Long Beach has a thriving LGBTQ+ community. From the outside looking in, this is the ideal place to live for anyone in the gay community.  

Identical twins Kyro and Monalise Rose Davis, say those pleasantries often do not extend to the Black LGBTQ+ community. They say the politicians in Long Beach have neglected to address the needs of their community—but those feelings of abandonment extend far beyond politics.  

The twins say they started a group called “Lesbians Are Life” to make sure people in their community had a place to go to learn about resources, and express their frustrations about the lack of acceptance they feel from the heterosexual Black community.  

We learn more about their experiences on this week’s “The Word.”

If you would like to take part in the “Lesbians Are Life” social group, you can find out more but visiting the LB GRRRL Collective on their Instagram.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the Kyro and Monalise Rose Davis’s preferred language to describe their gender.