A highly vocal crowd gathered on the Long Beach boardwalk last Sunday morning for a press conference at which LGBT Network officials called for the resignation of the city’s police commissioner and the City Council president.
The officials said that Commissioner Ron Walsh and council President John Bendo were responsible for a “homophobic” act in ordering the removal of a rainbow Gay Pride flag near the Riptides restaurant. The Pride flag has been on display for several years. It was re-located to the rear of Riptides two weeks ago, but after the press conference, Sunday was put back up on the boardwalk.
David Kilmnick, the Network’s chief executive, called three times for Walsh’s and Bendo’s resignations.
Kilmnick was joined on a podium at Edwards Boulevard and the boardwalk by Brian Wells, president of the Long Beach Police Department’s Police Benevolent Association. The PBA and Walsh have had a contentious relationship almost from the start of Walsh’s tenure in February.
“We are here to stand up against homophobic discrimination,” Kilmnick said.
Some in the crowd of about 100 people, however, shouted that Kilmnick wasn’t telling the truth. Phyllis Libutti, a Lido Beach resident, said she and others at the gathering stood for gay rights, but did not believe the city was being discriminatory.
“See my mask?” Libutti called out, referring to her colorful cloth face covering. “It represents Gay pride.”
At the end of the event, Kilmnick and other Network officials put the Rainbow flag back up on the boardwalk, not far from an American flag and a POW/MIA flag. It was unclear what action city officials might take. Walsh said at a city council meeting Tuesday night that the matter would be handled legally. He did not elaborate.
Kilmnick said that the Pride flag wasn’t political. “It’s about hope,” he said. “It’s about community.”
But he also struck a more strident tone. Looking out at the crowd, he said, “Today is about putting that flag back up. If you want to put a war on the LGBT community, this is a war you are not going to win.”
Jon Bell, an attorney for the Network, said the city was ”trampling” on the rights of Riptides and the Network in ordering the flag to come down.
In late March, Kilmnick said, Walsh and Bendo told Riptides owner Brian Braddish that the Pride flag “had to come down.”
Again, Libutti and others called out that Kilmnick wasn’t telling the truth.
“You can call your own press conference if you want,” Kilmnick shot back. “What’s missing here is the Rainbow flag.” Most in the crowd applauded.
Bendo, who stood only feet from the podium, said he had never had any such discussion with Braddish. The city, Bendo said, called Braddish’s Garden City attorney, Dennis Kelly, and asked him to instruct Braddish to take the flag off the boardwalk, which is city property. Braddish said on Sunday that soon afterward, he removed the flag and put it up at the rear of his restaurant.
That action was necessary, Bendo said, because the city had just told another resident, Michael Wasserman, to remove flags from his home and car that, in the starkest terms, disparaged President Biden and Vice President Harris.
Wasserman has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the city, claiming his rights were violated. On Sunday, Wasserman refused to talk to a reporter.
Bendo said that only flags that represent America can be flown in public places. “You can’t apply the law only to him,” he said, referring to Wasserman.
The Herald spoke with Walsh, who was not at the press conference, by phone earlier this week. He said he had never had a conversation with Braddish about the flag, and has spoken only to his attorney.
“This is political nonsense,” Walsh said. “I have a Police Department to run. I’m not going to engage in politics.”
Meredith Flug, who moved to Long Beach only six months ago, was among those in the crowd. “Stop focusing on the politics and focus on the message — that is, support the LGBT community,” she said, and then asked why Bendo and other city officials had “waited so long” to bring up the Pride flag.
Kilmnick also accused the city of trying to bully the LGBT Network into canceling the news conference. The city, he said, had issued a “hate-filled press release” on Friday saying that it had “two clues as to who may have encouraged the group into participating in this charade.” It named Wells and Robert Agostisi, the city’s former corporation counsel, noting that Agostisi is being sued by the city in an attempt to claw back hundreds of thousands of dollars in separation payments.
“We want these amateur tyrants out,” Wells told the crowd. “[Walsh] wants the Long Beach Police Department to be the thought police. He thinks of us a Long Beach recruits. He has treated my members like dirt.”
Bendo denied accusations that the city had tried to bully the LGBT Network, though he acknowledged that the city had contacted the organization on Saturday. “We believed what they were saying was false,” Bendo said.
City Council member Liz Treston said after the news conference that she was “disappointed” in both Kilmnick and Braddish, adding that the event was more about politics than anything else.
“I’m an advocate for all,” said Treston. “It’s terrible to call someone a homophobe.” The city, she said, was only trying to enforce its codes.
The LGBT Network announced its plans Friday. The city fired back Saturday, issuing a news release of its own, demanding that the organization apologize for “false and offensive assertions about the city, its council president and police commissioner.”
The PBA has listed a series of complaints against Walsh, who has denied all of them. Some focus on his character, and others on his policies.
Before the gathering, Braddish said, “In this day and age, to ask someone to take down the Pride flag is hurtful.”
