The Harvey Milk Park Equality Plaza Selection Committee is accepting submissions for 2022 inductees into the Equity Plaza Memorial Wall at the park.
Harvey Milk Promenade Park was the first park in the nation to be named after California’s first openly gay elected official and civil rights leader. In 1978, Milk, then a San Francisco county supervisor, was assassinated by a disgruntled former city supervisor.
“Harvey Milk Park has become a landmark for the LGBTQ+ community of Long Beach and is recognized nationally as one of the few public spaces commemorating the contributions of LGBTQ+ people,” co-chair Deb Kahookele said in a statement.
The Equity Plaza was created in 2012 to honor and recognize members of the LGBTQ+ community who “inspire and create change in their own lives and our communities,” said committee co-chair John Newell.
Multiple local leaders are inducted into the wall each year. Inductions have been on a hiatus since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Past nominees include local drag queen Jewels Long Beach; Denise Penn, who organized Long Beach’s first Dyke March in 2013; former LGBTQ Center President Ron Sylvester; and Tim Patton, senior administrative deputy for Mayor Robert Garcia’s Office.
“We’re looking for members who have done really diverse work within Long Beach and the LGBT community” such as nonprofit work or raising funds for LGBTQ+ causes, Newell said.
Potential nominees may be living or dead and must have identified or currently identify as LGBTQ+.
“This is a great way to memorialize LGBTQ leaders that are not with us any longer, and also recognize people that are still with us, doing the work to advance the LGBTQ community,” Newell said.
To nominate an individual to be inducted into the Equality Plaza, residents can fill out a nomination form at https://bit.ly/3xnn01E by Friday, July 15 at 11:59 p.m.
Inductees will be formally recognized during an event during LGBTQ+ History Month in October.
Correction: June 17, 6:15 p.m. A previous version of this story listed the nomination deadline as Friday, June 15. The deadline is Friday, July 15 at 11:59 p.m.
