Gay Parade Organizers Lose Bid to Avoid Fees
Organizers of Long Beach’s annual gay pride parade will have to continue to pay for police and insurance coverage of the event under a court ruling that rejected their challenge to a number of provisions of the city’s parade ordinance.
Although the Superior Court decision struck down the ordinance on the grounds that it gives too much discretion to the city in granting parade permits, the ruling also upheld many of the ordinance’s requirements, including the insurance and police provisions.
The decision, announced in Long Beach by retired Superior Court Judge Charles Litwin, came in a 1985 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride Inc. The group, which sponsors a gay pride parade and two-day festival every spring, contended that the city’s financial requirements violated their constitutional rights.
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