‘Die-In’ Staged to Protest Supervisors’ Vote on AIDS Law

Dozens of gay-rights activists, AIDS patients and health workers staged a “die-in” Tuesday night in Santa Ana, where a week earlier the Orange County Board of Supervisors rejected an ordinance that would have made it illegal to discriminate against people with AIDS.

Holding signs reading “Hate begets hate,” “Selma ‘62, Santa Ana ‘89” and “Orange County: 457 cases of AIDS,” protesters rallied behind each other, some jostling with a handful of counterprotesters. Though no violence broke out--police kept a watchful eye--emotions were strong.

After chanting, singing and exchanging heated words with counterprotesters, more than 50 people lay down on the red courtyard outside the Orange County Hall of Administration building, calling out the names of county residents who have died of AIDS while others traced their outlines in chalk for Civic Center workers to see this morning.

“The days are over when gays and lesbians walk away with their heads down,” said Jeff LeTourneau, co-chairman of the Orange County Visibility League, a gay-rights group. “We will fight back.”

Some counterprotesters carried Bibles. One man lashed at homosexuality, saying, “You’re all walking dead.” Another group, the Orange County Young Americans for Freedom, came to show support for the board’s decision, saying it protects their property.

The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, whose Anaheim-based Traditional Values Coalition led the opposition at last week’s board meeting, showed up at the rally Tuesday and was taunted with chants of “Shame, shame, shame. . . .”

But Sheldon, playing off the term “die-in,” said during the rally, “We all have to choose life. . . .”

“These people have chosen death with their behavior,” Sheldon said of gays. And although there was no confrontation between Sheldon and gay-rights protesters, he later asked three Santa Ana police officers to escort him to his car.

Holding flags and placards, gay-rights protesters explained Tuesday that they had come to protest what they called discrimination by the Board of Supervisors, which voted 3 to 2 against the AIDS anti-discrimination ordinance, making the county the only urban area in the state to reject such an measure.

The proposed ordinance would have prohibited discrimination in housing, employment and county services against people with the AIDS virus. The vote came after an 18-month study by the county’s HIV Advisory Committee.

Protesters were particularly angered by the board’s decision because it went against the advice of county medical advisers, who supported the proposed ordinance as a way of encouraging early reporting of the disease. They expressed concern that landlords and employers may now think they can discriminate against people with the disease.

“The board is confusing homophobia with an issue that affects everyone,” said Larkette Lein, a volunteer who works with AIDS patients. “AIDS is an equal opportunity killer.”

But Sheldon, who blamed homosexuals for the spread of AIDS, said his group opposed the measure because it would encourage further spread of the disease.

“We oppose taking a homosexual status and giving it true minority status, like being black or handicapped,” Sheldon said. “We can’t give that right to a behavior-based minority. There’s nothing constitutional about giving a behavior-based minority a special privilege.”

Those who gathered came to remember those who died of AIDS. At one point, a man weeping next to a box draped with the American flag was comforted by others.

“These people (with AIDS) have enough problems,” said Jean Bremner, a volunteer with the Costa Mesa-based AIDS Services Foundation, her face covered by a black veil. “I have seen enough people die of AIDS not to come out here.”

Others who turned out for the “die-in” said they also had personal reasons for attending the rally.

“I had a cousin who died of AIDS,” said Randy Kerr of Irvine. “I’ve got to carry on the fight.”