Thousands flocked to L.B. for Long Island Pride Parade

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“When you first come out, it can be a very scary thing,” said Long Beach resident Beth Gaudet as she stood next to her wife, Mercelle Du Plessis, on Sunday to cheer on the 27th annual Long Island Pride parade. “And to see that there’s so much support and love, it’s amazing.”

“It just makes me feel very accepted. We walked down the road and there was a church that said, ‘God loves you all,’ and that was lovely,” added Du Plessis.

Gaudet said that with last year’s Pulse nightclub shooting and this year’s national Pride events, including Saturday’s Capital Pride Alliance march in Washington, D.C., the Long Beach parade — the first to be held in the city — took on added significance.

“It’s so important,” Gaudet said. “I didn’t have anything like this when I was growing up. It’s incredible because you can really feel alone as a young gay person, and this is beautiful. It’s great for the community, and to see lots of support, our neighbors flying the gay flag, it was like, ‘Wow!’”

The streets of Long Beach were filled with people waving rainbow flags as residents and visitors marched in the Rise with Pride parade, which had previously taken place in Huntington. Among more than 85 groups that marched, organizers said, were Planned Parenthood, United Food and Commercial Workers OUTreach, advocacy group PFLAG Long Island, the Floral Park Memorial High School Gay-Straight Alliance club and at least 25 other schools from around the Island.

The event kicked off the last day of Pride on the Beach, a three-day festival organized by the LGBT Network that attracted about 30,000 people, with at least 5,000 people marching in the parade, city officials and organizers said.

The event also included a beach concert featuring headliner Rachel Platten, as well as a beach party, a carnival, a 5K, a Shabbat service and more.

“We came together to celebrate and have a good time but today ... was a message of a call to action,” said David Kilmnick, chief executive officer of the LGBT Network and a co-founder of the Long Island Pride parade. “What it really showed was that we are a strong, united Long Island community and that we’re going to stand together ... No matter who you are, we’re going to fight for each other and make sure that we have safety, equality and justice for all.”

Rita Castellano, 51, of Long Beach, said she came to the parade “to be part of a historic event that is right here in my backyard. I’ve lived here on and off for 40 years, and to have this kind of a turnout is awesome. I’m glad for everybody that supports us.”

“You kind of forget how large the community of support is,” said Mary Azzara, 16, of Floral Park. “You always hear the hate on the news, and then you’re in this parade, and you see all these people cheering on for you. It made me so happy.”

“I came out here to support pride and the LGBT community,” said Kristin Clark, of Huntington Station. “I finally got my girlfriend to come out with us, so big win there, and it’s a great community outing and a chance for everyone to get together and really support and show how much we love each other.”

After the parade — which began at noon at Broadway and Laurelton Boulevard — crowds moved to Long Beach Boulevard beach, where the parade ended and a group of surfers gathered in a circle for a memorial paddle-out organized by Skudin Surf to commemorate the 49 victims of last year’s Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.

“It was a huge success,” said City Council Vice President Anthony Eramo, who took part in the paddle-out. “Our community, the LGBT community — everyone came out and had a great time, celebrated life, celebrated love, remembered those that were lost in the Orlando massacre, and it was a huge event to move the ball forward for equality for all.”

“The message to the world is that we in Long Beach really believe in fairness and diversity, and we welcome everyone,” added City Council President Len Torres.

Despite concerns from residents about security, traffic and parking, City Manager Jack Schnirman said that the event went smoothly, and no arrests were made. A city official added that the city netted nearly $300,000 in total beach pass revenue over the weekend, which is about 1 percent of the city’s tax bill.

A number of residents, however, said that the turnout seemed much lower than organizers and city officials claimed.

Kilmnick announced at Sunday’s concert that the parade would return to Long Beach next year.

“We’re looking forward to having future conversations about it,” Schnirman said on Monday.

Schnirman said it was too early to determine sanitation, overtime and other costs associated with the event, but added that about half of a $300,000 grant awarded to the LGBT Network by the state’s Empire State Development agency to promote out-of-state tourism would be used to cover the city’s expenses.

“There was an outpouring of love and positivity over the course of the weekend,” said Schnirman, who also participated in the paddle-out. “Residents in the community were welcoming and positive and seemed to genuinely enjoy the different events…It shows what an incredible community Long Beach is.”

Jake Pellegrino and Jenna Bloomer contributed to this story.