Gays Brave Downpour to Protest Irvine’s Measure N : March: A two-mile demonstration walk opens a weeklong anti-bigotry campaign across the state. A movement pioneer, 77, cheers on demonstrators.

More than 150 gay and lesbian demonstrators battled rain and strong winds Saturday afternoon to protest the passage last November of Measure N, which removed homosexuals from Irvine’s human rights ordinance.

Men and women from Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego and the Inland Empire started trickling into Irvine’s City Hall courtyard about noon armed with placards, banners and whistles. As they prepared for their rally and march sponsored by the Orange County Visibility League, many of them passed out gay and lesbian rights literature, buttons and stickers.

The group chose to sponsor the Irvine march Saturday to kick off other lesbian and gay rights demonstrations that will take place this week throughout the state, said Jeff LeTourneau, co-founder of the Visibility League.

League board member Jan Speller said, “This event is about visibility and about the fact that the lesbian and the gay community are no longer willing to sit back in silence while the right-wing bigots try to deny us our civil rights.”

Harry Hay, a founder of the gay rights movement in the 1950s, spoke at the event.

Now living in Los Angeles, the 77-year-old man reflected on the days when people never referred to gay men as homosexuals.

“Back in the 1950s, there was no such thing as homosexuals. We were heterosexuals with nasty acts,” he said to the crowd. “Today is an important occasion. We have begun to tell the people of this community that we are taking responsibility.”

As the two-mile march began, dozens of men and women shouted slogans, carried posters and wore pink armbands as reminders of the fact that homosexuals were forced to wear pink triangles in Nazi Germany. They blew their whistles, held their fists in the air and waved to gawkers driving by.

“I’m here because Measure N passed,” said Craig Tolbert, who led the march holding the group’s banner with two other demonstrators. “We’re out here to say we are angry. We’re not asking for special rights, just equal rights.”

As the 19-year-old Lynwood man moved ahead in the pouring rain without an umbrella, he chanted along with his comrades, “Right-wing bigots, go away! Racists! Sexists! Anti-gay!”

“I’m tired of being treated as second rate,” said 31-year-old Mike Hughes of Laguna Hills. “Who’s anyone to judge what anyone does?”

As the marchers made their way through the residential blocks near City Hall on Alton Parkway and Harvard Avenue, about seven police cars slowly drove on the side of the street along the route.

The officers were there, said Sgt. Tim Smith, “to keep (the marchers) off the streets and on the sidewalks. It was basically to keep the peace too.”

A few passing drivers yelled obscenities at the marchers, but no other confrontation occurred.

“We were there to keep them from being assaulted. This was a very cooperative and peaceful demonstration. They got their message out and that was it,” Smith said.

Demonstrators represented the sponsoring group and other gay and lesbian organizations. Also represented were members of the National Organization for Women.

“I support the issues of freedom of choice and freedom of life styles,” said Joy Williams, a NOW board member in Orange County. “These issues don’t know color. These issues are universal.”

Another marcher representing the Young Adult Program for Lesbians and Gays in the county was Carrie Florer, 21, of Anaheim.

“I’m not happy to be here,” she said. “It’s unfortunate to have to do this. None of us are happy about Measure N.

“By being here, if we are seen, people can realize we are all over the place. We are normal people. People can’t sweep us under the rug,” she said. “We can’t just stay home and watch while people gradually chop off what few rights we do have.”

LeTourneau was enthusiastic about Saturday’s turnout.

“I’m very, very pleased,” he said. “If we can draw 150 people with rain, who knows how many we would draw if it didn’t?”