To produce and support activities that educate, encourage and celebrate Pride, inclusion, and respect for humanity.
Judi, Marilyn and Bob.
They started Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride in October 1983. Thirty years later they led the parade as its Grand Marshals, and the city gave each of them a key. Bob kept volunteering every single year; in November 2023 the city he helped change gave him a farewell salute down Broadway.
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In memoriam
Judith “Judi” Doyle
Aug 18, 1943 – Feb 8, 2022
A family therapist who served as our first president. In 1985 she marched in a bulletproof vest after a death threat, and she worked with the ACLU to change the insurance requirements placed on the event.
Honors
- 2013 Parade Grand Marshal and Key to the City
- Equality Park Memorial Wall, 2015
- The parade’s Judith Doyle Community Grand Marshal award carries her name
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In memoriam
Marilyn Barlow
Died 2015, age 78
She met Bob Crow at the Executive Suite, the Pacific Coast Highway bar where the idea took shape, and stayed with Pride for decades as a founder and emeritus member.
Honors
- 2013 Parade Grand Marshal and Key to the City
- The parade’s Marilyn Barlow Community Grand Marshal award carries her name
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In memoriam
Robert “Bob” Crow
Aug 29, 1945 – Sept 29, 2023
Born in Alabama, he proposed a Pride parade while working at the Executive Suite and recruited Judi and Marilyn. The last surviving founder, he served for four decades.
Honors
- 2013 Parade Grand Marshal and Key to the City
- 2018 Person of the Year, Consolidated Association of Pride
- A farewell salute on the Pride float, November 11, 2023
Every board since has inherited your table. We strive to keep adding chairs, and setting the table for our community. Thank you for everything you did for us.
The Board of Directors of Long Beach Pride
A letter to our founders
To Judi, Marilyn and Bob,
You started this at a table with three chairs. You wanted a Long Beach where gay and lesbian people could stand in the sun, together, and be seen. About five thousand people came out to Palm Island that first June.
We’re still here. The festival moved to Marina Green. The parade runs down Ocean Boulevard. Teenagers have a Pride of their own now, and so do the elders who marched first. The flag has more colors in it than it did in 1984, and every one of them is welcome here.
This year tested us. The gates didn’t open in May. We are rebuilding anyway, because that is what you taught us to do.
The Board of Directors of Long Beach Pride, 2026–27
Forty-three years on the shore.
Every Pride has had a theme, a headliner and a story worth telling. Here is all of it, from our archive and our own press releases.
Read the archive-
1983–1989
Beginnings
A table, a banner, and a community ready to be seen.
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1983: Established
In October, Judi Doyle, Marilyn Barlow and Robert “Bob” Crow hold the first meeting of Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride, Inc. at the Executive Suite.
More about 1983
The goal, in the board’s words: to raise awareness, promote Pride and a greater sense of self-worth, and get a divided community working together.
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1984: The first Pride
Five thousand people come to the first festival and parade: two days at Palm Island, the last weekend of June.
More about 1984
Articles of incorporation had been filed that March.
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1985: Alive with Pride in ’85
The festival outgrows Palm Island and expands to Shoreline Aquatic Park.
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1986: Forward Together
Eartha Kitt is booked to headline. She never shows. The crowd dances anyway.
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1987: Proud, Strong & United
Sylvester headlines. The Grand Marshal is “No on Prop 64,” after voters reject putting AIDS back on the list of communicable diseases, 71% to 29%.
More about 1987
Long Beach joins San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Christopher Street West in founding the California Association of Pride.
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1988: Rightfully Proud
Members travel to Washington, D.C. for the March on Washington.
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1989: Stonewall 20
Twenty years after the Stonewall uprising, Long Beach celebrates the start of the modern gay rights movement.
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1990–1999
Growing up
Through the plague years to the fourth-largest Pride in America.
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1990: Look to the Future
Grand Marshal Dr. Virginia Uribe, who founded Project 10 in LAUSD to support LGBT youth and prevent drop-outs.
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1991: Together in Pride
The AIDS Memorial Quilt is displayed aboard the Queen Mary.
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1992: Pride Equals Power
Workplace protections for sexual orientation become a statewide conversation in California. A version becomes law a year later.
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1993: A Decade of Pride
Now the fourth-largest Pride in the U.S., we set aside $300,000 for community grants.
More about 1993
Long Beach Pride was the first nonprofit in the city to award grants and scholarships from its event proceeds.
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1994: Stonewall 25: A Global Celebration of Protest and Pride
The theme marks 25 years since Stonewall, a milestone Pride organizations celebrate around the world.
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1995: Pride, From Silence to Celebration
Beverly O’Neill is elected Mayor of Long Beach. Membership grows to 24.
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1996: Pride Without Borders
Grand Marshal Candace Gingrich, activist and advocate.
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1997: Power, Progress, Pride
The festival moves from Shoreline Aquatic Park to Marina Green. It has lived there ever since.
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1998: 15 Years of Unity Through Diversity
The festival grows into Rainbow Lagoon, beside the Hyatt and the Arena, and Fiesta Caliente, our Latin stage, debuts.
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1999: A Prideful Past, A Powerful Future
Grand Marshal Sheila Kuehl, the openly lesbian Assemblywoman and former child actor.
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2000–2009
Going big
A mile-long festival, a home on Obispo, and a stage for everyone.
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2000: Take Pride, Joy, and Action
Little Richard and RuPaul headline.
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2001: Embrace Diversity
The Village People and Joan Jett. The site stretches a mile along the shore, billed as the longest Pride festival site in the world.
More about 2001
Long Beach Pride moves into its headquarters at 1017 Obispo Avenue.
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2002: Pride at Home… Pride Worldwide
Grand Marshal Morris Kight, co-founder of the Christopher Street West parade that marched on Hollywood Boulevard in 1970.
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2003: Peace Through Pride
Grand Marshal Gloria Allred. Pat Benatar and Chaka Khan headline.
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2004: Coming of Age: 21 Years of Pride
Grand Marshal Assemblymember Alan Lowenthal. Eddie Money, Tiffany and Sheena Easton headline.
More about 2004
Patti LaBelle opens the first Friday night concert.
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2005: Equal Rights – No More, No Less
Grand Marshal Mayor Beverly O’Neill. Macy Gray, RuPaul, Kimberly Locke and Jai Rodriguez headline.
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2006: I Am. I Belong
Mya, Morris Day and The Time, and India.Arie.
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2007: Harmony in Colors
Sophie B. Hawkins, the Indigo Girls and Jennifer Hudson, whose crowd is so big we borrow grandstands from the Grand Prix.
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2008: I Am What I Am
Our 25th year. Sheena Easton, The Bangles and KC & The Sunshine Band.
More about 2008
Fiesta Caliente brings Kat DeLuna and Ivy Queen.
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2009: Your Rights, Our Rights, Human Rights
Grand Marshal Gavin Newsom, then Mayor of San Francisco. A 4.7 earthquake hits at 3:34 p.m. Sunday. The party goes on.
More about 2009
New uniforms, a new mission statement and a new logo.
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2010–2019
Coming of age
Hosting the world, honoring the founders, opening new zones.
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2010: One Heart, One World, One Pride
Long Beach hosts the 28th InterPride conference. A Flock of Seagulls and Allison Iraheta perform.
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2011: Pride Around the World
Thelma Houston, Taylor Dayne and Maxine Nightingale.
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2012: Pride Links Us Together
Queen Latifah and the Village People headline.
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2013: 30 Years Proud
Our Grand Marshals are our founders: Bob Crow, Judi Doyle and Marilyn Barlow. Fantasia headlines.
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2014: Reflections of Pride
Grand Marshal Ross Mathews. Kelly Rowland and CeCe Peniston headline.
More about 2014
Membership grows to 34.
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2015: Color Our World with Pride
Grand Marshal honoree Mayor Robert Garcia. Salt-N-Pepa on the main stage.
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2016: Solidarity Through Pride
Grand Marshal Thelma Houston. Neon Trees headlines.
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2017: Viva La Vida – Here’s to Life
Lisa Vanderpump and Senator Ricardo Lara are Grand Marshals; Chaka Khan and Jody Watley headline.
More about 2017
Lara helps create a Sister-Pride with Sydney, Australia. Fiesta Caliente turns 20, and the festival pauses to honor the 49 lives taken at Pulse in Orlando.
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2018: 35 Years: Remember the Past, Create the Future
Alexandra Billings is Celebrity Grand Marshal and Sheila E. plays the main stage. The Senior Fun Zone opens.
More about 2018
Co-founder Bob Crow is named Person of the Year by the Consolidated Association of Pride.
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2019: Millions of Moments of Pride
Long Beach native Delta Work is Parade Grand Marshal. Big Freedia headlines.
More about 2019
Carlos Sosa wins the art contest for the official logo.
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2020–2026
Reinvention
A new name, a pandemic, a comeback, and a year that tested everything.
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2020: A new name
After 36 years, Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride becomes Long Beach Pride. Weeks later, COVID-19 postpones the festival.
More about 2020
The new name and logo came with a promise to hold space for the whole LGBTQ+ community.
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2021: Pride online
A second year without the shore: a retrospective show online on May 16, and a promise to come back.
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2022: Many Voices, One Spirit
Back on the shore in July, with Iggy Azalea, Natalia Jiménez and Paulina Rubio.
More about 2022
A first-ever roller rink, and domes for drag, dance, silent disco and trans history.
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2023: Forty years
The 40th annual celebration in August, with Mya and Laura León.
More about 2023
In November, the community gives Bob Crow a farewell salute: a Pride float ride from Bixby Park down Broadway to Harvey Milk Promenade Park.
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2024: The Rhythm of the Rainbow
Saucy Santana and Ivy Queen headline. The free parade streams live on NBC4 and Telemundo 52.
More about 2024
The first Diversity Job Fair opens with the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach, and in November the transgender flag rises at City Hall.
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2025: The Power of Community
Community over celebrity: HYM the Rapper, Tori Kay and Jewels’ drag extravaganza on the Founder’s Stage.
More about 2025
A news audience of more than 757 million. That fall, Playa Pooch Fest takes Pride to the dog beach.
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2026: Fearless and Free
The theme celebrates living openly and without fear. The festival didn’t open in May, and we own that.
Read the full timeline, 2026More about 2026
The board published a full timeline of what happened, a new president took office, and we are planning 2027 earlier, with Pride every month of the year in between.
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Public, and accountable.
Long Beach Pride is the public name of Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride, Inc., a California nonprofit public benefit corporation founded in 1983 and recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity, EIN 33-0040651. It is run by an all-volunteer board.
Headquarters: 1017 Obispo Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90804. Governance follows our bylaws, most recently revised in July 2026. Our tax filings are public on ProPublica (opens in a new tab) and Candid (opens in a new tab).
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Sequins on Ocean Boulevard, golden hour on the Green and every LBCPride365 moment in between. Tag @lbpride in your Pride photos and you might just land in our feed.
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