SANTA ANA : City Says Permit Not Needed for Gay Day

A month after a controversial Gay Pride Festival, city officials have decided a permit is not needed for a gay organization to hold its second annual National Coming Out Day today at the Plaza of the Flags in the Civic Center.

Although a permit was issued for last year’s event, sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Orange County, city officials now say permits are not needed by any group that wants to use the plaza.

Gay activists say the city’s decision is an effort to sidestep the sort of controversy that erupted over last month’s Gay Pride Festival, where a wild fistfight broke out between radical gay activists and fundamentalist Christians after a peaceful gay parade around Centennial Regional Park.

But Assistant City Atty. Richard E. Lay said Santa Ana never had the authority to issue permits for the use of the plaza. The city only has a joint operating agreement with the county to maintain the plaza, he added.

“What had happened at the festival certainly raised a question about this permit. But it turns out that we never had the authority to issue a permit in the first place,” Lay said Tuesday.

As a result, the city is revamping all of its permit procedures, said Allen Doby, director of the city’s Department of Recreation and Community Services.

“We can’t grant permits or deny them,” said Doby, while denying that the city is trying to avoid controversy.

Civil rights attorney John J. Duran said the gay community center based in Garden Grove applied for a permit on Sept. 20.

The city’s decision not to issue one indicates that officials are “paranoid,” said Jeff LeTourneau of the Orange County Visibility League, a gay activist group. “This is a repercussion of the festival and it’s plain discrimination. The city’s sole concern is avoiding political controversy,” he said.

Werner Kuhn, executive director for the gay center, said the city is “skittish” about any event that smacks of controversy even though last year’s Coming Out Day was peaceful.

Today’s event is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. and will include speeches and a candlelight ceremony, Kuhn said.