{"id":347430,"date":"2026-06-05T02:08:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347430\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T02:08:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:08:15","slug":"kathy-hilton-out-as-weho-prides-grand-marshal-title-to-remain-empty-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347430\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathy Hilton out as Weho Pride’s Grand Marshal, title to remain empty this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we begin Pride month, I have a range of emotions. At the front of my mind is that I\u2019m exhausted (and I say this with some humor). As policy and community advocates can relate, it\u2019s felt like a nonstop barrage of actions in both response to anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policies, but also, we\u2019ve led and supported proactive action to ensure we\u2019re protecting our community. <\/p>\n

The second feeling is pride; I\u2019m really proud of myself and my community. I know it sounds quite corny or at least obvious that one would feel pride during this month, but it doesn\u2019t always come so easily. And I don\u2019t think that, as advocates, we always have the time to reflect unless we\u2019re scheduling it into our packed calendars. It is also my birthday month, and in recent years, I\u2019ve come to realize how special (and maybe even chaotic) it might be to have AANHPI Heritage Month in May and then have Pride Month follow. It\u2019s awesome, I get the permission to celebrate both major parts of my identity for eight weeks straight, but it also comes with a lot of work since I work at an AAPI civil rights organization. To be honest, it feels quite serendipitous to be in this position.<\/p>\n

At my organization, I\u2019m overseeing our first-ever official LGBTQ+ portfolio, and I am truly grateful to be able to be part of a long history of queer and trans resistance and community work, all while growing and learning more about my queer identity and how it can blend so beautifully with my Filipino heritage.<\/p>\n

Our LGBTQ+ portfolio at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL) <\/a>was established officially in 2024, but the organization has been a strong ally for the LGBTQ+ community since its founding in 1983, including longtime support for same sex marriage. The portfolio started in 2024 after seeing a gap in representation of the queer, trans Asian Pacific Islander (QTAPI) community in statewide advocacy. My team knew there were numerous QTAPI organizations in California, many of which do local advocacy, and others that were historically involved in federal advocacy. We knew that the exclusion of QTAPI experiences had to change, and we started with our AAPI Queer Joy coalition.<\/p>\n

Our AAPI Queer Joy coalition is AJSOCAL\u2019s initiative to become more inclusive by recognizing the intersectionality of being both AAPI and LGBTQ+. It\u2019s a partnership with QTAPI-serving organizations across the state. Together, we identify and highlight the specific needs of the QTAPI community; we advocate for inclusive policies that empower the QTAPI community and allow all in the larger LGBTQ community to thrive. My current partners in the coalition are Hmong Innovating Politics, Lavender Phoenix, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans, and Viet Rainbow of Orange County.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"AJSOCAL at Golden Dragon March in Chinatown for Lunar New Year \/ Photo courtesy of Deguia<\/p>\n

I feel so honored to do this work on behalf of my QTAPI and larger LGBTQ+ community. When I joined the policy team in 2023, I had no idea I\u2019d be leading our LGBTQ+ portfolio shortly after joining. It feels like the timing was just right to have been between teams and have this opportunity. This opportunity to learn so much about my community, myself, and our long fight for equity and eventual liberation has truly changed my life.<\/p>\n

One major highlight this year was our AAPI Queer Joy Coalition\u2019s presence in Sacramento for Equality California (EQCA)\u2019s LGBTQ+ Advocacy Day. To represent the QTAPI community as a group of 14 at the largest LGBTQ+ Advocacy Day in California felt incredible. EQCA\u2019s lobby day is notable because of the leadership role their organization takes in co-sponsoring bills, working with the LGBTQ caucus members, and keeping all the LGBTQ+ and allied organizations up to date with all the bills and actions. I knew that by bringing a larger group of the AAPI community members to this day of action and communicating with their staff about my plans (and the staff happily accommodating and supporting us), they would continue to understand why it\u2019s important to continue to be intentional about reaching out to different communities within the larger LGBTQ+ community and building power and relationships with them (and us).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"EQCA\u2019s LGBTQ+ Advocacy Day \/ Photo courtesy of Deguia<\/p>\n

These advocacy days, community events, rallies, and townhalls remind me how important visibility and participation are, especially as QTAPI community members. We have experiences that bond us with the larger LGBTQ+ community, but also have our own unique set of challenges as AAPIs, many of us are children of immigrants, which means there may be language barriers, especially for certain LGBTQ+ terminology.<\/p>\n

If we don\u2019t show up and share those stories with other advocates and also members of the legislature, then they can\u2019t work with us to make our lives better. It\u2019s a reminder that all our stories are different and though we might share a common thread, it\u2019s a moment to learn how our differences allow us to expand what the LGBTQ+ experience.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve worked with LGBTQ+ partners in Los Angeles and Orange County, I\u2019ve learned so much, and I\u2019ve been able to share a lot of data and stories with our partners who might not have experience with our QTAPI community. I\u2019ve learned so much about our QTAPI community and the type of courageous history we have here in Southern California that spans back decades. I\u2019ve met elders who were community organizers during the AIDS epidemic who worked together with Black and Latine communities to ensure that AIDS advocacy and education were inclusive. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard stories of the queer and trans Vietnamese community leaders in Orange County claiming their rightful stake to march in their city\u2019s and community\u2019s annual Tet Festival in the 2010\u2019s. And the list goes on. AAPIs have long been part of the fight for LGBTQ+ equality and equity, and oftentimes, our work and community are invisible. I\u2019m hopeful that in my role, I can help to uplift this history and these brave community leaders and trailblazers. That I can foster even stronger cross-community solidarity. And that I can encourage the younger QTAPI generation to engage in these times to continue and lead the fight for progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"AJSOCAL on the scene supporting Okaeri benefit luncheon \/ Photo courtesy of Deguia<\/p>\n

The work we do has truly felt nonstop; it has asked so many of us advocates to dig deep and lock in. Life has required a lot of balancing, asking ourselves, \u201chow much more can I really give?\u201d and I know for many of us the answer is usually, \u201cI can give a little bit more, I need to push a little more.\u201d In my own practice of balance and centering myself after I feel anger, disappointment, sadness, exhaustion, or some combination of all four, I remind myself that rest and joy are essential. It\u2019s a response. It\u2019s an act of resistance. Rest allows us to reflect, breathe, and slow down so we can come back to our coalitions and partners with new ideas, knowing that someone can fill in for you when you need to take a step back.<\/p>\n

Joy is an act of resistance. It is what I have reminded myself of since the first Trump presidency. That the goal of the opposition is for us to feel bogged down, to give up, to not feel like life is worth living, but that\u2019s the reason we fight and resist. We fight because we know the type of life we deserve; we know that we deserve to celebrate our survival, existence, and especially our futures. We celebrate our resilience, our ingenuity, our community care, and our commitment to change.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the spirit of this, and uplifting my QTAPI identity, community, and my AAPI Queer Joy coalition partners. I want to formally invite you (yes, you, the reader) to our coalition\u2019s 3rd Jade Jubilee, a celebration of our state\u2019s beautifully diverse QTAPI community. My partners are fierce, creative, loud, and brave, and we\u2019re here with our 2026 bill priorities, fighting for our LGBTQ+ community\u2019s future. Our Jade Jubilee will be hosted on June 10, at Cafeteria 15L in Sacramento at 5:30 PM. It\u2019s a FREE event, and there will be free food and non-alcoholic beverages. We\u2019ll be honoring Assemblymember Chris Ward, the Chair of the LGBTQ Caucus, and Shai Chang, co-founder of Queer Hmong Intersectional Pride in Fresno, and there will be performances from two QTAPI and some of Sacramento\u2019s best drag queens, PrincessB and LOTUS.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that I was feeling exhausted. But I\u2019m also excited and looking forward to so many things while leading this LGBTQ+ portfolio. I feel honored to do this work, to work with my community partners, and see them and connect with them in person and at their events. In so many ways, it can feel lonely, especially as I do this work with only one other openly queer person on my team. With my community partners, I feel seen, understood, comforted, and strong. I feel blessed to be able to learn from them. As small as our community may be in relation to the state\u2019s population, it doesn\u2019t mean we have to do it alone, either as AAPI or LGBTQ+. <\/p>\n

This pride season, I remind the community to engage even with how scary and daunting it feels, to remember that pride is for everyone and that inclusivity is a choice, and we should always ensure that we are listening to everyone in our beautifully diverse LGBTQ+ community \u2013 and not just during the month, but throughout the year as we build our movements.<\/p>\n

By Jeffrey Deguia, LA Regional Policy Advocate at Asian Americans Advancing Justice SoCal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we begin Pride month, I have a range of emotions. At the front of my mind is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[116336,93,115065,48,52,51,19099,19100,47,50,49,104386,141252,655,141253],"class_list":["post-347430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-city-of-west-hollywood","tag-featured","tag-kathy-hilton","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lgbtq-representation","tag-lgbtq-visibility","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-weho-pride","tag-weho-pride-grand-marshal","tag-west-hollywood","tag-west-hollywood-pride"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}