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is someone who identifies as having no gender or being without a gender identity. And in 2020, according to the Human Rights Campaign, 37 transgender and gender-non-conforming people were killed through November, the most on record."An agender person. Those figures marked a 42% and 262% increase, respectively, since 2017, according to the Justice Department. In 2019, there were 1,195 reports nationwide of hate crimes based on the victim’s sexual orientation, with another 198 based on their gender identity, according to the FBI. The last two years have been particularly difficult for the LGBTQ community, according to national data. “The burning of the Long Beach Pride Tower was not only devastating to me, being a trans/queer adolescent,” Bacallao, who identifies as nonbinary, said in a written statement when the Hermosa Pride tower was announced last month, “but it also hurt other queer people and our allies within the South Bay community.”
![pic of gay flag on fire pic of gay flag on fire](https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5339/9622924306_07c1066707_b.jpg)
The teen, Izzy Bacallao, came up with the idea after the Long Beach tower burned down. County, which owns the tower, gave permission to have the tower painted through the summer after a loca teen suggested it to County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office. National data showed that LGBTQ households faced more employment losses and had to deal with serious financial problems, including food insecurity, at much higher rates than other households during the coronavirus pandemic, Galperin said.Īnd on Monday, June 14, residents will paint a lifeguard tower in Hermosa Beach in rainbow colors. Long Beach’s original Pride Lifeguard Tower was painted in rainbow colors by LGBTQ lifeguards last June to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first Pride parade, which was held in New York City on June 28, 1970.Īllen also said she would ask the Coastal Commission to consider installing a permanent access path for people in wheelchairs to be able to come out to the tower and a concrete pad for events that take place by it.Įarlier in the day, Los Angeles Controller Ron Galperin, the first openly gay official elected to a citywide office in L.A., released an online resource hub for the city’s LGBTQ community. “It’s an important moment for us also to remember that the fight for equality and equity and justice is not just our own with our community,” Garcia, the city’s first openly gay mayor, told the crowd, “but it is work that we have to share and a struggle that we share with so many other communities, which is why I love seeing all the support for the diversity and beauty of what our community really stands for.”Ĭouncilwoman Cindy Allen, whose Second District includes the beach where the tower is located, announced plans to ask the Human Relations Commission to convene a community process to erect a plaque with the story of the tower. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, in remarks before the unveiling, tied the moment to a broader fight for social justice, at a time when hate crimes have risen and there’s been a renewed focus on systemic discrimination.