Hundreds of spectators gathered along Ocean Boulevard dressed in rainbows, dresses and shirts, waving and waving as the Long Beach Pride parade rolled around Sunday morning.
Mayor Rex Richardson, wearing a rainbow lei and carrying a Pride flag, marched down the street with presidential candidate Xavier Becerra as Bad Bunny’s “BAILE INOLVIDABLE” blared.
“Long Beach Pride in the house,” Richardson said in the opening. “Thank you very much for coming out, you have maintained this tradition for 43 years.”
But this year felt different, after the Long Beach Pride Festival was abruptly canceled hours before it started.
City officials said this year’s cancellation was due to unresolved safety and permit issues, and organizers of Long Beach Pride, the nonprofit that organizes the festival, said they worked diligently to resolve them. The disruption comes at a time of renewed national conflict over LGBTQ rights and visibility, giving the absence of the ceremony a greater emotional and political feel.
Long Beach, CA – May 17: Rania Masci and Marlene Carbajal watch the 43rd Annual Long Beach Pride Parade, as it moves along Ocean Boulevard.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Debra “Deb” Kahookele, who is running for City Council, acknowledged that it is difficult to hold a large festival but said, “there are always compromises when it comes to certain things.”
“I feel like, there was absolutely no place to help?” asked Kahookele, who attended the show with his wife of 24 years. “At this moment in time, the community has been attacked in so many ways, so the last thing we needed was for a festival that everyone enjoyed to be canceled.”
“I feel like Long Beach has let people down,” he added.
Long Beach Pride, founded in October 1983, produced the first annual festival and parade the following year, during the AIDS crisis and an era when communities often organized under political indifference.
This year, the event was supposed to end with a weekend of music, art and food at Marina Green Park. Then, news broke that although the show would go on as planned, the festival would not.
The city said it made repeated efforts to work with the organization and issue a permit for the event, but ultimately failed to receive the necessary information.
A person raises a rainbow flag in front of motorcyclists participating in the 43rd annual Long Beach Pride Parade on Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“Out of responsibility for the safety of event attendees, staff and the public at large, the city is unable to issue a permit and order the event organizers not to proceed with their event,” the city said in a news release Friday.
Joey Velez, 48, and his partner, Nathan Sliwa, 33, both drove from Oakland on Thursday to celebrate Pride in Long Beach. The next evening they found out that the festival had been cancelled.
“We weren’t happy. It just kind of sucked — we went straight for this,” said Velez, who was wearing a shirt that read “He /// Him /// Daddy.” It would be the second time he attended the festival.
Velez expressed dismay at the city’s decision.
“The political climate we’re in right now, the last thing we should do is cancel Pride, especially in a liberal city like Long Beach,” Velez said. “That’s the last thing you’d expect. Maybe there were some things that happened where the festival itself didn’t seem to belong and went overboard, but in the political climate we’re in right now, Long Beach should have talked about that and said, ‘We need to make this happen, it’s very important to us to keep this going.’
“It sends a message that the city doesn’t value pride,” said Sliwa, a former Long Beach resident.
Tonya Martin, who is the president of Long Beach Pride, said she was very disappointed with the city’s decision to cancel the event.
“At a time when our community is under scrutiny and at risk, Long Beach must do more to protect and lift us up, without taking away any of our city’s visible and audible expressions of inclusion,” he said in a statement Friday evening.
Around 12:30 pm, people began to gather in Bixby Park, where the city had organized its own free event called “Cancelled? I Didn’t Hear About Him!”
Max Arvin leads the way for LA CADA in the 43rd Annual Long Beach Pride Parade, on Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
People danced to Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out” and kept cool with rainbow fans.
“Welcome to Bixby Park, home of the backyard party,” the speaker told the crowd. “We will have a party that will never happen like this.”
Signs of discontent were present at the show. Jess Shaw, who uses their pronouns, wore a black shirt that read “No one can cancel pride; it comes from within.”
The Orange County resident, 35, said they found out about the cancellation of the festival when they went to a movie night with friends on Friday and said the next day they felt very heavy.
Shaw said they first attended the festival around 2009, “when I was still gay. Shaw said they had skated with their roller derby team at the show.
“It makes no sense to me,” Shaw said. “This has always felt like the best in our area.”
Shaw cited the festival’s history, dating back to the ’80s, and its rise to the AIDS crisis, when misinformation was being spread.
“This is public health, and public health issues at a time like this,” said Shaw, who marched in the parade with Mommabear & Friends, an Orange County nonprofit.
Shaw said people are blaming Long Beach Pride, but they should “wait for their side.”
“To me, it’s funny that everyone says you’ve lost pride. Pride is a feeling…,” Shaw said. “You can’t cancel that. Whatever happens, that’s within me, and we can share that with each other in places like this.”
Annette Aguilar and Daisy Dukes at the 43rd Annual Long Beach Pride Parade, on Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach, CA on Sunday, May 17, 2026.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
