West Hollywood politicians on cannabis, polygamous marriage and Madonna
Mayor John Heilman, Danny Hang, and Chelsea Byers talk WorldPride Amsterdam and the progress within the LGBTQ+ community
West Hollywood is just under two square miles, but that hasn’t stopped it becoming a powerhouse of Los Angeles.
Delegates from West Hollywood travelled to WorldPride Amsterdam to take part in the iconic Canal Pride, which took place on Saturday 1 August, including Mayor John Heilman, Vice Mayor Danny Hang,
John Heilman, vice mayor Danny Hang and councilmember and former mayor Chelsea Byers flew from the city to Europe to take part in the fun, joining the fabulous OUTLOAD Music Festival float.
Attitude had the opportunity to sit down with all three at the Rosewood Amsterdam the day before the Canal Pride to discuss what they hope to take back to America, cannabis consumption, and the Queen of Pop on the eve of Madonna’s WorldPride performance.
WorldPride Amsterdam
Attitude: What can American queer hubs learn from European Pride movements?
Mayor John Heilman: Having been to a lot of European Pride celebrations, I love how inclusive they are, how they really are a celebration for not just the LGBT community, but you will see families, you’ll see children out there, you’ll see people with their grandparents. Having been to Stockholm Pride, it’s one of their largest, I think it is the largest parade in Scandinavia. And that I find really exciting because in the US, Pride is is really more focused on LGBT people and I would love to see it be a broader celebration in the US.
Vice Mayor Danny Hang: I see this as a great opportunity for us as Americans to learn how other communities celebrate Pride and support one another. And being my first time in Europe to celebrate WorldPride in Amsterdam. I think this is one of the most progressive cities in the world. It’s teaching me a lot what we can bring back to West Hollywood.
Councilmember and former mayor, Chelsea Byers: We can learn a lot from how the streets become more open, how people feel the space is really meant for them. And seeing that here in Amsterdam is really beautiful, the way every business, shop and building just sort of is in celebration of Pride right now. It’s really beautiful.
Cannabis
Attitude: Am I right in thinking that West Hollywood is the only city within LA that allows cannabis usage in a venue?
Hang: We were one of the first to bring the Amsterdam model to the US, to Southern California, to West Hollywood.
Byers: Other places do, we’re just the best place to do it. Yeah, we have so many different places all within walking distance to go enjoy and just beautiful lounges that are really put together by some visionaries. Artistic and nature ones outdoors. Just a lot of different types of experiences to have in West Hollywood, different than you may find other places in the region.
Attitude: Did you see anything yesterday that you’d want to bring back to West Hollywood?
Byers: Yesterday we went on a walking tour to connect with some of the coffee shops and to see the LGBTQ nightlife led by our head of our Emerald Village, [a marketing organisation within West Hollywood that’s responsible for marketing and promoting our various consumption lounges and cannabis consumption within the city.] We have a thriving cannabis industry in our city and we know that that’s part of what Amsterdam has to offer as well. And there was a two-hour setup at Easy Times Coffee Shop with our West Hollywood Emerald Village, making sure that people know that we too are a place where you can come and enjoy that sort of product and community in West Hollywood.
Marriage equality
Attitude: Amsterdam made history with the world’s first legal marriage back in 2001 while West Hollywood led early domestic partnership registrations back in 1985. Comparing those two timelines, what does it feel like to reflect on how far global rights have come and where they currently are stalling?
Heilman: I was on the council when we passed the domestic partnership law and at that point I think marriage equality was not even a dream in the United States. And to have that ordinance passed to allow people to register to get some kind of government recognition for their relationships I think that was very important. And a lot of cities copied our law and eventually various states also copied or implemented their own domestic partnership law.
Now our domestic partnership seems sort of dated and quaint, but it still exists for those people who for whatever reason don’t want to take advantage of marriage. And in terms of the global struggle, I think it’s also important for us to recognize in West Hollywood how fortunate we are, how many people throughout the world can’t celebrate Pride, can’t even be open, can’t work because they’re open. And some of the work I do with another organisation just always reminds me how lucky we are in West Hollywood and how lucky we are to be in a city like Amsterdam today. And all of the progressive work that has been done here in the Netherlands is just, part of why I admire this country, they really have integrated human rights into their own policies, but into their foreign policy as well.
Hang: I’m going to pivot, Amsterdam is still making history, recently, the country has elected its first LGBTQ Prime Minister, Rob Jetten, with open arms and a high vote count. And I’m hoping that we can take that back to the U.S. and catch up where the Netherlands is today. This is such a progressive country, I mean, [last week] Queen Máxima gave the opening ceremony speech at WorldPride Amsterdam, and you don’t see many royal families doing that.
Byers: We just know that progress needs to continue. Just last year we expanded our non-discrimination ordinances to protect multi-partner families. The mayor also brought forward an additional domestic partnership registry to look at how we can include polyamorous relationships, multi-partner relationships. So, there’s so much work to continue to do to expand in that way and we’re excited to stay on that forefront.
Attitude: Oh wow, that’s interesting. How would polygamous marriage work?
Heilman: We’re looking at how we can do it within the framework of California law. There probably are not a lot of people who will take advantage of it, but I think it’s important for us to recognise that there are different ways that people create relationships and they might want the kind of protections against being evicted for bringing in their third person within a relationship into a rental unit. That would be one of the protections. Or visitation within a hospital, sometimes it’s limited to family only.
It’s exciting, some of the other things that we have done in terms of trying to protect the trans community, having gender neutral bathrooms and new construction. Those are some of the things where probably 40 years ago we didn’t think about, but now we’re thinking about how do we expand our understanding of what it means to be an inclusive community.
Madonna
Attitude: Madonna did one of her first pop-up appearances for Confessions II in West Hollywood. What does it feel like to have an American organisation like MISTR bringing Madonna to WorldPride and having that American representation here in Europe.
Heilman: The owner of MISTR, [Tristan Schukraft], is also the owner of The Abbey, one of our iconic nightlife establishments that I think is really well known around the world.
Having Madonna there was incredible, but that venue is known for having celebrities, and West Hollywood is known for having celebrities. We have the Elton John Academy Award Party that raises a lot of money for HIV programs around the world. Any given night, we’re going to have celebrities dining in our restaurants. There are restaurants where there are always paparazzi outside because there’s always a celebrity inside. And our hotels are known for catering to celebrities, Lady Gaga frequently stays in West Hollywood if she’s performing in Los Angeles.
I think it’s great that we have somebody who’s an icon in the LGBT community for her music, not only performing in West Hollywood, but I’m excited about seeing her here in Amsterdam. I think it’s going to be great.
Hang: We’ve always been an activist city, especially with the AIDS crisis, and I’m so proud of the fact that MISTR, a West Hollywood organisation, has partnered with WorldPride to bring more awareness to PrEP internationally so that other people are educated and can have the tools necessary to protect themselves, nowadays with HIV and testing, prevention, treatment. And it’s incredible to have celebrities like Madonna partner that to recognise that her stardom can bring more awareness to this issue to help educate more people.
Byers: All these big LGBTQ brands that you see worldwide, you can also find in our 1.89 square miles of West Hollywood, which is pretty amazing. And most of the celebrities, as the mayor said, that you see or hear about frequenting places in Los Angeles, we know that those are West Hollywood places.
LGBTQ+ safe havens
Attitude: Many LGBTQ+ travellers look to cities like West Hollywood or Amsterdam as safe havens. With anti-queer legislation rising in parts of the US and Europe, how do you see the role of sanctuary travel destinations evolving?
Heilman: Well, first of all, we’re in California, and California has very pro-LGBTQ legislation at the state level. As a city, we obviously are very pro-LGBT. Our nightlife is, we’re sort of the centre of the LGBT nightlife in Southern California. Our hotels and our businesses are all welcoming, and we’re a very safe community overall.
Hang: Our Pride is one of the best Prides in the world. It attracts hundreds of thousands of people. Not only that, but we have the largest Halloween party in the world, Halloween Carnival, where up to 300,000 people come to our streets dressed in costumes for one night. So, we are a safe space, and we want to tell the world that we are open, our arms are open. We want to welcome you to be who you are, and we hope is your home away from home.
Byers: I think about these sanctuary destinations, when you see it here in Amsterdam, the flags hanging from all the buildings, the sort of signs of affirmation that you are okay and welcome and free to be exactly who you are here in these streets, we support that and celebrate it. We have drag queens painted on the side of our city hall in West Hollywood. I think that’s a remarkable sign that you are free to be exactly who you are and we want to see and celebrate that as you experience the streets and your time in the city.