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The Lesbian Gay Pride Festival, along the Marina Green off Shoreline Drive, officially kicks off the weekend on Saturday and continues into the evening after the parade on Sunday, “Often they are misunderstood and left out of the conversation in the LGB community,” he said. This is particularly true of transgender youth, who Bullock said are often forgotten.
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We need to recognize and validate these identities.” “They are creating new identities and gender expressions and moving away from these boxes. “We need to acknowledge young people’s desires and passions to break the norms,” he said. In his work with LGBTQ youth, generally between the ages of 13 and 18, Bullocks said he has seen a shift in how kids see and label themselves.
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Special Recognition Marshal Kyle Bullock, 28, deals with many parallel issues as the youth program manager at the LGBT Center in Long Beach.īullock, who has been at the center since 2011, was on the road to becoming a high school teacher when he caught on at the center and found his calling. “A lot of times being LGBTQ puts you in extreme isolation. “It keeps a lot of people quiet,” Martinez said. When that is compounded with an unhealthy relationship, she said it can be debilitating. Martinez said lesbians and gays often struggle with coming out and telling family. “We want to give voice that (domestic abuse) is happening in the LGBTQ community,” she said. Martinez noted those are just the reported cases. That statistic is from a 2010 National Intimate Partners and Sexual Violence Study that also showed 61 percent of bisexual women and 35 percent of heterosexual women experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. “(People) consider (domestic abuse) a straight thing,” Martinez said.īut 44 percent of lesbian women experience domestic abuse, she said. Since joining the Women’s Shelter, Martinez has dealt with domestic violence in the gay community, which she said is at alarming proportions and affects the entire community. “It’s a great venue and platform to talk about the work we do in the LGBTQ community,” Martinez said. She is its youth services coordinator and sees the parade and festival as a great opportunity to highlight what her group is about. “We’re always giving back and helping people in need.”Īs the self-proclaimed “closest bar to Pride,” Hamburger Mary’s will be partying indoors and outdoors beginning Friday and through the weekend, spreading out into a parking area on loan from Farmers and Merchants Bank.Īnother community marshal, Giovanna Martinez, 33, has been with the Women’s Shelter of Long Beach for 13 years and likes to joke that the organization raised her. “Our message has always been to try to give back,” Warner said. Two or three nights a week, Warner said his establishment has some sort of charity event in the roomy, 7,100-square-foot restaurant and nightclub. About six years ago he opened a Hamburger Mary’s in Long Beach near Los Alamitos Avenue and recently moved into a newer, larger space at 330 Pine Ave. Warner, who splits time between Long Beach and Los Angeles, also owns the original Hamburger Mary’s in West Hollywood, which he opened more than 10 years ago. That said, Warner also admitted to “bringing gay life” to Pine Avenue with the opening of the restaurant. This year’s community marshals are from both social service and business communities, each bringing perspective to the event.ĭale Warner is the co-owner of Hamburger Mary’s, the first establishment catering primarily to gay clientele to open in the downtown area of Long Beach.ĭespite the T-shirts the staff wears with rainbow-colored “Pride” lettering, Warner said: “We never claimed to be a gay bar. Similarly, the grand marshals come from an array of walks and backgrounds, from Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster and Police Chief Jim McDonnell to celebrity Ross Mathews and three community honorees. Collectively, the additions are meant to demonstrate that Pride is not just a gay thing.