Gays Win Fight, and Own Night at Magic Mtn.

Six Flags Magic Mountain illegally discriminated against homosexuals when it refused to schedule an exclusive “Gay and Lesbian Night” at the amusement park, a Superior Court judge ruled today.

Rejecting arguments that teenagers who work at the park might refuse to show up for work--in part out of the fear of AIDS--Superior Court Judge Robert H. O’Brien said state civil rights laws take precedence over the park’s staffing problems.

Attorney Gloria Allred, representing a Sylmar woman who had sought to organize the event, called the ruling a major victory both for homosexuals and other minority groups.

Gay Pride Event

“If they could do that to gays and lesbians, who are 10% of our community, what’s to prevent them from barring blacks from the park because there are white parents who might object to having their children working there? What’s to prevent Christian parents from saying they don’t want a B’nai B’rith event because they don’t want their children associating with Jewish people?” Allred declared.

Valerie Heekin, a video production specialist, telephoned Magic Mountain officials in May of 1985 about reserving the park for a special gay pride event.

The park denied the request, citing problems that occurred during a “Gay Night at Magic Mountain” in 1979, when several teen-age employees failed to report for work and the park received about 75 complaints from parents of staff members who were “severely critical” of the event.

While the park has no policy against admitting homosexuals, park officials feared that they would encounter “impossible staffing problems with an event reserved exclusively for homosexuals,” former general manager Richard Miller told the court in a written declaration.

AIDS Concern Cited

With increasing concern about the high incidence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome in the gay community, “many employees do not want to be in a concentrated setting of high-risk individuals,” park attorneys added.

“You weigh all of that with rights set out in the Unruh Civil Rights Act, you’re on the short end,” O’Brien responded, granting Heekin’s request to rule on the merits of her case without going to a full trial.

Heekin said she has sought to organize the event because of what she said was the amusement park’s routine policy of preventing gays and homosexuals from openly displaying affection during regular operating days. Heekin added that she will attempt to organize the event for the Labor Day weekend.