Updated at 11:30 a.m. June 26, 2015
Southern California’s gay community celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling Friday with planned rallies, parties and news conferences.
The city of West Hollywood is holding a rally Friday night at 6 p.m., with speakers including West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey Horvath and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Also, at 11:30 a.m., a celebratory lunch for the staff of the Los Angeles LGBT Center located at 1125 N. McCadden Place will be held.
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer was scheduled to hold a news conference discussing the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality.
Mayor Eric Garcetti was scheduled to hold a news conference at the Mayor’s office, third floor, City Hall, 200 N. Spring St.
Latino and immigrant community members were scheduled to hold a news conference reacting to the ruling at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, 501 N. Main St., Los Angeles.
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, who is openly gay, was scheduled to raise a Rainbow Pride Flag over the Civic Plaza in response to the decision.
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, the city’s first openly gay mayor, will raise a Rainbow Pride Flag over the Civic Plaza today in response to the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
“Love won, freedom won and equality won,” Garcia said. “Millions of Americans, including myself and my longtime partner, will finally be treated equally under the law.”
During the midday ceremony, Garcia also planned to thank activists and others who took part and supported the struggle for marriage equality.
In hailing the Supreme Court ruling, he cited Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
A rally sponsored by the LGBTQ Center Long Beach is planned at the Civic Plaza Friday at 5:30 p.m.
The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the U.S. Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry, handing a historic triumph to the American gay rights movement.
The court ruled 5-4 that the Constitution’s guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law mean that states cannot ban same-sex marriages. With the ruling, gay marriage becomes legal in all 50 states.
—Staff and wire reports