Beachcomber Looks Back on 40 Years of Long Beach Pride

Our 40th anniversary in 2023 gave a lot of people a reason to look back, and the Beachcomber did it with care. In a story published Aug. 11, 2023, Long Beach resident and veteran business reporter Jon LeSage traced Long Beach Pride from a single meeting in October 1983 to that summer’s festival on the shore.

The piece starts where we started. Founders Judi Doyle, Marilyn Barlow and Robert Crow met at the Executive Suite for the first meeting of Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride, Inc., formed a board and set out a mission: to raise awareness, build pride and self-worth, and encourage respect and understanding between the gay and lesbian community and the rest of Long Beach. The first festival and parade followed in June 1984.

At the heart of it all is love. Love for who we are, love for each other, and love for our community.

Narrator of a Long Beach Pride video, as quoted by the Beachcomber

Four Decades of Milestones

LeSage pulled together a timeline that reads like a family album. Sylvester headlined the main stage in 1987. In 1990 the grand marshal was Dr. Virginia Uribe, the educator who founded Project 10 to support LGBTQ+ students in Los Angeles schools. In 1991 the AIDS Memorial Quilt was displayed aboard the Queen Mary.

The festival moved from Shoreline Aquatic Park to Marina Green Park in 1997, and a year later grew into Rainbow Lagoon with the debut of the Fiesta Caliente Stage. In 2001 the Village People and Joan Jett headlined on a site billed as a mile long. Salt N Pepa took the main stage in 2015, and 2022 brought a first ever roller skating rink and a Transcendence History Dome.

For 2023, the Beachcomber described an Aug. 4 to 6 weekend with three stages, more than 150 arts and crafts vendors, Teen Pride on Friday and music from Mya, Laura Leon, La Diva Lucia Mendez and Edith Marquez. The story also noted that we are an all-volunteer nonprofit and the third largest Pride festival and parade in California, with a goal of teaching future generations

that the battle for acceptance continues

Long Beach Pride, as quoted by the Beachcomber

We are grateful to see our founders named and our history told in a local paper. Every name on that timeline belongs to the people who keep showing up for this city.

Read the full story at Beachcomber.