LA Council Removes “No U-Turn” Signs Because They’re Oppressing The LGBTQ Community

I know what you’re thinking, and yes this is real.

Not satire or clickbait.

Members of the Los Angeles City Council celebrated on Friday after taking down some “No U-Turn” traffic signs.

The reason?

Homophobia.

Again, this is no joke.

See for yourself in this clips going viral on social media:

BREAKING: LA City Council members have removed "No U-Turn" traffic signs in a gay neighborhood.

They say the signs were homophobic.

No, this is not satire. pic.twitter.com/yadflyo588

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 14, 2024

🚨NEW RULES… U-turn signs are now homophobic. pic.twitter.com/D2TFlvKayv

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) June 14, 2024

LA just took down “No U-Turn” signs because they’re homophobic.

Just in case you needed more proof California has lost its mind.pic.twitter.com/6SCfR0xPWW

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) June 14, 2024

And, here’s the full video on Youtube:

Apparently the signs, which read “No cruising. No U-turns. Midnight to 6 am” were originally put up in the ’90s.

The Los Angeles Times reported they were intended to stop gay men from cruising around looking for late-night hookups:

At first glance, the signs are innocuous, simply directing traffic on the road. But longtime queer residents of Silver Lake knew they were a symbol of the neighborhood’s darker past.

Messages like, “No cruising. No U-turns. Midnight to 6 am” were posted around the neighborhood in 1997, with the intent to curb gay men from roaming the streets to hook up.

For years the signs remained, even as the city’s leadership changed and the community grew — until this week. In a celebration with LGBTQ community members, District 4 Councilmember Nithya Raman and District 13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez retired the signs on Monday.

“Los Angeles has a rich history of welcoming the LGBTQIA+ community, but there has also been real and present homophobia— which at times has been inscribed into the city’s physical spaces, as with these no-U-turn signs,” Raman said in a statement.

In the late 90s, when the internet was still new and gay dating apps such as Grindr did not exist, queer men sometimes relied on printed guidebooks that listed public areas where they could find love, sex and community without outing themselves. Among those areas was West Hollywood, where anti-gay traffic signs similar to the ones removed Monday were installed in 1991 and later removed — and Griffith Park Boulevard in Silver Lake, where Soto-Martinez and Raman’s districts now meet. The area is also where more than half a dozen bars, all within a 2-mile radius, serve a thriving queer clientele between East Hollywood and Silver Lake.

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Los Angeles Daily News added:

About 27 years after “No U-turn” signs were posted along Griffith Park Boulevard in Silver Lake in an attempt to keep gay men from cruising the neighborhood to pick up other gay men, members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community joined two Los Angeles city councilmembers on Monday, June 10, as they took down the last two remaining “No U-turn” signs that were put up in the 1990s.

The removal of the signs took place at Griffith Park Boulevard and Fernwood Avenue, which straddles Los Angeles City Council Districts 4 and 13.

Getting rid of the signs was long overdue for many, including Donovan Daughtry, a gay man who five years ago moved to Silver Lake, known as being LGBTQ-friendly.

Two years ago, Daughtry reached out to L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman’s office about the signs after learning about them from a podcast hosted by Chris Cruse, founder of queermaps.org, an online archive of 150 years of queer history in L.A. On Monday, moments after he helped take down the last sign, Daughtry said, “This is a small effort, but just to have a sign that I would have to walk past with my dog every day be taken down meant a lot.”

Before the signs came down, city elected officials and community members gathered nearby at the AT Center, a recovery and wellness center for the LGBTQ+ community, to mark the occasion with speeches and performances.

This is California, folks — Liberal capital of the world.

Where you might step in a homeless person’s feces or come across some discarded needles on the streets…but you won’t find any homophobic traffic signs!

i stepped in homeless human shit in my front yard last week but at least we got rid of the homophobic traffic signs. https://t.co/IGhCQu34CC

— Mike Majlak (@mikemajlak) June 15, 2024

What’s next?

Racist stop signs?

You truly cannot even parody these psychos anymore. Their descent into madness is too fast for the satirist to stay in front of. https://t.co/SgpiF06YK3

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 14, 2024