Bow Down — Lisa Vanderpump Is Basically the Patron Saint of Pride
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills restaurateur has made LGBTQ+ rights her passion — let's recap.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Lisa Vanderpump kicked off this year's Pride Month by working with The Trevor Project on a Public Service Announcement about suicide — but that’s just one small thing for Lisa, whose passion for LGBTQ+ rights has been a theme throughout her life. We've even seen it on Vanderpump Rules, of course, where every season, Pride Month plays a big role.
She's also an equal opportunity employer, making sure her restaurant staff is filled with LGTBQ+ people and vocalizing her support for those who identify as anything outside of straight.
Every season Lisa gets her Pride on with a very special — and colorful — Pride day outfit, topped with a huge hat, of course.
In Season 1, even though it's just the start of the SURvers and all their conflicts, Lisa made sure to dedicate an episode to a West Hollywood Gay Pride event, giving us a hint of what was to come.
In Season 2, you know, back when Kristen Doute was sniffing around to see if Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix were really a thing, Lisa and the SUR staff again took part in the West Hollywood Gay Pride Parade.
Season 3, or the season of Jax Taylor’s nose job and Scheana Shay’s wedding to Mike Shay, featured Lisa dealing with a ton of staff drama as she also prepped for Pride.
In Season 4, when Tom Schwartz and Katie Maloney-Schwartz got engaged, Lisa threw that event, plus two huge parties for Pride.
The Season 5 episode called “Pride” was a tearjerker. It followed Lisa after the June 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, and a very real terrorist threat on West Hollywood. Lisa rallies to ride in the West Hollywood pride parade and throw a bash at SUR.
Season 6’s “It’s Not About the Pasta” episode was drama-filled for Lala Kent and James Kennedy, but Lisa still pulled off getting the West Hollywood community together for SUR's annual Gay Pride celebration.
In Season 7’s “Either Him Or Me,” Lisa still managed to pull off a Pride party even while James was out back behind SUR spiraling out of control. He body-shamed Katie then spent the rest of the season tearfully trying to get back to work as a DJ after Lisa fired him. Still, Pride was the theme.
In addition to her VPR Pride work, she's hosted a party for 50 gay mayors at PUMP.
In 2015, Lisa was a recipient of the Ally Leadership Award from Equality California, an LGBT rights organization. Two years later she addressed the Crowd at the Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Festival, saying: “Thank you, Long Beach Pride! It is an honor to be recognized by a community that you love so dearly that they are embedded in your heart. Together we have passed several milestones but we are not finished yet and I plan on being here every step of the way."
We believe it! (And we can' wait to see what happens at this year's L.A. Pride event on June 9.)
