Around 200 people marched through downtown Long Beach carrying signs and waving rainbow flags during the 52nd anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising on Sunday, June 27.
“That night on June [28], 1969, those folks were experiencing something that was very common—that was raids by the police on their lives,” Audrena Redmond of the Long Beach chapter of Black Lives Matter said during a speech at Bixby Park following the march.
The Stonewall Uprising began when patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York, violently resisted a police raid on the business on June 28, 1969, which led to five days of civil unrest.
Full Story: On 52nd anniversary of Stonewall, Long Beach march honors origins of Pride Month
A woman carries a sign while pushing the alter for Sylvia Riveria at the start of the march for the Queer Liberation Now event at Bixby Park in Long Beach on June 28, 2021. Sylvia Rivera was one of the leading figures in the fight for gay rights in the 1970s. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune) 
Attendees carry signs during the march for the Queer Liberation Now event at Bixby Park in Long Beach on June 28, 2021. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune)
A trio of musicians played music during the march for the Queer Liberation Now event at Bixby Park in Long Beach on June 28, 2021. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune) 
A trio of musicians played music during the march for the Queer Liberation Now event at Bixby Park in Long Beach on June 28, 2021. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune)
Attendees carry signs and pride flags during the march at the Queer Liberation Now event at Bixby Park in Long Beach on June 28, 2021. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune)
Beautiful event, testament to the power of the people