Pride House LA-WeHo lands $1 million. CEO says event will inspire LGBTQ people everywhere.
West Hollywood City Council commits $1 million in sponsorship for Pride House LA-WeHo, in West Hollywood Park during the L.A. Olympics. The post Pride House LA-WeHo lands $1 million. CEO says event will inspire LGBTQ people everywhere. appeared first on Outsports.
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Pride House LA/West Hollywood, which has plans to be the biggest LGBTQ venue and project of its kind at a major sports event, has received a major financial commitment from the West Hollywood City Council.
A unanimous council vote has pledged $1 million in sponsorship to Out Athlete Fund, which is delivering Pride House LA-WeHo, and confirmed West Hollywood Park as its location during the L.A. 2028 Olympics.
The decision means nightly concerts, viewing and dance parties, film screenings, exhibitions and demonstrations will be held at the heart of Los Angeles’ LGBTQ district, from where images, video and voices will be sent around the world during the Games, reaching billions.
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Pride House LA-West Hollywood will carry on a rich tradition of elevating LGBTQ sports voices, at the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics.
“The 2028 version of Pride House will be like nothing the LGBTQ community has ever seen before,” says Michael Ferrera, who is the project’s CEO.
“With the partnership of the City of West Hollywood, we will make a statement of acceptance and inclusion in sports like none before us.”
Since the first Pride House was founded at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, there have been more than 25 such venues set up at sporting events, serving as a hub where LGBTQ people and allies gather, as well as raising awareness around human rights and history.
For July 2028, Pride House LA-WeHo’s vision is for a safe and welcoming venue with distinct zones in which visitors can enjoy a truly memorable Olympics experience. A concept video gives an idea of what the space will offer.
There will also be activities during the Paralympics the following month. Meanwhile, the build-up will begin in earnest in summer 2026, with get-togethers planned around the USMNT games taking place in L.A. at the FIFA World Cup.
The council’s investment represents a “huge step forward” in the project, according to Les Johnson, President of Out Athlete Fund.
“With West Hollywood and our growing number of partners, we are building what will be the most incredible LGBTQ event the world has ever seen,” says Johnson.
“And we’ll do it in the middle of the world’s attention on Los Angeles during the 2028 Summer Olympics.”
All LGBTQ athletes, out or not, welcome at Pride House, says CEO
Responsibility for Pride House LA-WeHo sits with a team led by Ferrera, who has broad experience in handling similar events with LA Pride and West Hollywood Pride, as well as fundraising and mentoring projects. (Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler Jr. also sits on the board.)
A Boston native who is a huge Red Sox and Patriots fan, he is passionate about producing the best possible program for fellow gay sports fans and the wider queer family, whether they are in the city for the Olympics or watching on from afar.
“Having grown up myself as a sports fan and as a closeted gay person, going to see my favorite teams and participating as a young person, I experienced that historical hostility that LGBTQ people have faced,” he tells Outsports.
“That meant feeling disoriented in a world that didn’t really acknowledge me, and it still happens. I was recently at a baseball game here in the U.S., and some people sitting behind me were yelling “puto”.
“I think it’s so important for awareness that Pride House is around because, even in the best of situations, people can have a benign neglect of acknowledging our participation in sports.
“Pride House gives us an opportunity to announce ourselves — that we’re here in this environment and as sports fans and as athletes, and that kind of hostility isn’t acceptable. Pride House is our chance to confront that and turn back the tide.”
Though he threw himself into baseball, football and other sports in his youth, and enjoyed that spirit of competition, Ferrera says he always felt awkward, caused by hiding an intrinsic part of himself.
“I had to carry around that secret and I felt out of step, of course, with the other boys and guys, which was a general feeling as I was growing up.
“But I hung in there because I just loved sports so much.”
As is the case for so many gay and bi young men, he drifted into the arts, and ended up following a career in theater, film and music which brought him to California in his 20s.
“I started to find my people, friends I could enjoy sports with, and I started to read Outsports and educate myself on those athletes that were courageous enough to be out,” he explains.
One was the great Greg Louganis, whom he met at a book signing — “I had a little crush on him too!” — and they became friends.
@la28 Diving into some of @Greg Louganis most memorable Olympic moments #LA28 @USA Diving | @Olympics ♬ original sound – LA28
It’s important to Ferrera that LGBTQ athletes like Louganis feel truly at home at Pride House LA-WeHo.
“I saw how he was treated, and how all these people have enormous reactions to you when you come out. That activated me too, as an LGBTQ person,” he says.
“And that’s on top of being an Olympian, with all the pressure that goes along with having to win. I feel like athletes in our community have to work twice as hard, if not 10 times, to get to the same place.
“I’ve developed a perspective on it — I want to announce myself in those spaces to change them.
“And so really, coming now to Pride House LAWeHo and having this privilege of being the CEO of this effort allows me to push that forward.
“What I could do on a really small level when I first came out, now I get to do it on a national and international scale, which is just a dream come true.”
With the confirmation of the council’s $-1million cash boost and a location less than 15 minutes by car from the Athletes Village at UCLA, this could become the gold standard in hospitality houses.
“We really see the opportunity here, because we’re the first Pride House that’s started so early,” adds Ferrera. “We’ll have had almost a five-year head start, and we’re really focusing on getting the word out, not least to the athletes.”
He also wants to reach those from around the world who might compete and who are not publicly out as LGBTQ, so they can visit or engage in a way that doesn’t jeopardize their safety.
“Otherwise, they’re not going to know that this opportunity exists for them too.”
It seems like no stone is being left unturned, as Pride House LA-WeHo takes shape.
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The post Pride House LA-WeHo lands $1 million. CEO says event will inspire LGBTQ people everywhere. appeared first on Outsports.
