On Aug. 24, LB Living hosted “The Big Gay Pine Ave Takeover”, a fundraiser event celebrating LGBTQ+ community and raising money for “Be Proud! Fest.”
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They accomplished creating an event that not only brought the community together but allowed a safe space for people to be themselves and have fun.
The event showcased iconic performances from numerous drag queens, including Laganja Estranja, who first appeared on season six of “Ru Paul’s Drag Race.”
Missy Vee, a Long Beach based Drag Queen, said they were inspired to start doing drag because it felt liberating.
“When I saw Shannel from Drag Race for the first time,” they explained, “I was like ‘what the fuck! This is so awesome and so great to see how free someone can be in our space’ and that’s kind of what I fell in love with. Just being able to be yourself, open, honestly. Just express who you are.”
The street was also taken over by small businesses, carnival games, a full bar, and a live DJ and musical performances.
Hector Perez is the owner of streetwear fashion brand, “Floricon.” His booth was lined with photographs of models in his unique designs that showcased members of the Latinx community that were rarely represented.
“I like to play with the duality of femininity that you see in men but also masculinity. For example the charros, it’s something you don’t see, like two cowboys kissing. So I wanted to have that represented. Just something that I would have liked to see when I was little.”, Perez said in reference to his shirt, “Amor Prohibido No. 1.”
He continued, “I created this brand because I didn’t see it represented when I was growing up. Still don’t see it that much. I think we want to see more of ourselves in our clothing and our art.”
“I hope they see themselves,” Perez said. “I want to represent queer and brown identity. And if they don’t see themselves, at least they see something that’s different and catches their eye that they haven’t seen before.”
Along with small businesses were educational booths such as the School of Sexuality, a non-profit organization that works towards destigmatizing sex education in schools.
Bridgett Khoury, the founder of the organization said, “Our curriculum is intersectional so we lead through intersectional story telling. Our goal is to really just bring in all different Lifestyles into the classroom.”
“It’s been difficult specifically because of our political climate right now. We’re getting a lot of pushback in schools just purely because of fear,” explained Khoury. “But the reality is, living in the state of California the law is on our side.”
As the sun set and music blasted through the air, the crowd grew and many gathered to dance in front of the DJ’s stage just as the musical and drag performances began.
Amongst the crowd was our very own Antonio “Nio” Lavermon, facilitator of the LGBTQ+ Program at Cerritos College, who was attending the event with friends.
Lavermon said “When thinking about Pride as an event, the evolution of that too. Looking at what has become today, a consequence of the fight and the struggles that have had to happen in order to have these spaces of Pride, it’s absolutely beautiful.”
Joy Rivera, 22 from Orange County shared a similar feeling towards the event.
She said, “It’s nice to see the community that we have. We lost so many people during the AIDS epidemic that for the younger gay community there’s a lot of loss of identity. So, being here just kind of reminds me of all the people who came before me and all the people that are coming after me.”
All donations from the event will be put towards making “Be Proud! Fest” possible on Sept. 28.
