Troy Masters, publisher of the Los Angeles Blade, died unexpectedly on Wednesday Dec. 11, according to a family member. He was 63. The cause of death was not immediately released.

Masters is a well-respected and award-winning journalist and publisher with decades of experience, mostly in LGBTQ media. He founded Gay City News in New York City in 2002 and relocated to Los Angeles in 2015. In 2017, he became the founding publisher of the Los Angeles Blade, a sister publication of the Washington Blade, the nation’s oldest LGBTQ newspaper.

His family released a statement to the Blade on Thursday. 

“We are shocked and devastated by the loss of Troy,” the statement says. “He was a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ community and leaves a tremendous legacy of fighting for social justice and equality. We ask for your prayers and for privacy as we mourn this unthinkable loss. We will announce details of a celebration of life in the near future.”

The Blade management team released the following statement on Thursday:

“All of us at the Los Angeles Blade and Washington Blade are heartbroken by the loss of our colleague. Troy Masters is a pioneer who championed LGBTQ rights as well as best-in-class journalism for our community. We will miss his passion and his tireless dedication to the Los Angeles queer community.

“We would like to thank the readers, advertisers, and supporters of the Los Angeles Blade, which will continue under the leadership of our local editor Gisselle Palomera, the entire Blade family in D.C. and L.A., and eventually under a new publisher.”

Troy Masters was born April 13, 1961 and is survived by his mother Josie Kirkland and his sister Tammy Masters, along with many friends and colleagues across the country. This is a developing story and will be updated as more details emerge.

December is AIDS/HIV awareness month and this year West Hollywood is honoring the lives lost, by breaking ground on a project in West Hollywood Park that has been in the works since 2012. 

Members of Hollywood’s City Council joined representatives from the Foundation of AIDS Monument to announce the commencement of the construction of STORIES: The AIDS Monument, which will memorialize 32 million lives lost. This monument, created by artist Daniel Tobin,  will represent the rich history of Los Angeles where many of those afflicted with HIV/AIDS lived out their final days in support of their community.

Tobin is a co-founder and creative director of Urban Art Projects, which creates public art programs that humanize cities by embedding creativity into local communities. 

The motto for the monument is posted on the website announcing the project. 

“The AIDS Monument:

REMEMBERS those we lost, those who survived, the protests and vigils, the caregivers.

CELEBRATES those who step up when others step away.

EDUCATES future generations through lessons learned.”

The monument will feature a plaza with a donor wall, vertical bronze ‘traces’ with narrative text, integrated lighting resembling a candlelight vigil, and a podium facing North San Vicente Blvd.

World AIDS Day, which just passed, is on December 1st since the World Health Organization declared it an international day for global health in 1988 to honor the lives lost to HIV/AIDS. 

The Foundation for the AIDS monument aims to chronicle the epidemic to be preserved for younger generations to learn the history and memorialize the voices that arose during this time. 

The HIV/AIDS epidemic particularly affected people in Hollywood during the onset of the epidemic in the 1980s. The epidemic caused a devastatingly high number of deaths in the city. The city then became one of the first government entities to provide social service grants to local AIDS and HIV organizations. 

In 1985, the city sponsored one of the first awareness campaigns in the country, nationally and globally becoming a model city for the response to the epidemic. 

Earlier this year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the theme for World AIDS Day, ‘Collective Action: Sustain and Accelerate HIV Progress.’

The city of West Hollywood continues to strive to become a HIV Zero city with its current implementation of HIV Zero Initiative. The initiative embraces a vision to “Get to Zero” on many fronts: zero new infections, zero progression of HIV to AIDS, zero discrimination and zero stigma.

Along with the initiative and the new AIDS monument, the city also provides ongoing support and programming through events for World AIDS Day and the annual AIDS Memorial Walk in partnership with the Alliance for Housing and Healing. 

For more information, please visit www.weho.org/services/human-services/hiv-aids-resources.

The Trans Latin@ Coalition raised a record-breaking amount of money at their quinceañera, celebrating fifteen years of helping the Trans, Latin American communities of West Hollywood and Los Angeles. The event took place at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, starting with a VIP reception and red carpet, followed by a fashion show featuring 14 designers. The 15th anniversary successfully highlighted the intersection of cultura, fashion and activism with a mariachi and fashion lines full of vibrant Latin American colors, patterns and embroidery. 

The quinceanera’s fashion show is called GARRAS, which stands for Groundbreaking Activism Redirecting and Reforming All Systems. GARRAS is more than just a fashion show, it is also a movement to transform the Trans, Gender nonconforming and Intersex community–as well as their allies–into high-fashion icons. 

GARRAS raises funds for the Trans Latin@ Coalition and uses these events to give TGI people a platform to showcase their talents, leadership and activism. The quinceañera-themed fashion show 

Bamby Salcedo, CEO of Trans Latin@ Coalition spoke during the event to address not only the need for continued funding, but also to point out how much more unity the TGI and Latin American communities must demonstrate in light of the incoming Trump administration. 

“I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting our work, for believing in our work and for participating in the change we are all working to create,” said Salcedo to the audience. “We’re here to raise funds to continue to do the work that needs to happen, especially because of what just happened [with the election]. And you know what? [The government] is trying to scare us and diminish who we are, and I say to all those mother f*ckers ‘F*ck you!”

The fashion show and reception brought in celebrity guests, models, influencers and many other queer Los Angeles socialites. Zaya Wade, Gia Gunn from Ru Paul’s Drag Race: Season 6, Mayhem Miller from Ru Paul’s Drag Race: Season 10, Heidi N Closet from Ru Paul’s Drag Race: Season 12 and many influencers and personalities. 

The TGI designers who showcased their latest creations were: Leandrag, Enrique Montes, Semi Creations, Natalia Acosta, Royal Rubbish, ArmaniDae, Nuwa1997, Bad Burro, Life on Mars, HIM NYC, 10 eleven, Rag to Fab, Christiana Gallardo and Jesse Alvarado.

This story is published in partnership with the Queer News Network, a collaboration among 11 LGBTQ+ newsrooms to cover down ballot elections across 10 states. Read more about them here.

Across California, Donald Trump’s decisive victory was seen as a cause for concern among organizers within the LGBTQ+ community. 

Trump’s campaign and the conservatives who aligned with him ran a vehemently anti-LGBTQ+ election, often depicting trans people as dangers to society and uplifted local candidates who elevated LGBTQ+ scapegoating as a reason for poor educational outcomes or moral depravity.

In the outskirts of Southern California, for example, far-right evangelicals have taken over school boards and passed anti-trans “parental rights” policies. Despite grassroots efforts to flip these boards, many of these districts failed to oust the Trump-aligned conservatives this election.   . 

“This election result hits home because it reaffirms the uphill battle our community has been facing — where simply living authentically and with dignity is under constant threat,” said Queen Chela Demuir, president and CEO of Unique Woman’s Coalition, an organization centered on uplifting the Black trans communities. “Our community is painfully aware of the danger this administration poses.” 

Demuir continued by saying that the Trump campaign ‘has shown a willingness to erode protections, make health care even less accessible, and strip away our rights.’ 

“My heart dropped to the floor,” said Bamby Salcedo, CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition. “I just wanted to get out of my place and run and scream.” 

Salcedo says she’s worried about how Trump’s administration is going to further target trans communities, which have been used as “political pawns” by conservatives. 

“That has been the rhetoric of the conservative movement — diminish, devalue and potentially erase our existence,” Salcedo said. “This election made some people see the reality of our state.”

“This is not new to us as a community and as a people,” Salcedo continued. “Conservatives have been trying to erase our existence since the invasion of the colonizers.” 

Organizers at Queer News Network said the election results have only renewed their focus on pushing back harder against LGBTQ+ scapegoating— which is almost guaranteed to increase under a Trump administration.

Yuan Wang, the executive director of Lavender Phoenix, a queer Asian and Pacific Islander grassroots organization based in San Francisco, suggested not to focus on anxiety. 

Wang said she takes comfort in knowing that eventually even Trump’s supporters will see that his rhetoric isn’t the solution to their problems.

“Dehumanizing trans people isn’t going to make people safer,” said Wang. “Demonizing migrants isn’t going to make our economy stronger.”

Though, she said, “I feel afraid for the most vulnerable members of our community.” 

Wang said this election is particularly heartbreaking for people who sit at intersecting identities such as queer immigrants, those who have been previously incarcerated, currently undocumented, or who have been impacted by the war in Gaza. Wang suggested that many of them have felt both targeted by Republicans and abandoned by the Democratic party.

Several progressive propositions also failed to pass. Though voters said yes to affirming same-sex marriage in the constitution, they also shot down more progressive propositions that aimed to fix soaring housing prices, outlawing prison-based slavery and a higher minimum wage — an issue that impact queer people, who experience higher rates of poverty and homelessness compared to their straight counterparts. 

These leaders also said that California is not immune to enacting conservative agendas, despite often being dubbed a “safe state.” 

“That perspective is dangerous because it breeds complacency,” Demuir said. “No one is completely safe as long as discriminatory policies are on the books.”

Ysabel Jurado, the Highland Park resident and tenants rights’ attorney, is now Councilmember of Council District 14 after a battle for the hot seat against incumbent Kevin De León. 

“Today, I am humbled to officially declare victory in the race for Los Angeles City Council District 14. This win is not mine—it belongs to our community,” said Jurado shortly after the win was announced. 

Jurado makes history as the first Filipino American to serve on the Council and has expanded LGBTQ+ and women’s representation too. 

In her celebratory statement after Thursday’s win, she stated that De León used Trump-like tactics and she is glad the city did not play into it. 

“Trumpism has no place in CD-14– and we proved that by resoundingly rejecting the divisive tactics deployed by our opponent–tactics adopted directly from the Trump playbook,” said Jurado. “Like Trump, our opponent thumbed his nose at the law—from his racist gerrymandering scandal that likely violated the Voting Rights Act– to the current open investigation into his campaign for money laundering.”

Jurado is the new hope for a city that has been marred by racial and phobic remarks by those previously and still in positions of power. 

Other news outlets are reporting that this marks another fallen Latino leader after the leaked L.A. City Council audio recording went viral in 2021 and led to the resignation of Los Angeles City Council president Nury Martínez. 

De León’s goal during his term was to retain and expand Latin American political power. 

With De León out, that leaves Latin Americans taking up only four out of the Council’s 15 seats, in a city that has a majority Latin American population.  The city’s biggest Mexican American communities like Boyle Heights and El Sereno will not have a Latin American leader for the first time in nearly 40 years. 

During De León’s campaign, he urged voters that if Jurado were to be elected, it would come at the expense of Latin American voices. 

Last month, Eastside voters received a text message from De León’s campaign saying: ‘Forty years of Latino political power is under threat.’

Jurado secured her victory after placing first in the March primary, with support from Latin American politicians like Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, L.A. Unified School District trustee Rocio Rivas, L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis and Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, who replaced incumbent Gil Cedillo after he was also caught on audio making racist and defamatory remarks. 

“These are heavy times, but Ysabel Jurado’s win is an incredible cause for hope,” said Hernandez in a congratulatory post on Instagram. “She has proven again and again that our city has not just the capacity to dream of a better future for ourselves, but that we demand it.”

De León tapped into the pathos of Eastside residents during his campaign, resorting to political tactics that attacked Jurado directly, rather than tackling the key issues at hand.

“Like Trump, he relied upon fear mongering, red-baiting, misogyny, and racial dog-whistling in an effort to divide us. But unlike Trump, his tactics failed.” 

In a landmark development for electoral accessibility, Los Angeles County has opened the doors to the nation’s first general election Vote Center located within a transgender establishment. The Connie Norman Transgender Empowerment Center officially launched its voting facilities today, inviting the local trans community and all registered voters in Los Angeles County to participate in the democratic process.

The Vote Center at CONOTEC will operate for early voting from Nov. 2 – Nov. 5 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Registered voters in Los Angeles County can cast their ballot at CONOTEC, regardless of their residential address. This initiative not only creates a safe and affirming space for marginalized voters but also aims to foster broader community engagement.

During the grand opening, Los Angles County Registrar Dean Logan and West Hollywood Mayor John Erickson, celebrated this significant moment. 

Logan said, “The county and everyone in my office know that we need to make voting as accessible and welcoming as possible in every corner of the county. The CONOTEC leadership has done a great job preparing this Vote Center, and we thank them for opening their space to their community and all of the LA County residents who chose to vote here.”

Queen Victoria Ortega (at podium), president of FLUX International, addressed the need for more action.

“We are tired of everyone discussing our safety while doing nothing about it. Now, we are taking matters into our own hands,” Ortega said. “We, the trans community, have created a safe space for the most marginalized to vote, and when you do that, you create a safe place for all. We are honored and duty-bound to be the first presidential election Vote Center in America at a transgender establishment.”

Queen Chela Demuir, executive director of the Unique Women’s Coalition, emphasized the historical legacy of trans rights activists.

“In the spirit of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, we honor our transcestors and carry their legacy forward,” she said. “This voting center stands as a safe and welcoming space for our trans siblings, while also embracing all allies and residents of Los Angeles County. It’s a space where everyone’s voice matters, uplifting and empowering our community.”

Bamby Salcedo, founder and CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition. (Photo by Troy Masters)

Bamby Salcedo, founder and CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition, expressed her support for the initiative, stating, “My sisters at CONOTEC have done a great service to our community by securing this Vote Center. We all look forward to casting our vote in our community and appreciate the support as we work towards equality for all.”

Michael Weinstein, president and CEO of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the world’s largest and most influential AIDS Service organization, pointed out that around the world voting is a perilous adventure for LGB and particularly trans people. “AIDS Healthcare Foundation is in 47 countries around the world and in so many of those countries, the right to vote does not exist,” he said. “It turns my stomach to see on TV political ads targeting the trans community.” hightlighting the need for safe voting spaces like the CONOTEC.

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, praised CONOTEC’s efforts to empower LGBTQ+ voters. “With our vote, each of us has the chance to write the next chapter of this nation’s story. And the nation’s story is incomplete without each one of us. When we show up, equality wins,” Robinson remarked, emphasizing the importance of collective civic participation.

During a sermon delivered earlier this month, far-right evangelical church leader Jack Hibbs told his Calvary Chapel Chino Hills congregation to show up at a Chino Valley Unified School board meeting the following night. He promised it would be a ‘freak show’ full of ‘reprobates’ and ‘degenerates.

Chino Valley Unified in San Bernardino County, whose four board member majority were endorsed by Hibbs, was the first school district in California to institute a “parental notification” policy, which would have required teachers to inform parents if a student changed their pronouns or asked to use a bathroom that did not align with the sex on their birth certificate. 

Board President Sonja Shaw, a member of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills who has praised Hibbs at school board meetings, introduced the policy, and several other school districts followed suit after Chino Valley Unified.

In August 2023, the California attorney general sued the Chino Valley Unified school district, and won a temporary restraining order in September 2023 from a San Bernardino Superior Court judge. Then last month, the same judge ordered a permanent injunction on that policy, calling it discriminatory and harmful to students. Gov. Gavin Newsom then signed a bill that outlawed what critics called “forced outing” policies. 

That didn’t deter Hibbs or the Chino Valley Unified school board. At its Oct. 17 meeting, members passed another controversial policy titled ‘No Deception.’ 

It was an attempt to work around Newsom’s signature by using vague language that omitted student’s gender or sexuality.  Teachers had to be ‘at all times truthful and honest and not misrepresent, either directly or by omission’ when communicating with parents, according to the policy.

That night, Hibbs’ followers packed the school board meeting. 

Many of the speakers referenced their Christian faith and described LGBTQ+ students as ‘sinners’ and the teachers who supported them as ‘groomers,’ with one woman proclaiming ‘we’ve got demons in our schools.’

A number of students pushed back against the proposed policy, begging the school board to focus on actual issues — like their broken air-conditioning and spotty WiFi — instead of culture war politics. 

“It feels like the people who are supposed to support our education system are failing us,” one student said.

Despite pushback from students, teachers, parents and community members, the Chino Valley Board of Education voted 4-1 to pass the policy. 

Shaw did not respond to emails seeking comment on this story.

A Growing Trend in Suburbia 

What happened in Chino Valley Unified is just one example of how Christian nationalists, like Hibbs, encourage their followers to target school boards and support far-right candidates and policies across the U.S. 

Jorge Reyes Salinas, spokesperson for the civil rights organization Equality California, said  that conservatives see these local school boards as their opportunity to ‘increase leverage and representation in government because they know they can’t do that statewide.’ 

That’s especially true in California, where Democrats hold both houses in the state legislature. 

The tactics have been particularly successful in Southern California counties like San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside and Imperial — ‘purple’ regions that mostly have an even split between Democrats and Republicans, but also have pockets of deep red.

Church leaders like Hibbs are able to ‘capitalize on the fact that people don’t really pay attention to what’s going on city council and school boards,’ in these outskirt areas, said Kristi Hirst, a former Chino educator and co-founder of Our Schools USA, an organization fighting back against this evangelical agenda. 

Hibbs did not respond to emails for comment on this story. 

Other churches in the Southern California region that also try to influence school board elections include Kevin O’Connor’s  Ark Church in Redlands and 412 Church in Temecula. Tim Thompson runs both 412 and the Inland Empire Family PAC, which endorses far-right extremist candidates like Candy Olson. According to the organization Safe Redland Schools, Olson has attacked critical race theory and spread conspiracy theories about LGBTQ+ people. 

Targeting school elections  to pass anti-LGBTQ+ policies that claim to be for the protection of children has been part of the religious right’s political playbook for decades.

 The Los Angeles Times published a 1993 article titled School boards become the religious right’s new pulpit, featuring an interview with preacher Robert Simonds, who advised Christian politicians how to run for local office.

“Once you have a majority on a school board, you control the money, you control the books,” said Simonds.

In the past few years, Hirst said  these pastors initially rallied their base around opposing mask mandates and vaccinations during COVID-19. When those issues died down, the pastors pivoted to demonizing transgender youth. 

“This idea of gender ideology being a ‘problem’ is not an organic complaint,”said Hirst. “Somebody at the top decided we’re going to tell you that you should be afraid of this, and then the messaging went down.” 

How Churches Pull the Strings 

Hibbs has openly endorsed political candidates for years. 

Sometimes it’s through his own personal social media posts, like a voter guide he recently posted on Instagram to his more than 395,000 followers. Other times, it’s through organizations like Real Impact and Comeback California, a touring political rally he organizes to encourage churches to get involved in elections. 

In February, Hibbs was accused of breaking the law by endorsing from the pulpit.

Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote a letter to the IRS expressing their concern for tax exemption for these churches. The letter states: ‘Some churches, like Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, have chosen to make a mockery of their 501(c)(3) status by reaping all of the benefits of tax exemption, while knowingly violating the statute by openly endorsing political candidates running for public office.’

According to the IRS website, the law prohibits churches from “participating in, or intervening in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”

But that hasn’t stopped pastors like Hibbs from endorsing candidates during every general election. His actions have had a sizable impact on local school policies and education. 

For example, Hibbs has endorsed all four members of the Chino Valley Unified board members  who voted in favor of the ‘No Deception’ policy. He has repeatedly endorsed longtime board member James Na, telling his followers on Facebook that ‘God will hold us accountable for our vote.’

In 2010, Na successfully spearheaded a campaign to get Chino Valley to teach the Bible as a history course for seniors.

Hibbs also endorsed Andrew Cruz, who has said that same-sex marriage is wrong. In 2018, Cruz likened school boards that follow non-discrimination policies to being like Hitler’s followers.

“It wasn’t Hitler that was bad,” Cruz said. “It was the people who followed the laws and the agenda.”

In 2022, Hibbs also encouraged his followers to vote for Jonathan Monroe and current board president Shaw. Shaw has spoken on stage during the Comeback California tour and appeared on the campaign trail alongside Donald Trump.

Hibbs also supports John Cervantes, a newcomer running for the board who opposes same-sex marriage and transgender athletes playing on teams that align with their gender. 

His other endorsements include Joseph Komrosky for Temecula’s school board, even though he’d already been recalled by voters in June. 

Beyond endorsing candidates, Hibbs has even taken credit for popularizing the parental notification movement. Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli first introduced the idea in 2023, but the legislation died without a hearing. 

In an interview with far-right media, Hibbs boasted that he then brought that bill’s language to the  Chino Valley Unified school board. 

“What we did is that we read his bill and we took the verbiage from that bill and then introduced it to our unified school district school board and they voted and adopted the verbiage,” said Hibbs.

Hibbs added that their plan is to make sure this goes all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where they’re hoping that the conservative judges will make this anti-trans policy the law of the land. 

In the end, LGBTQ+ youth are the most harmed, advocates said.

Hirst and Salinas argued that parents are unknowingly organizing against trans students under the belief they are protecting children, and urged adults to question where the rhetoric is coming from. 

“It’s been happening across the country,” Salinas said. “It’s the same tactics, using fear-mongering, using the unknown, using a disguise of children being in danger as a tool.”

This story is published in partnership with the Queer News Network, a collaboration among 11 LGBTQ+ newsrooms to cover down ballot elections across 10 states. Read more about us here. 

This story was published with Q Voice News. 

Forest green faux fur, rhinestones, a fabric-lined ceiling, planted faux flowers and green plastic grass adorn the inside of an anthropomorphized car named Mollie who spends her days riding off into the sunset on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood and beyond. 

The driver of this 2008 Ford Escape, Caspian Larkins, 24 and a Cancer sign, moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and through a series of humbling restaurant jobs and other side hustles, ended up driving for Uber. Though working for Uber was not on Larkins’ bingo card for 2021, they wanted to find a way to make the experience not only fun for themself, but also for the people who roll on Mollie. 

Larkins, who identifies as nonbinary and queer, grew up being one with nature in the wilderness of Oregon and when you step inside Mollie, it feels like a little magical, mystical slice of Oregonian forest–of course if it were reimagined on four wheels and zooming through traffic in Los Angeles. 

Forest green faux fur and a pink ruffle with a layer of tiny fabric roses, line the doors. Stickers on the sunroof and windows reflect rainbow hues across the white leather seats and passengers. (Photo credit Gisselle Palomera)

Going viral overnight doesn’t happen to just anyone, but this iconic duo now have thousands of followers on social media and have big plans for the future. 

ShaVonne Boggs, a content creator who hailed an Uber ride from Larkins, posted an Instagram reel of the ride and featured Larkins in all their fairy-core glory, driving through L.A traffic, with the viral Gwen Stefani ‘Just a Girl,’ audio clip playing over. 

“I went to bed that night with a couple hundred followers on my account and I woke up the next day and I had gained like 3,000 followers,” said Larkins. 

Larkins has a unique sense of style that incorporates nature, fashion and sustainability, often foraging for materials from the side of the road to add to the car and accepting donated fabrics from people who reach out to them through social media. 

“I’m a forager. What can I say?,” said Larkins and then jokingly added that Jeff Bezos also personally delivers some of the items they use to decorate Mollie. 

“I come across stuff on the street sometimes that I’ll pick up, put in my car and repurpose.” 

Larkins says that Mollie is a little bit dinged up and bruised up from the outside, but that it’s the inside that truly matters. 

There is a third character in this story that resides on the inside of the car at all times. 

Jack Aranda is the name of the guardian angel of this fairytale ride. It is a miniature rubber ducky that was given to Larkins by a spiritual witch that opted for an Uber drive, over a broom one night. 

“It was midnight, by Venice Beach and you know it was good vibes, but yea she gets in and we’re talking and she’s like ‘I’m going to give you this duck,’ and gives me this little tiny purple good luck duck,” said Larkins. “So I kept the good luck duck and I put him on my dashboard.”

Larkins says that ever since this encounter, the luck in their car changed. 

“Red lights will always turn green for me, and sometimes someone will run a red light and miss [hitting] me and I just think it’s divine intervention because of Jack.” 

Larkins poses in front of their car Mollie on a road in West Hollywood, CA. (Photo Credit Gisselle Palomera)

Larkins says that the decorated interior and its elements serves not only as a conversation starter, but also as a filter from unwanted conversations and painfully boring small talk. 

“I think that since I’ve decorated my car, it’s like my filter,” said Larkins. “The people who get in and are like, ‘Oh my god,’ those are my people and those are the ones that I’m there for. And the ones that get in and are silent, I just let them sit there and soak in the rainbows.” 

They say that there have been more good interactions, than bad ones and more people who ‘get it,’ than those who don’t. 

Anthropomorphizing cars is nothing new to pop culture. In fact, cars have almost always had names and it is almost a part of engrained American culture to assign personalities to them based on their cosmetic characteristics. 

The earliest examples on TV go as far back as the 1940s and some of the most memorable examples are Christine, the possessed, killer Camaro from Stephen King’s imaginative mind. 

Or Herbie, the 1963 Volkswagen Racing Beetle from the early cartoon TV show Herbie, the Love Bug.

In everyday routine, people spend so much time and energy on and around inanimate objects, that they sort of become meaningful elements who accompany us on our journeys from here to there–and back. 

“What I’m doing now with her is switching out different designs with the seasons,” said Larkins. 

Larkins drives around Los Angeles and West Hollywood, picking up and dropping off people from all walks of life. (Photo Credit Gisselle Palomera)

“So right now we have our spring/summer look and a lot of the things in there are removable, velcroed and stapled.” 

They say that right now they are exploring a very niche area of automotive interior design that they feel has not been explored within vehicles recently. 

“It’s just hard for other people to conceptualize it and what I often describe to people, comes off as very tacky and just kind of nasty– not demure, not cute.” 

Larkins feel they are really just now setting the stage for what’s possible, as far as interior customizations. 

“I want to start creating this world in which design plays a bigger role in what a car could be and the experience of just being transported,” said Larkins candidly. “I want to invite people into my little delusional fantasies.” 

Larkins believes that even in the present and near future of self-driving vehicles, they would like to collaborate with these major self-driving car companies and take part in designing and customizing the vehicles so that it can be a pleasurable and fun experience for riders who might feel anxiety about self-driving technology. 

The inside of Mollie is adorned from top to bottom and from left to right. (Photo Credit Gisselle Palomera)

Modifying and customizing cars has been a part of the North American experience since the early 1930s. Now, attention is shifting toward the addition of technologies like Augmented Reality, to enhance the experience of driving and getting from point A to point B, and also using that technology to navigate the vehicle without a driver. 

There are now endless possibilities when it comes to custom car culture and Larkins feels this is their place to explore and forage for the looks that people want and can’t even imagine. 

“I want to step away from driving for the platforms and I would love to design with them,” said Larkins. “There is a group of people that are in support of this future technology and there is this other group of people that are kind of scared of it because it feels very cold and very uninviting and very new, so I would like to be the one to sort of bridge that gap for those people and make it less scary.” 

The vision that Larkins has, is that they would like to reimagine the possibilities of custom interiors with interchangeable parts and additions that one could only think of as synonymous to Barbie and her endlessly fun assortment of interchangeable outfit components. 

Larkins sees a long future ahead, where they have the opportunity to collaborate with airlines, rideshare companies and any other sponsors who are willing to make their visions come to reality. Until then, they will continue to weave up and down the asphalt arteries of WeHo and beyond, rolling on Mollie and working on their fairytale ending.

The rallying call urges all the Spanish-speaking and corrido-loving sapphics, butchonas, jotas and vaqueeras, to grab their boots and meet up at Little Joy Cocktails for a carne asada-style, family party every fourth Sunday of the month, featuring spins by DJ Lady Soul, DJ French and DJ Killed By Synth.

In Los Angeles, these three disc jockeys have embraced the word buchona, adding the ‘t’ as a play on the word butch. 

The free event, now locally known as Butchona, is a safe space for all the Mexican and Spanish music-loving lesbians to gather on the last Sunday of every month. 

Buchona is usually a term used in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries to describe a woman who is a boss– someone who exudes dominant energy or marries into a powerful position. 

“I didn’t know how well [the idea for Butchona] was going to be received and my favorite part of all that, has been the looks everyone has been bringing,” said Rocio Flores, who goes by DJ Lady Soul. 

The event that started only a few months ago, brings in dozens of dressed-up jotas. The ‘looks’ that the crowds bring are reminiscent of how dad’s, tíos, and their friends dressed at Mexican family parties: a tejana, cowboy boots, giant belt buckle and a beer in hand. 

Dressing up in these looks is a way to show wealth and status to earn the respect of other males in a male-dominated and -centered culture– that is until now. 

This traditionally male, Mexican, cultural identity, is something that has never been embraced or accessible to women or gender non-conforming people. The giant belt buckles that are traditionally custom-made and specific to male identities like head of household, ‘only rooster in the chicken coop’ and lone wolf, are only part of the strictly cis-gendered male clothes that dominate the culture. 

The embroidered button-ups, belt buckles and unique cowboy hats –all come together to create the masculine looks that are now being reclaimed by women and gender nonconforming people at the event curated by three queer, Mexican DJs, who once had a little idea that could. 

Flores, 37, (she/her), Gemini, says that to her the term butchona describes a woman who is a little ‘chunti,’ a little cheap in the way she dresses– but in a queer way. 

“That title also means that you’re a badass,” she said. “I want to look like that señor, I want to look like that dude and now I feel like I could, so why not?”

Flores says that now she feels like she can embrace and reclaim that cultural identity, but it wasn’t always that easy. 

At first, her family upheld the traditional cisgender roles that forced her to dress more feminine, but she always wanted to dress like her cousins and her tíos. 

“Now, I’m like: ‘Fuck that!’ I’m going to wear the chalecos and the Chalino suits,” she said in Span-glish. 

The Chalino suits are traditional, Mexican, suits that were worn and popularized by Chalino Sanchez, known as the King of corridos—a genre of music that is said to have originated on the border region of Texas, Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, Mexico.

“It felt good to break into the DJ scene, but what I always noticed was that the lesbian culture was always lacking,” said DJ Lady Soul. “I would mainly see gay males at parties and a lot of male DJs.”

According to Zippia–a career site that sources their information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics and the U.S. Census–23.5 percent of disc jockeys are women, 16 percent are LGBTQ+ and only 12.7 percent are Hispanic or Latin American. 

What has always been a traditionally machista music genre and scene, is now being embraced by a growing number of queer women and non-male DJs in Los Angeles.

For Fran Fregoso, who goes by DJ French, 33, (they/she), Taurus– embracing their cultural identity came a lot easier because of their late uncle who sort of paved the way for them to come out as queer and be more accepted than he was as the first openly out queer person in their family. 

Their music journey began listening to the 90s grunge, alternative, hip-hop and metal music played by their older siblings at home. 

“Then I met Vanessa [DJ Killed By Synth], and she introduced me to the industry,” said DJ French. 

DJ French felt the acceptance and support to enter this music space and decided to embrace their cultural roots by playing music that they grew up listening to at family parties. They booked their first gig with Cumbiatón LA, a collective of DJs and organizers who host Latin American parties across Los Angeles, often centering queer DJs and other performers.

“When [Lady Soul and Killed By Synth], brought this idea up to create Butchona, I was like: ‘Oh, I’m in 100 percent’,” they said. “Because I love playing corridos and banda music because that’s a core memory from my childhood and family parties.”

Banda, corridos, cumbias and other traditional music is a big part of Mexican culture, even as gendered and male-centered as it has been, it is embraced by all. 

“I know a lot of people in our queer, Latino, community love that music too, but they also want to be in a safe space,” they said. “That’s where we decided to make an environment for our community to dance and be themselves.” 

Vanessa Bueno, 40, (she/her), Libra, who goes by DJ Killed By Synth, says her journey started about 20 years ago when she started DJing for backyard parties in East L.A. and across L.A. County. 

Her family is from Guadalajara, so she says that growing up she also had a lot of family parties with corridos and banda blaring in the background of memories with the many cousins she says she lost count of. 

“A lot of the music we heard was bachata, banda, cumbia and even some 80s freestyle,” said Bueno.

Even while she had a ‘little punk rocker phase,’ she says she couldn’t escape that Spanish music her family played ritualistically at family get-togethers. 

When they began their music journey–back in the AOL, Instant Messenger days, they played a lot more electronic music, hence the name Killed by Synth. At first, it was just a username, but then it became her DJ name. 

“Later down the line, comes [the idea for] Butchona came about, and me, Rocio and French collaborated,” she said. “It’s kind of always been my goal to create these safe spaces for women and queer people, and I had been in the scene long enough to where people were willing to answer my calls to work with them to make it happen.”

For Bueno, it was natural for her to build community and embrace this part of their culture later on in her career when she saw a need for queer, Latin American-centered club spaces with family party vibes. 

She started hosting Latin American-style parties, blending music, culture, and food and attracting the exact audience she envisioned. With these events, Bueno aimed to reclaim her Mexican identity and foster a sense of family and community at these events. 

“We’re here to build a safe space to embrace the music and kind of not think about the machismo that is tied to it and celebrate who we are,” said Bueno. 

According to the U.S. Department of Labor and Statistics, California, Texas, New York, Arizona and Washington rank the highest in employment rates for disc jockeys in 2023. There is also a recent trend in more women DJs–the study does not include gender nonconforming DJs–booking twice as many gigs as men in event spaces and concerts that host DJ sets. 

“It feels like we’re barely cracking into these safe spaces and expanding our horizons a little bit,” said DJ French. “I hope this inspires other people to also create safe spaces like Butchona.” 

The next Butchona event will be on Sunday, Oct. 27 and will feature all three DJs playing corridos, banda, cumbia and all the classics, for a chunti Halloween party. 

LGBTQ+ leaders will gather on Monday, Oct 28 at the historic St.Thomas the Apostle Church in Hollywood, for a community town hall and panel discussion in support of Proposition 3. The gathering will feature a panel with community leaders who will explain the importance of voting on this proposition, with a reception to follow the discussion.  

The event is being hosted in collaboration with CALÓ News, a local nonprofit newsroom that covers Latinx issues across Los Angeles, and the Yes on Prop 3 campaign team. Los Angeles Blade will be using this opportunity to formally announce their new collaboration with CALÓ News with the addition of new Local News Editor, Gisselle Palomera.

The event begins at 7PM, starting with the town hall and panel discussion moderated by Palomera. Community leaders from the American Civil Liberties Union, Equality California, Trans Latin@ Coalition and the Gender and Reproductive Justice Project, will join Palomera on stage.

Proposition 3, also known as the Right to Marry and Repeal Proposition 8 Amendment and it aims to cement same-sex and interracial marriage equality in the California Costitution, which still only uses language that recognizes marriage can only be between a man and a woman. 

To read more about Prop 3 ahead of the discussion, click here. To RSVP for the in-person community town hall event, click here.