Mayor Bob Foster joined other leaders and dignitaries from both the City and LGBT community on the lawn of the Long Beach Museum of Art this past Friday to address the upcoming Pride celebration as well the gay community at large. Sponsored by both the Long Beach Pride organization as well as The Center Long Beach, the overall aura of the evening was one of optimism and, of course, pride.
Foster — as well as Long Beach Pride Co-President Pat Crosby and Center Board Member Raúl Añorve — was not hesitant in recognizing the recent support of marriage equality by President Barrack Obama. “I thank President Obama from the bottom of my heart,” he said. “[These are] just people trying to live good lives, trying to achieve the same joys and perils that everyone else has. This is simple human dignity and I’m so glad that he did this. Congratulations.”
The evening was rather quick and to the point, with Foster’s short speech ending with gratitude extended towards the event’s sponsors as well as the blessing of living in Long Beach. “I want to extend a big thank you to Long Beach Pride and The Center. I’m honored to collaborate with them. They are outstanding organizations. This is a great week and culminates with the Pride Parade. We’re going to have 80,000 people from all over the country and from all over the world celebrating with us in Long Beach. And we have a lot to celebrate this year.”
The Long Beach Pride celebration — the second only to the Grand Prix in size and revenue — brings in some 75,000 revelers of all sexual orientations and backgrounds to celebrate the diversity of life every May. The event is one of the largest money makers in Long Beach, bringing in an estimated $10 million into the city each year. For the first time in its 29-year history, Pride’s festival will be headlined by a hip-hop artist — that being none other than Queen Latifah, who will be performing a 90-minute set this Saturday, May 19.