Debate on Gay Festival Packs Chambers

Gay rights advocates and fundamentalist Christians politely squared off in a jampacked Santa Ana City Council chamber Monday night and debated whether a gay pride festival should be allowed to take place in a city park next fall.

Gay leaders contend that it should, but religious leaders charge that it is an improper use of Centennial Park.

After giving representatives of each side 15 minutes each to speak, Mayor Daniel H. Young remarked that it was “just a whole lot of fun to be on the hot seat.”

Then he asked the city manager and the city attorney to report back to the council in 2 to 4 weeks, specifically addressing these questions:

* Does the city have a right or responsibility to be concerned about the content of a cultural festival?

* What criteria should be used in granting or denying such a request?

* And how would the Gay Pride festival affect the community that lives near Centennial Park?

Santa Ana Fire Capt. Barry Cupples estimated that 300 people filled the council chamber, while still more crammed into the lobby and spilled outside.

John Duran, a civil rights lawyer from Santa Ana, said, “Unless it could be shown that there was a clear and present danger of imminent violence, the festival should go on.” Other speakers supporting the festival stressed the constitutional protections of free speech and association, pointing out that if gays were denied a permit, other minority groups could also be singled out for discrimination.

Don Richardson, a pastor of the Calvary Church of Santa Ana, argued against allowing the festival. “This event is not just about the use of facilities,” Richardson said, “it is about the promotion of the homosexual life style.”

A group called Orange County Cultural Pride already has tentative approval from the city’s Recreation Department to hold the event, which organizers are promoting as the county’s first-ever gay pride festival, in Centennial Park on Sept. 9 and 10.

But last Thursday, after receiving letters and phone calls from residents opposed to the event, Mayor Young said the gay pride festival might be an “inappropriate” use of a community park. “I’m real unhappy about the parks that are there for quiet time and recreation becoming a focal point for controversial issues,” Young said. “The issue is the health and welfare of our community . . . . That park happens to be in the middle of a quiet residential neighborhood.”

The mayor expressed concern that the festival will draw hundreds of people protesting both for and against the gay life style and that such activity should not take place in a residential neighborhood.