In a blow to the heart of Long Beach’s queer community, the City of Long Beach has announced it will not permit the Long Beach Pride festival to move forward this weekend. It marks the first time the festival will not happen in decades.
But, if there is a silver lining, the city-funded parade—taken from the local Pride organization after they could no longer fund it—will be moving forward as planned on Sunday.
The City of Long Beach says the cancellation of the festival component came down to one central issue: safety. The city could not permit an event expected to draw thousands of attendees without critical engineering, logistics, and emergency planning documents in place. According to the city, “sufficient information to safely permit the event has not been made available by the event organizers” despite “continued collaboration and multiple deadline notices… Out of responsibility to the safety of attendees, staff and the broader community, the City cannot issue the permit and has directed the event organizers to not continue their event.”
Officials stressed that the city’s concerns were not ideological nor directed at the LGBTQ+ community itself, noting that the city remains “proud to have an amazing Pride weekend,” with the parade and surrounding community celebrations still happening.
Long Beach Pride asks for “leadership” after festival canceled
“Long Beach Pride is deeply disappointed by the City’s decision to cancel the Long Beach Pride Festival,” said Long Beach Pride President Tonya Martin in a social media post. “This decision comes at a time when LGBTQ+ people are facing increased attacks across the country. In this moment, Long Beach should be doing more to protect, uplift, and stand with our community, not taking away one of the city’s most visible and meaningful celebrations of inclusion.”
The statement goes on to talk about the political climate, the encouragement for city leaders to “engage in good faith” with the organization, and “identify a path forward that preserves the festival and protects the community… At this moment, we need leadership. We need inclusion. We need the City to stand with Pride, not cancel it.”
There is no comment regarding the organization’s inability to get its paperwork in on time.
Extensions, failed paperwork, safety concerns: Why City of Long Beach had to have Long Beach Pride cancel its festival
Among the city’s biggest concerns were the festival’s stages and truss systems—the metal frameworks used to support lighting, sound, and staging equipment. According to officials, the city had still not received engineer-stamped plans verifying that the structures were safe to erect and use.
“The City did not receive the required documentation needed to complete safety reviews, inspect critical event infrastructure, such as the stage, electrical systems, and tent, and emergency exiting plans to ensure compliance with public safety standards,” they said in a statement. “With event programming scheduled to begin today, May 15 at 5PM with Teen Pride and essential information still outstanding, there is no longer sufficient time to safely permit the festival this year.”
Those engineering documents are non-negotiable for any large-scale public event. Officials explained that the plans must first be reviewed and stamped by a licensed engineer, then verified by city engineers, before inspectors can physically confirm the structures are being built according to approved specifications.
Compounding the issue, officials said several vendors associated with the festival reportedly withdrew because requirements had not been met, forcing organizers to seek replacement vendors at the last minute.
Moving forward, we still have the parade and tons of events across the city for Long Beach Pride—but questions remain.
Ultimately, questions remain about how this precisely happened—from both a city and organizational standpoint.
“Long Beach has been a leader in the fight for civil rights and equality,” Congressman Robert Garcia said. “The community needs answers. This is a historic loss, and we cannot take this lightly. This weekend, we should continue to celebrate our Pride by supporting our neighborhood queer bars and small businesses.”
Despite the festival cancellation, city leaders are now encouraging residents and visitors to support the broader Pride weekend by attending the parade and patronizing Long Beach’s LGBTQ+ bars, restaurants, and businesses, emphasizing that the community itself remains ready to welcome thousands.
Visit Long Beach has created a guide to the city’s events as organizers and volunteers work to redirect the thousands visiting toward places where they will be welcomed. There are also Playa Larga’s line of events planned for this week as well.
