BREPORT.com To Provide LIVE Streaming Video Of Tonight's SOLD OUT Ribbon Cutting/Gala Opening For Historical Society of Long Beach LGBT History Project; Among Expected Guests: Melissa Etheridge

TONIGHT starting at roughly 7 p.m., LBREPORT.com Community Correspondent Joe Mello will be on-scene to provide LIVE STREAMING VIDEO of tonight's Historical Society of Long Beach event -- LGBT History Project opening gala -- making the event accessible LIVE worldwide. Tonight's vent is SOLD OUT, but you can be there online LIVE on LBREPORT.com. Let your Facebook and Twitter contacts know.

(Feb. 23, 2013) -- Tonight's gala opening and ribbon cutting for the Historical Society of Long Beach's LGBT History Project titled "Coming Out in Long Beach" is officially SOLD OUT. LBREPORT.com's LIVE webcast should start at roughly 7:00 p.m. on our front page -- www.LBREPORT.com. (The HSLB event is scheduled to run until 10 p.m.)

LBREPORT.com plans to provide LIVE streaming video via Joe Mello of tonight's gala event. Attendees are expected to include award winning performed Melissa Etheridege -- LIVE from the Historical Society of LB's HQ in Bixby Knolls.(Photo source: Etheridge Facebook page)

The exhibit will include a display of the Gold Album that Ms. Etheridge donated to Que Sera on Anaheim St., a well known Long Beach lesbian entertainment bar where, along with the Executive Suite on Pacific Coast Highway, Ms. Etheridge performed locally.

Since publicly coming out in 1993, the award winning performer has been an outspoken advocate of gay and lesbian rights.

The Long Beach Historical Society announced its LGBT History Project in August 2012 (early LBREPORT.com coverage by Mr. Mello, click here) and solicited donations for the exhibit from Long Beach's large LGBT community and orgainizations. The project's goal was to show the "struggles and contributions" of the LGBT community in Long Beach.

The resulting multidimensional exhibit will feature an interactive timeline that documents the contributions of the Long Beach LGBT communities with photographs, documents and archival materials. The project included collecting recorded oral histories and the making of a documentary video. All of the project items will become part of the Historical Society’s permanent collection and public archives.

The months leading up to Saturday's upcoming fundraiser-opening gala (tickets, click here) have included other local fundraisers, including January's "Fan Reunion" at the Que Sera bar where a not-yet-publicly-out Etheridge performed early in her career.

The project's seventeen member steering committee was co-chaired by Julie Bartolotto (Executive Director of the HSLB) and Marsha Naify (former President of the LB Lambda Democratic Club). Dr. Kay Briegel was the project's historian.

Following the Sat. Feb. 23 gala debut fundraiser, the exhibit will remain open for a year and is free to the public at the Historical Society of Long Beach, 4260 Atlantic Avenue in Bixby Knolls. Event details are on this link.

Previous LBREPORT.com coverage

Historical Society of Long Beach Announces LBGT History Project by Joe Mello