LGBTQ Flag Will Raise in Garden Grove

Photo by Stavrialena Gontzou on Unsplash

On Tuesday, May 25, the council voted 6-0 to raise the pride flag at the clock tower in downtown's Village Green park.

Although the vote looks like a clean win, it took a lot of time to start voting in the first place. Councilwoman Kim Nguyen has been proposing flying a pride flag since 2019.

Garden Grove had a thriving gay scene

The city once had a flourishing gay scene, but unfortunately, that's all disappeared. Hopefully, raising a pride flag will help the city return to its old prosperous scene.

Kim Nguyen is very positive about it:

“Garden Grove had, back in the day, more gay bars than West Hollywood, But we’ve had a tumultuous relationship with the community… This is a great first step in mending that relationship.”

This could open many opportunities for LGBTQ places and events across the city.

During the 1970s and the 1980s, Garden Grove was home to many businesses catering to the gay and lesbian community. 15 of them were opened then, according to LGBTQ advocates.

A Garden Grove resident Randy Pesquiera, 65, said that she was the first paid employee of the Gay Community Services Center of Orange County, which was located in Garden Grove before it moved to Santa Ana. She added:

“It was definitely a thriving gay scene, bars everywhere”

Unfortunately, not everyone there was in favor of such a welcoming community, and the city was vandalized. Gay bars started to close.

Today, Garden Grove has only one gay bar - the Frat House. It's been opened for 37 years.

Let's hope that a small symbol like rising the pride flag will change this.

Why not at City Hall?

Usually, the pride flag is flown at City Hall. That was Nguyen's initial idea.

However, the council member feared that the rise of the pride flag could open the gate for other groups which currently still don't support it.

A compromise was made and the flag will raise at the clock tower.

There were no objections to that decision.

A New Start

The flag should raise on June 1, and hopefully, make a shift in the community.

Such a small symbol could lead to the rise of a blooming scene again.

In the end, it should lead to the mindset switch of many.

Are you somewhere close? If so, head to Garden Grove, and show your love!

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