Celebrating Flag Day just a bit early, the Culver City Unified District administration held a special ceremony to add the Progess Pride Flag – the next iteration of the ‘rainbow flag’ denoting gay inclusivity – on June 10, 2024 at 9:30 am.
The simple ceremony, held in the lawn area just inside of Culver City High School’s entryway, brought in people from many parts of the community; several City Council members, including Mayor Yasmine Imani McMorrin, Vice Mayor Dan O’Brien, and Council member Freddy Puza attended, as well as School Board President Dr. Kelly Kent, VP Triston Ezidore, and board members Brian Guerrero and Stephanie Loredo. The District Attorney of Los Angeles, George Gascon and the LA County Assessor, Jeff Prang, also came to speak.
The CCUSD Superintendent Dr. Brian Lucas thanked the attendees and introduced the elected officials, highlighting Ezidore for having moved the idea for the flag forward. He also noted that CCHS is officially recognized as the most diverse body of high school students in Los Angeles County. “Each color on the flag is symbolic of qualities that the nation should celebrate; red is for life, orange is healing, yellow represents sunlight, green is nature, and blue is serenity.” Lucas also reached out to applaud the students who were in attendance, saying “We want your future to be yours.”
CCHS Principal Dr. Adrienne Thomas noted the ‘affinity’ graduation events, including the “Lavender Graduation, which we had just this past Friday, officially acknowledges our students, and their contributions to this world. Any day that celebrates our diversity and inclusivity is a great day.” Almost half the graduating students participated in one of the smaller graduation events, including AAPI Graduation, Kente Graduation and La Fuerza Graduation.
When he took the podium, Gascon exhorted students to get involved and vote, noting that the threats to democracy and constitutional rights were a challenge to the future. Prang then told a personal tale of seeing the pride flag flying when he moved to California in the late 70’s, and that “…it told me I was in a place where I could feel safe. That I was welcome, that I had friends and allies.”
Historically referred to as the ‘pride flag,’ the newest version is known as ‘progress pride.’ The original flag, created in 1978 for the San Francisco Gay Pride event by Gilbert Baker had eight stripes, and the current flag has six. The ‘progress’ version also includes a chevron of yellow, white, pink and blue symbolizing trans inclusivity.
After being raised by Dr. Lucas and knotted correctly into place, the flag was there. Flying below the American and Californian flags on campus, the colors looked vivid against the cloudy June sky.
Judith Martin-Straw
