Signal Tribune Profiles the 2015 Long Beach Pride Grand Marshals

On the eve of the 32nd Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Parade and Festival in May 2015, the Signal Tribune introduced readers to the people chosen to lead the parade down Ocean Boulevard. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia served as grand marshal, joined by eight honorees whose stories reflect the breadth of our community.

Angela Madsen, the first paraplegic woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean, was named the Marilyn Barlow Grand Marshal honoree. Bamby Salcedo, president and founder of The Trans Latina Coalition, was honored as the Judith Doyle Grand Marshal. Dr. Cassandra Richards, principal of Willard Elementary School, was the Whitey Littlefield Community Bridge Builder Grand Marshal honoree.

The list continued with Lynwood Mayor José Luis Solache as the Morris Kight Political Grand Marshal and TV personality and singer Chiquis Rivera as the Special Recognition Grand Marshal honoree. Robert VanBeveran and Leonard Sinatra were named the Bob Crow Community Grand Marshal honorees. And Victor Espinoza, a graduating senior from Wilson High School who had been active in the LGBTQ+ community throughout high school, was selected as the Dr. Robert Garcia Youth Grand Marshal honoree.

Many of those honors carry the names of our founders and early leaders, so each year’s list is a way of connecting today’s community to the people who started this work in 1983.

On the Air and on the Route

The paper also named the parade announcers, a mix of local community leaders and drag performers including Jewels, Mark “Markie” Magdaleno, Ron Sylvester, Wendy Morales, Bella Farrow and Ms. Luna. Sylvester hosted the television coverage that year.

The parade is a great representation of our diverse LGBTQ community, and I’m thrilled to lend my knowledge of the community to help make for a more informative and entertaining broadcast.

Ron Sylvester, as quoted by the Signal Tribune

According to the Signal Tribune, parade day opened at 8 a.m. with the Shoreline Front Runners Pride Run along the beach path, followed by free pre-parade entertainment at parade central and a 10:30 a.m. step-off with more than 150 entries. Salt-N-Pepa and Patti LaBelle headlined the festival main stage that weekend.

We are grateful to every honoree who stood with us in 2015, and to the Signal Tribune for telling their stories.

Read the full story at Signal Tribune.