On Sunday, June 22, the Gay Freedom Band of Los Angeles performed on the park stage at Bixby Park in Long Beach, CA.
This year marked the 35th Anniversary of the ensemble, which has brass and percussion instruments. At their annual Bixby Park event, ensemble performed a range of music from hit movies such as Disney’s Frozen and hit musicals such as Hair Spray and received applause and screams of “Encore” for their performance these songs.
According to Justin Raines, the Artistic Director, the band formed in 1978 and is the 2nd oldest LGBT Freedom band in the country. The band is second to the San Francisco Gay/Lesbian Freedom Band, which was also formed in 1978. Jon Reed Sims, founder of the San Francisco Gay/ Lesbian Freedom Band, encouraged the creation of the “The Great American Yankee Freedom Band of Los Angeles by Wayne Love.“
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The band began as a gathering of a few musicians. According to their website, the “small group gathered in gay activist Morris Kight’s living room.” The band became known as the Great American Yankee Freedom Band of Los Angeles.
By the 1980s, the band grew to over 100 members and participated in marches and events around the United States. After a quick growth, according to Raines, the band numbers dwindled in the 1980s due to the AIDs epidemic, which wiped out about half of the members. Raines stated that he is on a mission to get the number of members back up to where they were in the 1980s.
In 2008, the band changed its name to Gay Freedom Band of Los Angeles to refocus or restate the founding principles of the band. The mission statement of the Gay Freedom Band reads:
The Gay Freedom Band’s Mission is to draw diverse communities together
in harmony through the performance and appreciation of music.
Raines is committed to this mission by having diverse members involved in the community ensemble, which Raines said has about 20% non-LGBT members.
One of the 20% non-LGBT members of the ensemble is Oscar Morales, the Tuba player who replaced Raines after Raines became the Artistic Director for the group. Morales said that he “enjoy(s) working with so many people and its cool being one of the few straight people in the group.”
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People from all over the Los Angeles area came to support the ensemble’s performance in Bixby Park. Some people learned of the event by walking or skating at the park on Sunday. While others ventured through traffic to see their friends perform. Angela Brinskele, Director of Communications at the Mazer Lesbian Archives, was in attendance to see her friend and fellow Board Member at the Mazer Lesbian Archives.
Their next major performance will be at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles on October 26th. Raines said that they will play Halloween music and have a comedienne to MC the event. Until then, the group will continue rehearsing in Hollywood and sharing their talents with the communities that support them.