amanda walks with her 17-year-old daughter, Kayleigh.
She advances, with a firm step, difficult to stop: “
I don't care a bit about what the Supreme Court has to say.
I am here for my daughter.
Her family supports her.
The Court will do what it has to do.
If my daughter ever wants to get married, we'll find a way.
»
Hollywood Pride was the world's first legal Gay Pride, its organizers claim, and it was in 1970. Since then, the United States has changed and 70% of Americans support equal
marriage
today.
But their opinion does not necessarily count more than that of the six conservative judges of the Supreme Court.
►
To read: Transgender identity in the United States: applications for “passport X” authorized
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