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L.A. County Supervisors Vote To Let Venice Beach Lifeguard Tower Keep Its Rainbow Colors

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted unanimously to allow a lifeguard tower in Venice Beach to keep its rainbow stripes.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl asked her colleagues to dedicate the tower at the end of Brooks Avenue as a memorial to the late Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl and a monument to represent LGBT equality.

"At a moment when human rights for many communities in this country are under threat, this dramatic artistic and political statement on Venice Beach offers people in Los Angeles a clear statement of inclusion," Kuehl said.

Almost 11,000 supporters signed an online petition to preserve the gay pride colors, which were painted on the tower to mark Venice Pride celebration and LGBT month in June.

"That's a very moving testament to how far Los Angeles has come toward achieving LGBT equality," Kuehl said.

Backers wore black T-shirts with an illustration of the rainbow-painted tower as they urged the board not to repaint it to match the other light blue towers that line county beaches.

Rosendahl was the first openly gay person on the Los Angeles City Council, where he served from 2005-2013.

He died at his home in Venice in March 2016 after a long battle with cancer.

In 1994, Kuehl became the first openly gay person elected to California's Legislature.

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