Pride House LA-West Hollywood got its kickoff for the Los Angeles Summer Olympics at the incredible Pride House Paris last Friday. Los Angeles will be hosting the Olympics and Paralympics in 2028.
Pride House Paris welcomed LGBTQ Olympians, athletes and fans — as well as the general public — to a celebration of the community during the Paris Olympics. It was held at a beautiful venue on the Seine River.
The current vision of Pride House LA-West Hollywood is to create an immersive experience celebrating the out LGBTQ athletes and coaches of the Olympics and Paralympics, as well as the creativity of Hollywood and West Hollywood. It will welcome the LGBTQ community to celebrate during the Olympics and Paralympics in a way never-before experienced.
The event featured City of West Hollywood Mayor John M. Erickson, himself a former college athlete; Los Angeles County Supervisors Lindsay P. Horvath (herself a former West Hollywood Mayor), Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis; former City of West Hollywood Major John D’Amico; Paris Deputy Mayor M. Frédéric Hocquard; Olympic champions Greg Louganis, Ian Thorpe and Matthew Mitcham; and other supporters including Olympic hopeful Bill May, Olympic figure skater and founder of Compete Proud Javier Raya, Gold Meets Golden founder Charley Cullen Walters, and so many others.
Get off the sidelines and into the game
Our weekly newsletter is packed with everything from locker room chatter to pressing LGBTQ sports issues.
The Pride House LA-West Hollywood effort is being organized by Out Athlete Fund, a California-based 501c3 non-profit that is dedicated to providing resources to out LGBTQ athletes aiming for the Olympic Games or other elite-level sports competitions. The organization embraces the importance of LGBTQ visibility in sports, and there is no better way to build that than to provide out athletes the resources to chase their dreams on the national and worldwide stage.
Out Athlete Fund is the brainchild of Alex Soejarto, a tech strategy executive in San Francisco.
“Hosting Pride House in West Hollywood for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics presents tremendous opportunities for the LGBTQ+ community,” said Alex Soejarto, founder of Out Athlete Fund. “We are already engaging incredible community and business leaders to support out LGBTQ+ athletes, as well as celebrate the entire community at Pride House.”
In full transparency, I’m one of three members of the Out Athlete Fund board of directors. Les Johnson, a longtime (now former) board member for the Federation of Gay Games, is the other member of the OutAF board.
Other key figures in the group in attendance in Paris include longtime Los Angeles LGBTQ advocate Michael Ferrera, and marketing and event executive Haley Caruso. Hendricks Law has also joined the OutAF team.
The organizing committee for Pride House Paris — led by co-presidents Frédérique Vidal and Jérémy Goupille — has elevated the profile and presence of the LGBTQ-inclusive Pride House at the Olympics beyond what we have seen before, earning recognition from the International Olympic Committee.
“The work we have done at Pride House Paris to elevate the LGBTQ+ community in sports is unparalleled with support from the French Ministry of Sports, the French Ministry for Equality, the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee and, for a first in Pride House history, the International Olympic Committee,” said Fier Play co-presidents Vidal & Goupille. Fier Play is the organization behind Pride House Paris.
“We look forward to elevating the Pride House tradition to a community of support in California to continue this important movement,” they added.
Related
Pride House Paris celebrates LGBTQ athletes and fans at the 2024 Olympics
Pride House Paris presents two weeks of LGBTQ events and the celebration of out athletes at the 2024 Olympics.
By Cyd Zeigler | July 23, 2024
Many out LGBTQ Olympians have stopped by Pride House Paris, including Gus Kenworthy, Greg Louganis, Matthew Mitcham, Kate Richardson-Walsh and so many others.
The effort to bring Pride House to West Hollywood during the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles has already garnered some incredible support.
The City of West Hollywood and Out Athlete Fund have been in conversation for a year about delivering a Pride House that reflects the creativity and energy of the Los Angeles area, basing the 17-day event in West Hollywood Park.
“As the first openly gay athlete at my college and now the Mayor of the City of West Hollywood, the center of LGBTQ+ activism and a hub of culture, creativity, music, and inclusivity, I look forward to welcoming the world to experience Pride House in West Hollywood in 2028,” said Erickson.
The City of West Hollywood is supporting the celebratory and fact-finding effort in Paris with City Manager David Wilson, as well as other staff from the city.
They were joined by Los Angeles County Supervisors Lindsay Horvath, Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis. The County of Los Angeles is already financially supporting Out Athlete Fund’s Pride House efforts.
“Experiencing Pride House in Paris gave us insights for Pride House LA-West Hollywood as part of the 2028 Games,” said Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Lindsey P. Horvath. “Pride House, as well as international LGBTQ+ athletes and fans, will be at home in West Hollywood in four years!”
The building blocks for another level of Pride House are already being put into place.
Some incredible out LGBTQ athletes have already joined the Pride House LA-West Hollywood effort as “ambassadors,” including: Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy; former NBA player Jason Collins; Olympic dressage rider Robert Dover; Olympic figure skater Randy Gardner; Olympic beach volleyball player Nicole Branagh; and professional soccer player Collin Martin.
You can learn more about Out Athlete Fund and Pride House LA-West Hollywood on the Out Athlete Fund website. You can also follow them on Instagram.
