Brad William Henke Joins the 2019 Long Beach Pride Parade

Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride is proud to partner with the Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce to welcome actor Brad William Henke to the 36th annual Long Beach Pride Parade on Sunday, May 19, 2019. He will ride with the Chamber down Ocean Boulevard.

Henke is best known in the LGBTQ+ community for playing prison guard Desi Piscatella on “Orange Is the New Black,” a role that earned him a share of the 2016 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Piscatella is the gay corrections officer at Litchfield Federal Penitentiary. The actor behind him is a big supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, and he is excited to be part of this year’s parade.

Since playing Piscatella on Orange is the New Black, I have been embraced by so many talented, sweet, and hardworking people from the … community and I have heard their heart wrenching experiences of inequality.

Brad William Henke

He also explained why he chose to ride with the Chamber: the month before, he said, the Chamber helped Long Beach become the first city in California to recognize LGBTQ+ certified businesses.

Henke joins a parade that marks the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. This year’s Grand Marshals include actress Kate Linder of “The Young and the Restless” and Long Beach native Delta Work, honored as the Marilyn Barlow Parade Grand Marshal.

More than 42,000 people line Ocean Boulevard each year to cheer on the performers and entries that support LGBTQ+ equality. Here is how the morning unfolds:

• 8 a.m.: The Shoreline Front Runners Pride Run starts on Junipero Avenue at Ocean Boulevard and follows the beach path.
• 9:30 a.m.: The Pre-Parade Show begins at the Parade Grandstand, on Ocean Boulevard between Cherry Avenue and Junipero Avenue.
• 10 a.m.: Cheer LA performs, with prize giveaways that include free festival tickets and T-shirts.
• 10:30 a.m.: The parade steps off at Ocean Boulevard and Lindero Avenue, travels west on Ocean and ends at the curve on Alamitos Avenue.

Our commentators, Jewels, LaDawn Best, Cory Allen, Mia Farrow and Missy Vee, will be calling the action from the step-off, the grandstand and the curve.

Ocean Boulevard closes early on parade morning, starting at 5 a.m. between Redondo and Lindero avenues, so plan to arrive early. When the Chamber’s entry rolls by, give Henke a wave. For more information, visit longbeachpride.com.