Anti-LGBTQ slurs, Trump slogans and Nazi symbolism tagged outside Long Beach Pride HQ
The nonprofit is raising funds to beef up security while Long Beach police investigate the graffiti as 'hate/bias motivated,' according to authorities.
Trigger warning: This story includes images with LGBTQ+ slurs, threats and Nazi symbolism. Watchdog editors decided to include the images in the same spirit as Long Beach Pride and its Executive Director Tonya Madreno-Martin: to show the “unedited truth.”
A utility box outside the Long Beach Pride headquarters was tagged with slurs, threats, political slogans and Nazi symbolism Saturday, sparking outrage throughout the community — and a need for increased security.
Written in bold black letters on the white utility box, the graffiti read: “Fuck gay, trans, lesbos and quers [sic],” adding that “all should die.” The vandal also wrote “protect real kids,” “fuck fa—ts,” “go to hell!” and “I haie [sic] fa-s.”
"MAGA," short for President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again slogan, was also written on the box multiple times along with a large swastika.
“This is deeply concerning,” Long Beach Pride Executive Director Tonya Medrano-Martin said in a statement posted on social media. “Acts of hate are not something we expect to see in our own front yard, in a city like ours — one where we have fought for decades to be seen, accepted, and embraced as equal members of this community.”
The nonprofit, which has put on the city’s popular Pride parade and festival each year since 1983, launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $4,000 to upgrade the building’s safety and security systems.
“We must take action to protect our members, volunteers and community,” the organization wrote. “We will not be silenced. We will not back down. Together, we will stand stronger than hate.”
The Long Beach Police Department is investigating the vandalism as “hate/bias motivated,” according to spokesperson Eric Stachura. The graffiti has since been painted over, officials confirmed.
County Supervisor Janice Hahn took to social media to condemn the graffiti as a “clear threat aimed at terrorizing our LGBTQ community.” Hahn committed $2,500 toward Pride’s effort to increase security.
“These are dark times, and I know it can feel like we are losing ground in the fight for equality,” Hahn wrote. “But I want every LGBTQ person in Long Beach and across LA County to know this: you are not alone, you are valued, and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with you to confront this hate.”
The probable hate crime drew comment from a host of other public officials and local LGBTQ-related organizations.
Mayor Rex Richardson called the graffiti a “vile act of hate” that has “absolutely no place in Long Beach.”
“Our city does not tolerate threats or attacks against our LGBTQ+ community,” Richardson said in a statement, adding that “incidents of hate and violence are on the rise and the political tone being set by the country's most powerful leaders continues to breed division and hate.”
In 2024, the FBI tracked 2,413 single-bias anti-LGBTQ hate crime incidents, including 1,950 related to sexual orientation and 463 related to gender identity, according to the nonprofit GLAAD. While the figure is a slight decrease from the 2,569 incidents in 2023, it remains one of the highest totals since data collection began in 1990, the LGBTQ advocacy group said.
Los Angles County in 2023 saw anti-LGBTQ crimes rise 48% from 173 to 256, according to the LA County Commission on Human Relations's most recent report on hate crimes. According to the commission, this was the largest number of anti-LGBTQ crimes ever recorded in the county. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of these crimes targeted gay men, according to the commission.
Richardson said the LGBTQ community is an essential part of Long Beach and that city leaders will continue to “fight for your right to live openly, proudly, and with the same dignity that every person deserves.”
Rep. Robert Garcia, who was Long Beach’s first openly gay mayor before being elected to Congress, noted that the city is one of the “most welcoming and affirming communities in the state.” In a social media post, he called the perpetrator a coward and pledged to continue fighting for LGBTQ rights.
State Senator and previous Long Beach City Council member Lena Gonzalez said the city is one of “inclusion and love for neighbor, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, what language they speak or who they love.”
“It's cowardly to do such a hateful act in such a beautiful, welcoming and loving city. You must not know us well,” Gonzalez said in a statement aimed at the perpetrator. “I hope you can realize the damage you've done, in a time when we need more unity than ever before.”
Current Long Beach councilmembers Mary Zendejas, Cindy Allen, Suely Saro and Tunua Thrash-Ntuk all posted similar statements to their respective social media accounts.
Salvador Flores-Trimble of Be Proud and Playalarga said the graffiti is a “painful reminder that homophobia and transphobia still exist — even here, in a city that celebrates diversity and pride.”
“But this was more than vandalism. It was meant to intimidate. To divide,” Flores-Trimble wrote on Instagram. “Our response? Unity. Love. Continued presence.”
Ellie Perez, executive director of the LGBTQ Center Long Beach, said she is “saddened and outraged” by the graffiti, adding that it does not reflect the city’s values.
“Let us be clear: hate has no home in Long Beach,” Perez said in a statement. “Graffiti that spreads homophobia, transphobia or any form of hate is an attack on the very heart of our community.”
The International Imperial Court of Long Beach, a group that raises funds for other LGBTQ organizations across the city, said the organization is not intimidated by the vandalism.
“It's a reminder that our LGBTQ+ community continues to be targeted for simply existing,” the group wrote in a statement on social media. “We will not be erased. Together, we rise stronger, prouder, and louder than hate.”
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