Downey set to make history with LGBTQ picnic

Transgender rights activist Zoey Luna will be honored at Saturday’s picnic.

DOWNEY – Downey’s first ever LGBTQ Pride Family picnic will take place this Saturday at Furman Park.

The city’s recognition of its LGBTQ community has been brought to the forefront of conversations over the past year, leading to the city declaring the month of June as “Pride Month,” and raising the rainbow-colored flag over city hall.

The culminating picnic, which is officially being put on by the Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (LA CADA), is expected to draw upwards of 1000 people. Attendees can expect food, music, and informational resources, as well as entertainment, including a petting zoo.

Councilman Mario Trujillo – who is openly gay - called the picnic “an opportunity for our families to have those teaching moments” and “is a step to changing hearts and minds.”

“We’re giving them a natural setting to be able to talk about sexuality and labels and things like that,” said Trujillo. “Most importantly, to let people know that it’s okay, that we’re part of the community and we’re accepted.”

It has not been a necessarily easy road to get to this point.

The path to Saturday’s event began early this year, when Councilwoman Catherine Alvarez – who identifies as bisexual – asked the council to consider throwing an event in support of the city’s LGBTQ community.

Although initially shot down over health and safety and funding concerns, Trujillo would step in and suggest enlisting the help of LA CADA.

LA CADA would go on to partner with Supervisor Janice Hahn, who is the main sponsor of the event. The supervisor is providing all the staging, canopies, tables, and chairs, as well as providing LA CADA with over $12,000 in funding, and funding Downey Police officers to be at the site to provide security for the event.

No city funds have been used towards this event.

“This event is an opportunity for us to celebrate and show our support for the LGBTQ+ community here in Downey,” said Hahn in a statement provided to the Downey Patriot. “I have made it a point to sponsor Pride events across my district because they are an important part of making sure every resident feels welcome and included in their neighborhoods and knows they can be themselves openly and freely.”

The picnic would go on to be funded separate from the city, with Downey only waiving fees and providing the space, as well as Downey Police providing a patrol vehicle.

Despite achieving victories in the last several months, the LGBTQ community has still met significant pushback from some, especially those in Downey’s faith-based community.

Trujillo says that he expected some pushback, although had not “prepared himself for some of the words that were going to be used.”

“I got through it and stayed focused on the idea that this could be a possibility, and if we were going to do it, it had to be done well,” said Trujillo. “It had to be done well because this was our message to say that this about acceptance.”

According to Trujillo, the Council and several other public officials are anticipated to be in attendance.

In addition, Zoey Luna, a well-known transgender activist from Downey, will also be on hand to share her story, as well as be honored and recognized by the city.

Luna, who filed an office of Civil Rights Complaint toward the Downey Unified School District in 2011 which was subsequently resolved with the agreement to change practices moving forward, says she is honored to be recognized.

“As a person who has been openly transgender in my city of Downey for years, it means the world to see Downey recognizing us and acknowledging our presence,” said Luna. “…I really hope that we can - as a city – become more understanding of different identities, and be able to understand that even though these identities are surrounded in gender and sexuality, that it is something that should not be deterred from teaching kids about, because it’s just ways of expression, and I don’t think we need to sexualize or diminish any way of feeling and identifying.”

The picnic will take place on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.