During the Queen’s Surf beach plaque unveiling ceremony, Mayor Blangiardi spoke to a cheerful, at times emotional, crowd of local LGBTQ+ youth who spread out on picnic blankets and kūpuna who came in wheelchairs, many of whom used to frequent certain Chinatown spots and play volleyball at Queen’s Beach.

“I don’t even want to say we’re just supporting,” the mayor said. “We’re doing everything we possibly can on every level to demonstrate that and celebrate who we are as a people.”

Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi project along with the Hawai‘i LGBT Legacy Foundation worked to install the plaque. It’s the latest addition to a larger effort to memorialize LGBTQ+ history as Hawaii’s history, including gathering oral testimonies and creating a digital and interactive map of ancient and modern sites that are tied to moʻolelo (tales and legends) and historic milestones.

For Pride 2025, Hawaii Business Magazine reached out to people active in the local LGBTQ community, or those in positions to advocate effectively, to express what Pride means to them today, in their own words.

The essays capture their joy, sorrow, worry and determination to maintain a vibrant community where everyone is valued. Because the reality is that basic rights are being steadily chipped away by executive orders, many targeting transgender people.

Dean Hamer & Joe Wilson of Lei Pua ‘Ala Queer Histories of Hawai’i write about The Quest for a Permanent AIDS Memorial and Site of Memory  in Hawai’i

Six essays from U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, Randy Soriano, Peter Tui Silva, Walter Kinoshita, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, and Camaron Miyamoto on countering attacks on LGBTQ+ rights.

Hamer and Wilson write about “The Quest for a Permanent AIDS Memorial and Site of Memory” in Hawai’i

This week, Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer join host Brandi Higa on the One O‘ahu Podcast to explain the origins of their project Lei Pua ‘Ala: Queer Histories of Hawai‘i (2:33). Later, they talk about a new historical plaque unveiled this week at Queen’s Surf Beach in Waikīkī (10:32). Finally, while great strides have been made in telling the stories of Hawaii’s LGBTQ+ history, Wilson and Hamer describe what more can be done to move our communities forward when it comes to inclusivity and the contributions of all to our island home (25:25).

Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaii and Hawaii LGBT Legacy Foundation invite the public to the unveiling and dedication of a new plaque celebrating the history of Queen’s Surf Beach in Kapiolani Park on Wednesday.

Queen’s Surf Beach was a popular gathering spot for Hawaii’s diverse LGBTQ+ Māhū communities in the 1970s, and by 1974, it became the site of the first gay pride celebration in commemoration of the 1968 Stonewall Revolt in New York.

“Queen’s Surf provided a sense of community and family for many young people who were not accepted by their own families,” said Sina Sison in a release. Sison is a respected community advocate who was a Queen’s Surf regular in the 70s and 80s. “It was a place to learn about Hawaiian culture and traditions and make friends with people from across the islands and around the world.”

Gov. Josh Green has declared June as Pride Month and on Monday, for the first time, flew a Pride flag over the state Capitol, where it will remain for the entire month.

Green’s office called the display “an important milestone for LGBTQIA+ Mahu communities and allies throughout the islands.”

The flag initiative was led by the Lei Pua ‘Ala Queer Histories of Hawaii project in collaboration with the Hawaii State LGBTQ+ Commission, which attended the event.

For the first time, Pride flags will be flown at the Hawaii State Capitol throughout June, as Governor Josh Green, M.D., has declared it Pride Month.

The flag-raising ceremony was held on Monday, June 2, at the Capitol and was led by the Lei Pua ‘Ala Queer Histories of Hawaii project with the Hawaii State LGBTQ+ Commission.

This display comes amid actions in other states to ban Pride flags at public buildings. The flags will be flown on Beretania St.’s flagpoles, featuring the Inclusive Progress Pride flag.

A groundbreaking exhibit documenting Hawaiʻi’s queer past is making its way to Kauaʻi this summer to offer residents and visitors alike a powerful opportunity to learn, connect and reflect. Kaulike No Nā Mea A Pau: Toward Queer Justice in Hawaiʻi will open on May 30 at the Performing Arts Center at Kauaʻi Community College and remain on display throughout the month of June. The traveling exhibit is part of Lei Pua ʻAla, a project co-founded by Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer. The project is focused on documenting and memorializing gender and sexual diversity throughout Hawaiʻi’s complex and multicultural history.

Join us at the Kahuku Public and School Library on July 15, 2025, 5:30 - 7:00 pm, for a special presentation of The Return of Kapaemahu, a short film preview of the live performance composed and choreographed by Kumu Hula Patrick Makuakāne that tells the story of Hawaiiʻs legendary gender fluid healers.

Special guest Mark Mauikānehoalani Lovell will share his experience as a performer in the production, which takes place every Wednesday at 6:30pm on the Kūhiō Beach Hula Mound, steps from the site of the sacred stones in Waikīkī, where the māhū healers once lived and performed their miraculous cures.

A new performance blending hula, contemporary dance and storytelling is set to premiere in Wailuku this June, created by acclaimed Native Hawaiian choreographer Christopher Kaui Morgan and inspired by queer Hawaiian moʻolelo.

Presented by Maui Public Art Corps in partnership with Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House/Maui Historical Society, the County of Maui and the Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi project of the Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities, the site-specific pop-up performance is grounded in personal narratives shared through the Hui Moʻolelo: Lei Pua ʻAla initiative.

The Hawaiʻi Visitor s and Convention Bureau and Hawaiʻi Torism Bureau are urging visitors to explore Hawaiʻi’s unique traditions of gender and sexual divrsity. The Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi map is a central element.

Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi proudly announces the first-ever hula show to share the long-hidden story of The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu - a unique monument to healing and inclusion all but unkown to the millions of visitors and residents who pass by the sacred site in Waikīkī.

Composed and directed by Kumu Patrick Makuakāne, well known for his innovative contemporary choreography grounded in the fundamentals of traditional hula, “The Return of Kapaemahu” will be performed every Wednesday on the Kūhiō Beach hula mound, steps from the stones that honor the four legendary voyagers who brought the haling arts from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi long ago.

Maui Public Art Corps is calling for artist proposals for the Hui Mo’olelo: Lei Pua ʻAla project that interpret queer histories of Hawaiʻi, engage diverse communities on these issues and create positive shifts in attitudes toward inclusion and acceptance.

Visual, literary, musical, performance artists are welcome to apply for projects on Maui or Oʻahu. The deadline is March 31.

Hawaiʻi artists interested in collaborating with their communities on public art are invited to send a proposal for the Maui Public Art Corps' Hui Moʻolelo: Lei Pua ʻAla, or gathering of stories, program partnership with the Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi project.

Selected projects will interpret a storytelling recording from the Hui Moʻolelo collection as a visual, performance, or experiential public art, and will be matched with venues, resources and support.

Maui Public Art Corps, in partnership with Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House/Maui Historical Society, the County of Maui, and the Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi project of the Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities and Qwaves/Kanaka Pakipika, announced a call for artist proposals for the Hui Mo‘olelo: Lei Pua ʻAla project. The deadline to apply is March 31, 2025.

At a time when transgender identity is under assault in Washington, D.C., Hawaiʻi’s LGBTQ+ history is being shared and celebrated. With help from a grant from the Mellon Foundation, a new group that calls itself Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi, in collaboration with Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities, is elevating gay heritage in the public sphere. Its projects include a set of new historic designation markers popping up around the city, a popular hula show in Waikīkī that highlights Hawaiʻi’s long transgender heritage and a website that brings to light the poignant life stories of path-breaking people and places once kept in the shadows.

Deputy Managing Director Krishna Jayaram joins host Brandi Higa on the One O‘ahu Podcast to discuss his role as the City and County of Honolulu’s LGBTQ Liaison, all the ways the City and County of Honolulu is celebrating Honolulu PRIDE month, and the City’s partnership with Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi.

Lei Pua ʻAla Queer Histories of Hawaiʻi presented the premiere of their new hula show, “The Return of Kapaemahu,” which is based on the long-hidden story of four legendary voyagers of dual male and female spirit who brought healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi long ago.

The premiere took place two days after President Donald Trump declared that “there are only two genders, male and female,” saying that is “official policy of the United States government.”

Despite the president’s declaration, Native Hawaiians and Tahitians celebrated mahu people, who embodied both masculinity and femininity in spirit, as they were revered as healers and leaders.

“The Return of Kapaemahu” presents a free hula show revealing the stories of Kapaemahu every Wednesday at Kuhio Beach.

This first-ever hula show is a “unique monument to healing and inclusion” that shares the long-hidden story of The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu. The free, one-hour show premiered this evening on the Kuhio Beach hula mound. Visitors and residents can watch this performance every Wednesday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. throughout 2025.

One of the first actions President Donald Trump took after he was sworn in was to declare that the federal government will recognize only two sexes — male and female.

That declaration comes during a week when a new hula performance premieres in Waikīkī about a longstanding part of Indigenous culture — Māhū, which are people who share both male and female spirits.

Kapaemahu is the name of a short animated film and book about the healing stones of Waikīkī, and now the hula that tells the story will be a part of Waikīki through 2025.

The Conversation’s host Catherine Cruz talked to producers Joe Wilson and Dean Hamer about the production.