Long Beach Pride ranks 4th as LGBTQ travel destination

Aids Food Store Long Beach collects donations during the Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade along Ocean Boulevard, Sunday, May 20, 2018. Photo by Stephen Carr / StephenCarrPhotography.com

LONG BEACH — Long Beach Pride is ranked fourth among the best LGBTQ travel destinations for Pride this year, according to Orbitz.

Long Beach out ranks Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco, according to the travel website.

Long Beach Pride

The Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Pride Festival will take place May 18 and 19 at Marina Green Park and Rainbow Lagoon along Shoreline Drive. The Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade will march along Ocean Boulevard on May 19. Tickets, $20 each day plus service fees, are available online.

Long Beach gay travel ranking

The ranking is based on hotel inventory in cities with Pride celebrations, flight prices, and travel searches.

“More travelers than ever before will be celebrating love and equality in some of the most gay-friendly cities across the country this year,” Carey Malloy, Orbitz’s director of brand marketing, said in a statement. “With this being a milestone year for Pride, our message to travelers is now is the time to plan your trip while accommodations are in high demand.”

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Long Beach Pride history

Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Pride, the nonprofit that organizes the festival and parade, was formed in 1983 and held its first parade in 1984.

The festival and parade started by the local gay and lesbian community as an effort to make its own identity while living in the shadow of Los Angeles’ Pride, which started in 1970.

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.

More than three decades later Long Beach Pride attracts more than 80,000 people to the festival and parade.