A U-turn sign was removed from a Los Angeles neighborhood because the LGBT community said the street sign was anti-gay and targeted the LGBT community.
The signs were installed in 1997 when neighbors complained about gay men hanging out and looking for dates in certain residential areas close to popular gay bars, NBC News reported. In other words, homeowners didn’t want gay dudes hooking up in their cul-de-sac.
The “No Cruising” signs were removed after the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council voted to dismantle them in 2011, but the U-turn signs remained.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman said she learned about the remaining signs from a resident who listened to a podcast.
“The podcast mentioned that there had been “No Cruising” signs along Hyperion that had been removed in 2011, but that nine signs still remained on Griffith Park Boulevard,” Raman said. “Our very own Silver Lake constituent, Donovan Daughtry, heard the episode, and in May of 2022 he reached out to our Silver Lake Field Deputy at the time.”
Councilman Hugh Soto-Martinez said eliminating the U-turn sign was about eliminating the remnants of discrimination. He told NBC News it was the right step forward when there are escalated attacks against LGBTQ community.
“For me, growing up in South Central Los Angeles, cruising had a very different meaning. It usually meant folks in their lowriders or their cars, a lot of hip-hop music, just going up down Crenshaw Boulevard,” Soto-Martinez said. “But here in Silver Lake, cruising, of course, meant something very different. It meant an opportunity for the LGBT community to try to find human connection and intimacy and to be able to express themselves in a society at the time that was not very welcoming to the LGBT community.”
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