L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva will be wearing an LGBTQ Pride patch as he cruises down Santa Monica Boulevard tomorrow during the LA Pride Parade.
“I am proud of each and every one of the fine men and women in the LASD, who serve our diverse communities every day,” Villanueva said in a press release announcing the development of the Pride patch. “We will always celebrate the fact that within our ranks, so many LGBTQ members of our Department serve openly and with absolute pride.”
Unique patches are used by law enforcement agencies nationwide. Copies of the Pride patch will be handed out free of charge during the Pride parade. For those who are unable to attend the parade, the patch is available to be purchased online at www.LASDPridePatch.com. All profits will be donated to the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Homeless Youth Shelter.
Its announcement of the Pride Patch says “the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department not only boldly shows its support and pride in serving all who call L.A. home, it kicks off an effort to raise needed funds for LGBTQ youth in the county who are homeless and need services.”
“This is an exciting first for Southern California law enforcement and one of the first law enforcement pride patches anywhere in the county,” said Lt. Don Mueller, the coordinator of the project. “Throughout history, police and the sheriff’s departments have had an adversarial relationship with the LGBTQ community at best. But today, we have hundreds of the gay, lesbian and transgender deputies and officers who serve openly with pride.”
“It is essential to our mission that this department reflects the diverse communities that we serve,” said Villanueva, “ As we concentrate our recruitment efforts on hiring from within L.A. County, I encourage members from the LGBTQ community to apply and become a part of our very inclusive family.”
In the first two hours of hosting the sales website, more than 100 patches were sold – without advertising the project. “It’s amazing that we can help support a significant need in our own LGBTQ community through these patches,” said Mueller.
please just focus on your jobs. weho is such a mess these days……..
Are you seriously complaining about our Sheriff wearing a patch, in support of the LGBT community? Unbelievable.
Really……
Ridiculous. Are they going to have a Mexican patch, a black history month patch, a Ramadan patch too? Where does it end? This LGBT stuff is nothing more than extorsion. “Wear our patch or we wont renew the contract”. Uniform means all the same, and having these dumb patches is the opposite of that. Just stick to police work, and leave the virtue signalling for others.
This is not your land CacaCaucasian 💩 don’t say Mexican say dark skin put us together don’t separate us, I’m a real American Indian Yuhaaviatam
If you are Mexican, you show your pride by acknowledgement! Be proud of your race and heritage. However,being proud of being gay is not something that you inherited, it is your choice, which I respect as long as you don’t try to force me to take part in condoning your choice. If you proudly wear the uniform of a LASD deputy, then learn the meaning of UNIFORM. It is not a advertisement for special interest! Retired and proud of the best law enforcement agency in the world.
West Hollywood is proudly the center of the LGBT community in the Greater Los Angeles area. So, no, he doesn’t have to wear other patches. This was specifically for a Pride event, for the LGBT community. If it was for “Black Lives Matter,” I’d be all about him wearing a patch for them, also.