Long Beach cancels Pride Festival, citing lack of permit
Los Angeles Times • • nation
Key Points:
- The Long Beach Pride Festival was canceled a day before its scheduled start due to the organizer's failure to provide required safety information, leading the city to withhold the event permit for public safety reasons.
- Despite the festival's cancellation, the city's annual Pride Parade will proceed as planned on Sunday morning.
- Tonya Martin, president of Long Beach Pride, expressed deep disappointment and criticized the city for not supporting the LGBTQ+ community during a vulnerable time.
- The city stated it made multiple efforts to obtain necessary safety documentation and infrastructure inspections but did not receive the required information to complete the permit process.
- The city is refunding businesses with special licenses for the event and encouraged dialogue on ticket and vendor fees to be directed to Long Beach Pride, while Martin urged city leaders to reconsider and support the festival.