Gay Choirs, Trans Cafes And Social Justice Art: What LA Spent Money On While Cutting Its Fire Budget

The City of Los Angeles cut funding for its fire department and allocated thousands of dollars to various progressive programs, including a “Midnight Stroll Transgender Cafe” and a Gay Men’s Chorus.

Fires swept through Southern California on Wednesday, destroying hundreds of homes in Los Angeles County, and high winds only fueled the destruction. The Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, was slammed for slashing the Los Angeles Fire Department’s (LAFD) budget by $17.6 million for fiscal year 2024 to 2025, Fox 11 reported, citing LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia.

🚨EATON FIRE: Evacuations are still underway as the fire is spreading across over 400 acres. Video footage obtained by @DailyCaller News Foundation shows an insane scene#Pasadena | #California pic.twitter.com/x71JX0M4wP

— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) January 8, 2025

Bass claimed in a press conference that none of the reductions made “would have impacted the situation that we were dealing with over the last couple of days.” She added that the city is “in tough budgetary times.”

Los Angeles allocated $100,000 to the Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department for a “Midnight Stroll Transgender Cafe,” according to its 2024 to 2025 budget. The funding’s purpose is to “support a safe haven for unsheltered transgender individuals in Hollywood,” the document noted.

Similarly, the Cultural Affairs Department Special Appropriations budget allocated $100,000 for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Awards.

The budget also appropriated $8,670 for the “One Institute the International Gay and Lesbian Archives.”

The ONE Archives at the University of Southern California (USC) Libraries currently has an exhibit titled “Sci-fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation,” which focuses on the occult and “the LGBTQ movement.”

EATON FIRE: Additional footage from today #California | #Altadena | #CaliforniaWildfires pic.twitter.com/FNUBvJMkm0

— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) January 9, 2025

The budget also allocated $13,000 for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Heritage Month Programs” and $14,010 to the “Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles.”

Los Angeles’ African American History Month, American Indian Heritage Month, Latino Heritage Month and Asian American History Month Programs were each allocated $13,000.

The budget also appropriated $170,000 in total for “Social Justice Art-Worker Investments.”

The LA Fire Department’s strategic plan made “DEI” and a “progressive work environment” two of their top three priorities—regarding them as more important than “technological innovations” and “disaster recovery capabilities,” which it ranked last. pic.twitter.com/6b6SdPUePC

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) January 9, 2025

The LAFD was blasted for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and its 2023 to 2026 strategic plan stated that DEI was one of its “key goals.” A stated priority of the city’s first “LGBTQ” and woman fire chief, Kristin F. Crowley, is “promoting a culture that values [DEI].”

The Daily Caller reached out to the Los Angeles city controller, the city administrative officer and the mayor’s office, but has not heard back as of publication.

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