Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker
Brendon Ayanbadejo and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa were
among the thousands who participated in the Los Angeles Gay Pride
Parade on Sunday.
Villaraigosa called his last turn at
Pride as mayor bittersweet.
“What I do with this community, I've
said many times, I've done for a long time and I'll continue to do
going into the future and that's true whether or not I'm in public
office,” Villaraigosa told LGBT|POV's
Karen Ocamb. “Over the years, the friendships that I've
developed in this community, love and respect, mutual admiration for
people who struggle every day to be embraced in the way that we all
should. This is bittersweet today, because it's my last one as
mayor, but as I said, I expect to be around.”
Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti also marched
in the parade.
After participating in the three-hour
parade, Ayanbadejo addressed the crowd at the LA Pride Festival.
“It's important for me to get all my
straight allies in the NFL to team up with you guys,” he
said. “We all know that at the end of the day, love wins,
baby!”
(Related: First-ever
National Guard contingent in Los Angeles Gay Pride.)