![]() “Long Beach,” Richardson said in his tweet, “is committed to celebrating the dignity and resilience of the LGBTQIA+ residents and families that call our city home.” Long Beach has long served as a bastion for the LGBTQ community, with its 40th annual, weekend-long Pride Parade and Festival set to return this August. Health and Human Services Secretary - and former California Attorney General - Xavier Becerra joined Mayor Rex Richardson, several members of the City Council, and other local officials to lift their Pride flag and kick off the monthlong occasion on Thursday. LGBTQ folks, meanwhile, have long fought back against the violence - with Pride Month serving as a critical platform for LGBTQ folks to celebrate their community and push back against the rise in anti-LGBTQ sentiment.Īnd in Los Angeles County, multiple cities support Pride Month. And more recently, the Los Angeles Police Department launched an investigation into the burning of a pride flag at a North Hollywood elementary school - where parents had spoken out against a Pride-themed school assembly - as a hate crime. Last year, a two Torrance business were repeatedly targeted by an unknown assailant for displaying Pride flags on their property. ![]() Attacks on members of the LGBTQ population based on sexual orientation rose 50% that year. Since January alone, 11 transgender and gender-nonconforming people have been killed by violent means - the majority of whom were Black trans women.Ĭalifornia isn’t immune to the crisis: Hate crimes driven by homophobia and racism resulted in a 33% surge in reported incidents in 2021, according to a report released by the state Attorney General’s office last year. Hate crimes are also on the rise, according to HRC. “There have been more anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in state houses this year than in each of the previous five years,” the HRC said, “with the increase in LGBTQ erasure bills - bills that strip away dozens of legal protections and rights for LGBTQ+ people - coming as the newest form of attacks on the community.” The majority of those specifically target trans kids by banning gender-affirming health care, allowing or requiring educators to misgender trans students, targeting drag performances in public spaces, and censoring school curriculum - including books. In 2023 alone, for example, more than 520 anti-gay and trans bills have been introduced in statehouses across the country - largely led by extremist lawmakers and hate groups - a record number, nearly doubling last year’s count of 315 last year.Ībout 70 of those have already been made law, according to the Human Rights Campaign, another one-year record. The reason is the political maneuvering and physical violence against the LGBTQ community that has gained momentum in the U.S. But over the last few years, Pride’s founding principle - defiance - has been making its way back to the forefront of the monthlong occasion. As the popularity of Pride events grew over the decades, they also became commercialized. Pride has been celebrated every June since then. The LGBTQ community, after all, has faced an onslaught of anti-gay and anti-transgender legislation and sentiment throughout the United States in recent years. It’s also, in a way, an act of defiance against those seeking to limit that freedom - which has become particularly resonant of late. It’s a celebration of the community’s freedom to live openly regardless of gender or sexual identity. LGBTQ Pride Month takes place nationally each June. “It was a powerful moment of unity and solidarity.” ![]() “Today, we raised the Pride Flag at City Hall to kick off (Pride Month) and celebrate our diverse and vibrant LGBTQIA+ community,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in a tweet. Redondo Beach is set to host its Pride flag raising on Tuesday San Pedro will do so on June 17. The ceremonies in those cities came on the same day Los Angeles County officials raised a Pride flag at their headquarters for the first time. Long Beach and Hermosa Beach kicked off LGBTQ Pride Month on Thursday, June 1, by raising rainbow flags in front of their city halls - with multiple other nearby communities set to do so in the coming weeks.īoth Long Beach and Hermosa raised Progress Pride flags, which have additonal colors to represent trans and non-binary folks and people of color. ![]()
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