Some 400,000 people were expected to attend the LA Pride march before the Orlando shooting took place. Sheriff's officials noted that there were no "specific or credible" threats against the greater Los Angeles area, but had stepped-up security at the event. The FBI was investigating possible links between the man and the LA Pride event, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement. Seabrooks also said there was no known connection between Howell's arrest and the shooting rampage early Sunday morning at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.Įarlier in the day police in California found weapons, ammunition and bomb-making materials in a car belonging to the man. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, speaking at the opening of the LA Pride Festival in West Hollywood said separately that the man told police he was on his way to the parade there.īut Garcetti said the arrest appeared unrelated to Sunday's Florida attack. Seabrooks said the man told a Santa Monica police officer during his arrest "of wanting to harm (the) Gay Pride event." Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said on her official Twitter account the California suspect, identified as James Howell of Indiana, had been arrested on suspicion of possessing weapons and explosive materials.įBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said the suspect was 20 years of age. history.A heavily armed man who said he was heading to the parade was arrested early on Sunday in nearby Santa Monica, but there was no apparent link with the deadly mass shooting in Florida, authorities said.
Sunday's marches came on an especially poignant day as many remembered the massacre at the Pulse nightclub - a gay club in Orlando, Florida - one year ago.Ī pro-Islamic State gunman killed 49 people and wounded more than 50 in one of the most shocking hate crimes in U.S. Trump said during the presidential campaign that he is "fine" with the idea of gay marriage, and also said he does not care what bathroom a person uses - a reference to court cases on whether a transgender student can use the bathroom of his or her choice.īut the Trump White House scrapped President Obama's guidance ordering public schools to let those students make that choice. The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA) members from around the country sing on the National Mall with Capitol Hill in the background, during the Equality March for Unity and Pride in Washington, June 11, 2017.ĭemocratic Representative Maxine Waters led the crowd in chants for Trump's impeachment at the Los Angeles march. "We've made so much progress over the last eight years. "I think we have an administration that is pointedly and deliberately not recognizing gay people, gay rights, trans-rights," one marcher in Washington told Reuters. They also point out that Trump broke an Obama tradition by not declaring June Gay Pride Month.
They include Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. While President Donald Trump himself has said little about LGBT rights, several members of his Cabinet have been openly critical of the gay community.
Many of the marchers lamented what they believe is the setback in the progress made under the Obama administration in the new Trump White House.
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The events had various names, including the Equality March in Washington, D.C., and the Resist March in Los Angeles.īut full recognition of the rights for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals was at the center of the parades, speeches and dancing in the streets. Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across the United States in pride and protest to celebrate and demand full rights for the LGBT community.