Photo courtesy of LBGLP.
Businesswoman, TV personality, philanthropist and LGBT advocate Lisa Vanderpump will be joining the 34th Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride as the 2017 Celebrity Parade Grand Marshal, officials announced Monday.
Globally known for her role on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and for executive producing Vanderpump Rules, Vanderpump and her husband Ken Todd are longstanding allies of the LGBT community.
In 2015, Vanderpump received the Ally Leadership Award from Equality California, an LGBT rights organization.
As a spokesperson for GLAAD, an LGBT media advocacy group, Vanderpump has brought social activism to millions of viewers. She also works with the Desert AIDS project, The Trevor Project and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, which helps homeless LGBT youth.
“Thank you Long Beach Pride,” Vanderpump said in a statement. “It is an honor to be recognized by a community that you love so dearly that they are embedded in your heart. Together we have passed several milestones but we are not finished yet and I plan on being here every step of the way.”
Originally from London, England, Vanderpump owns 26 restaurants, bars and clubs across the world with Todd, including SUR, PUMP and Villa Blanca in the Los Angeles area.
In addition to her work with LGBT groups, Vanderpump is an animal rights activist and organized a protest march against the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in October 2015.
Beginning in 2009, The Yulin Dog Meat Festival is an annual celebration during the summer solstice in southern China, where thousands of dogs are killed and consumed by festival goers who believe eating dog meat will keep off the heat of summer, according to Vanderpump’s website StopYulinForever.org.
In hopes of stopping the festival, Vanderpump’s peaceful protest marched from MacArthur Park to the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles. She also started the Vanderpump Dog Foundation, which works to end animal abuse around the world and recently opened its first rescue and adoption center.
The 34th annual Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Festival will begin Saturday, May 20 and the Lesbian & Gay Pride Parade will begin 10:30AM Sunday, May 21 at Ocean Boulevard and Lindero Avenue.
For more information on the festival, click here.