Gingrich’s Sister to Be Grand Marshal of Long Beach Parade

Candace Gingrich may be making a career out of being grand marshal in “pride parades.”

Last year, the sister of Speaker Newt Gingrich was the grand marshal of San Francisco’s Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade. In June she will guide the Washington, D.C., event and next week she will be in Long Beach to spearhead the city’s festival May 18 and 19.

“Long Beach will be different because I’ll have more extensive duties,” Gingrich said from her office at the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., where she is working on voter mobilization for the fall elections.

“I get to choose the float winner and then, of course, there’s the usual ride-in-the-car-and-wave aspect to the job,” she said.

Gingrich, prominent as the lesbian sister of the conservative Speaker of the House, architect of the Republican’s “contract with America,” said participating in assorted pride parades gives her a chance to carry her message to different gay communities.

Long Beach’s Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade may not be the biggest in the nation, but its accompanying festival does boast the biggest disco tent in the country--100-feet-by-140-feet. And it is the biggest event in Long Beach next to the Toyota Grand Prix.

For this year’s parade down Broadway on May 19, organizers expect about 100 entries marching for 70,000 spectators--up from a crowd of 55,000 last year. The event has grown considerably since 1984 when 5,000 people gathered for the city’s first pride parade.

“Pride Without Borders” is the motto for next week’s parade and the weekend festival at Shoreline Aquatic Park.

The festival, with music and dancing tents, food and groups booths and an arts and craft market, opens at 11 a.m. on May 18 and 19. Cost is $12.