Pomona Takes the Gay Out of Rights Week : Proclamation: The council reverses its decision of a month ago after receiving complaints from conservative groups and churches.

The Pomona City Council, which a month ago proclaimed the last week in June as Gay and Human Rights Week, reversed itself this week after receiving complaints from local conservative groups and churches.

The council rescinded its proclamation by a 3-2 vote Monday night before a packed chamber of more than 250 people, and then declared the week of June 24 Human Rights Week, without any reference to gays.

Angry gay rights activists marched outside the Pomona council chambers, carrying signs that read “City Council--Don’t Join in the Oppression” and “Homophobes Repent” and chanting “Shame, Shame, Shame.”

Councilman C. L. (Clay) Bryant, who sponsored the original proclamation, said he changed his mind after receiving a barrage of phone calls and letters. “I had enough public reaction to tell me we made a mistake,” he said.

Bryant submitted the gay rights proclamation to the council last month at the request of Patrick Greene, a Pomona resident who said he has a gay stepson who suffers from AIDS. It declared that Pomona “recognizes that the gay and lesbian community has helped to show to everyone that all people can live and work together in harmony and still maintain a relationship of respect and trust.”

In withdrawing his support, Bryant said he was influenced by a magazine article suggesting that homosexuals are trying to reshape public opinion to gain acceptance. “I don’t speak out of malice,” he said. “I’m speaking about what’s best for Pomona and what’s best for Pomona is a straight city.”

Mayor Donna Smith, who also voted for the proclamation a month ago, said she changed her mind after spending Sunday in prayer. Smith said she feared that special recognition for one group would lead to requests to honor other groups. Already, she said, she has heard suggestions for a straight people’s week, Caucasian rights week and common-law marriage week.

Matt Plummer, 32, an employee of Focus on the Family, a Pomona-based Christian ministry that produces radio programs, films and publications, told the council: “It is wrong of government to recognize and sanitize a life style that is unnatural and harmful to society.”

Plummer produced two keys and a lock, saying, “I would like to show an object lesson to you. The natural thing to do with this key is to put it in the lock like that. It is against nature to put these two keys together.”

A church pastor offered to cite 50 verses in the Bible that condemn homosexuality. Members of the Central Baptist Church of Pomona submitted a petition opposing the council’s designation.

But Marianne Van Fossen, pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of the Pomona Valley, which serves gays, said: “The notion that God condemns our love is erroneous. There is nothing in the Bible to condemn homosexual people or how we express our love. It is my deepest prayer that those who hate the way we love will learn to thank God for love in all its forms.”

Linda Berard of the 140-member Pomona-San Gabriel Valley Gay and Lesbian Coalition said homosexuality is a deeply ingrained part of one’s personality. “A person’s sexual orientation is an integral part of one’s self-identity and one’s wholeness,” she said. “It is ludicrous to think that one would choose or prefer to be hated and stigmatized if they could change.”

Councilman Mark A. T. Nymeyer, a church pastor who was the only one of the five council members to vote against the proclamation last month, said basic human rights are already guaranteed to all and there is no need to single out a certain group for distinction.

Council members Nell Soto and Tomas Ursua stood by the proclamation. “I do not have a right to judge anyone’s life style,” Soto said. “I leave that to the Creator.” Ursua said, “If I found out my daughter was gay, I could not fathom loving her any less than I do now. I would defend her right to be different. I would defend her humanity.”

Smith said she hoped the gay community would participate in Human Rights Week. But after the council meeting, angry demonstrators from the Pomona-San Gabriel Valley gay coalition said they plan to celebrate Gay Pride Week nevertheless.

Van Fossen said she will “recommend that the (Metropolitan Community) church hold Gay Pride Week regardless of the city’s permission. We are proud. We have rights and we will celebrate our lives regardless of their prejudice, fear and ignorance.”