The City Council voted 4-1 Monday to dedicate West Hollywood's rainbow crosswalks to the worldwide LGBT community.
A dedication ceremony is scheduled to coincide with the upcoming LA Pride parade, according to a city staff report. An accompanying photo campaign featuring the internationally recognized crosswalks at Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards will also begin.
"In addition to a brief dedication and rainbow ribbon cutting ceremony, the City Council will kick off a community photo campaign called, Show Us Your Pride," the report states. "The campaign will encourage residents and visitors to take their own creative photos showing their pride on the rainbow crosswalks and upload them to Twitter, Facebook, or lnstagram using the hashtag: #wehorainbow. The City Council will kick-off the ... campaign by taking a creative group photograph on the crosswalks."
The dedication and group photo is scheduled for 9 a.m. June 9 at the north side of the Santa Monica and San Vicente intersection.
Councilman Jeffrey Prang voted against authorizing $4,000 from general-fund reserves to pay for the ceremony, photo project and corresponding promotional efforts.
"I just don't think this rises to a level of going into our reserves," Prang said. "Reserves should only be used for important and substantive issues, and I don't think this one achieves that goal."
Speaking on another agenda item, Councilman John Duran touted the city's fiscal soundness.
"West Hollywood is one of only 8 percent of the cities in this country that are in the black," he said.
Weho is currently the world's only city with permanent rainbow crosswalks, according to the staff report, which noted that the dedication ceremony will give the council "the opportunity to formally introduce the world to these iconic crosswalks and to explain what they and the City of West Hollywood truly represent—a beacon of hope and acceptance for the GLBTQ community."
The crosswalks were installed just prior to last year's pride event.