Thousands Turn Out for Festive Gay Pride Parade

Los Angeles’ 15th annual Gay Pride parade Sunday, decked out as usual in outrageous costume and serious intent, drew festive crowds lined five-deep along a 1 1/2-mile stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.

Rivaling gay pride marches in New York and San Francisco in size, the West Hollywood parade drew between 50,000 and 150,000 well-mannered spectators, the Sheriff’s Department reported. The smaller crowd estimate came from a sheriff’s spokesman, the larger from event organizers.

At the head of Sunday’s procession was the West Hollywood City Council, representing the city formed on incorporation last fall.

“It’s their 15th anniversary celebration and our first,” said Mayor Valerie Terrigno, one of three homosexual members of the five-member council. “West Hollywood, like this parade, does really represent the kinds of freedoms we’ve been working for. It’s not really anything special, just a place to be like everyone else.”

The 31-year-old mayor has been to gay marches all over the country, and everywhere “people say they were coming here this year because West Hollywood means so much to them,” she said. “I meet people from Las Vegas and San Diego and they say, ‘You’re our mayor too.’ We have an extended community. And when they’re here, they tell me they feel free.”

That was the message among the placards and banners and enthusiastic cheers as an estimated 8,000 marchers--ranging from transvestites to an orderly group of teachers, doctors and scientists--made the Gay Pride parade the third largest in number of participants in Southern California, ranking behind only the Rose and Santa Claus Lane parades, said George Piazzi, a director of Christopher Street West, the nonprofit group that runs the parade.

“It just keeps growing,” Piazzi said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do next year. We’re getting to the point where we won’t be able to handle any more.”

Piazzi said Sunday’s crowd was at least twice the size of last year’s, which the sheriff then estimated at 60,000. The sheriff’s estimate of 50,000 to 65,000 this year was based upon surveillance by a deputy from a helicopter, said Deputy Mike Ford. Piazzi said that figure was “not believable.”

The large crowd was responsible for no significant incidents or arrests, said Ford. “It was an extremely well-behaved gathering.” Ford said three to four arrests are usually made during the full two-day gay festival, which includes the parade, sports events and a concert.

Among those at curbside as bands, baton twirlers, religious groups and politicians passed was Paul, a 62-year-old manager of a clothing business in Monterey Park.

“This is my first parade,” he said softly. “I’m here because I’m gay and I’ve always wanted to see exactly what some of my friends were talking about. And it’s just fantastic to see all of these people together and not afraid of what people think. They’re all acting so wonderfully. The comradeship is terrific.”

But Paul said he did not want to be identified by his full name, because, even at his age, “my mother doesn’t know I’m gay. It would just kill her if she found out.”

Not all those at the parade were homosexuals and their friends. Several heterosexual couples came with their families.

“We heard about the wild costumes and the craziness,” said Stephen Schonfield, a Los Angeles dentist, attending with his wife, Anita, and their 2-year-old son. “It’s fun for us and also a parade for our son without having to fight the crowds like at the Rose Parade.”