Annual Pride Parade in Long Beach moves under city's control

Long Beach will host and fund the city's popular annual Pride Parade this spring — the first time in the LGBTQ+ celebration's four-decade history that it will be under municipal control.

The city announced that it would take over the parade on Monday, a month after officials agreed to look into helping maintain the event. Long Beach Pride, the nonprofit that has organized every previous parade and celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, asked the city for financial help in January as it works to restructure.

Long Beach Pride has been beset by several challenges in recent years. Among those were the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the annual Pride celebrations to go virtual for two years, and the death of several of its members — including co-founder Bob Crow, who died in September. The quicker turnaround, with the parade returning to May after taking place in August last year, was another obstacle.

“As a city that proudly stands for equality and inclusion, we have long been a supporter of our vibrant LGBTQ+ community,” Mayor Rex Rich