Of Pride and Protests : Long Beach Gay Groups Overcome Political Opposition and Financial Difficulties to Stage 2nd Annual Parade

Marilyn Barlow stood pensively amid the bustle of bands and marchers waiting to begin the 2nd annual Long Beach gay pride parade Sunday.

While others hurried about putting finishing touches on colorful floats and carefully lettered banners, Barlow watched proudly, tears welling in her eyes.

“We’re here,” said Barlow, who manages a lesbian bar in Long Beach. “The city did everything in their power to keep us off the streets, but we’re here.”

Barlow was among 600 Long Beach homosexuals who paraded down Ocean Boulevard, the city’s main coastal thoroughfare, in an event that has been clouded by controversy since organizers began planning it more than a year ago.

Well-Mannered Crowd

Up and down the parade route, more than 3,000 well-mannered spectators smiled and clapped as homosexual drill teams, roller skating clowns and an all-gay band featuring pompon men passed by.

After the event, more than 6,000 people attended a festival in palm-studded Shoreline Aquatic Park near downtown Long Beach. About 4,000 turned out at the park Saturday to kick off the celebration. There were no incidents.

Gay pride parades in such homosexual enclaves as West Hollywood--where the 15th annual parade will be held next Sunday--have become widely accepted fixtures. But plans for the Long Beach event sparked vocal protests by conservative Christians and spawned a pitched political battle at City Hall.

Christian Opposition

Since last year’s parade, the first such gay event in Long Beach, fundamentalists have routinely attended council meetings to express their opposition to the gay pride celebration. Last month, about 300 conservative Christians flocked to City Hall to watch as the council narrowly defeated a move to scale back the two-day festival to one day.

Although homosexual leaders managed to dash that effort, Long Beach officials demanded that the celebration’s backers pay almost $18,000 to compensate for police supervision and other city services during the parade and festival.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a discrimination lawsuit on behalf of parade organizers, contending that the services have been provided at less or no cost to promoters of other events.

Last week, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge refused to grant an injunction that would have blocked the city’s demand. A day later, the 2nd District Court of Appeal also denied the injunction. Susan McGreivy, an ACLU attorney handling the case, said she now plans to appeal the matter to the state Supreme Court.

To further complicate matters, the city required organizers to purchase a $1-million insurance policy. While the group was able to obtain such a policy for about $1,000 last year, the cheapest rate they could get this year was $11,600.

Faced with mounting bills, organizers last week feared they might have to limit the parade to a protest march along sidewalks to reduce costs. But on Wednesday, an anonymous donor lent the group enough money to cover expenses.

Organizers said this year’s turnout was three times that of 1984’s celebration.

“Everybody’s got big smiles on their faces,” said Judith Doyle, president of Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride Inc., the nonprofit group that organized the parade and festival. “After all the fighting, after all the hassles, to get this kind of positive feedback is fantastic.”

Doyle and others attributed the increased interest to the emergence of Long Beach gays and lesbians as more visible political players in the city.

“This will hopefully prove to the city of Long Beach that gay people are an active force that has to be contended with,” said Ed, a marcher who would only give his first name because he fears reprisals from his employer. “There are well over 40,000 gays and lesbians in Long Beach. We intend to stay and be an important part of the community.”

Not everyone, however, loved the parade. Along one short stretch of pavement, about 50 conservative Christians waved signs reading “No, No Homo” or “June 16 is Father’s Day, Not Fags Day” and chanted “Homos repent.” Several of the protesters wore surgical masks with the inked message “AIDS Mask.”

“I feel this is a slap in the face for Americans,” said Gary Myers, one of the protesters. “I don’t feel anyone who has a mental sickness like homosexuality should be allowed to parade that sickness in front of normal people.”

Although police had expressed concern before the parade about the potential for violence, “things went exceptionally well,” said David Lund, deputy chief of police. About 80 officers helped control traffic and monitor the crowds, he said.