A national search failed to find a company willing to back the event, but festival organizers got a court injunction and held the parade without a permit. In 1985, organizers were told by the city that they needed $1 million in liability insurance to have the parade. Members of Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride stand next to the float they entered during a parade in the mid 1980s. The first parade lasted just 30 minutes, and the two-day festival drew 5,000 people to Palm Island, which was located at the end of Pine Avenue in what is Shoreline Drive.įrom the beginning, the city went out of its way to block the parade. The festival and parade started as an effort by the local gay community to make its own identity while living in the shadow of Los Angeles’ pride event, which started in 1970. “A large section of society felt they could attack us or put us down.ĭoyle wore a bulletproof vest, but no shots were fired, though some people threw eggs at the marchers, Doyle said. “Just imagine how any group would feel if you were denied the rights that everyone else in America had,” she said. We will not let the community be stopped or put down anymore,” Doyle said. “We weren’t going to be told that we need to sit in the back of the bus anymore. “But what came with the fear was a sense of anger. The board affirmed that, not that there wasn’t a sense of fear,” Doyle said. Photo: Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride.Īfter the threat, the pride board had to vote on whether or not the group would march in the parade, Doyle said. Members of Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride march in a parade in the mid 1980s.