Festival of Pride : Laguna Beach Celebration Turns Out to Be Low-Key Event, Despite Debate Over Its Potential to Make City Appear to Be Mecca for Gays; Organizers Say Success of Debut Should Assure Future Gatherings

Some people did the two-step. Others sat nibbling rigatoni and spinach salads. Many more greeted old friends and sat on the grass soaking up the late-afternoon burst of sunshine.

Saturday of “Laguna Pride Weekend” was decidedly low-key for an event that had generated heated debate among residents concerned that the gay and lesbian festival would turn the city into a gay mecca.

“Here, we can be who we are without worrying about it,” said Steve Ludwig, a board member of Laguna Outreach, one of the groups sponsoring the event. “It’s so refreshing, especially for people who aren’t open activists.”

Hundreds of people attended the city’s first-ever gay festival, which began Friday night and continues today with entertainment and information booths on the grounds of the Festival of Arts; a street gathering at Main Street and South Coast Highway, and a volleyball tournament at West Street Beach.

There have been other gay pride events in Orange County--including the annual Orange County Cultural Pride event at the UC Irvine--but never one in this seaside town with a large gay and lesbian population.

“We’re looking for more visibility and bridge-building between the gay and lesbian community and the rest of the city,” said Ludwig, as he sold white, pink and green Pride T-shirts on the festival grounds. “It’s always better when you can put a face to an issue.”

Developing a presence in southern Orange County wasn’t the only purpose behind Laguna Pride Weekend. Organizers said they also want to boost business in a city hit by fires and floods, and provide an affirmative atmosphere for people who fight daily against what they say are misunderstanding and bigotry.

On Saturday, a crowd gathered at the Festival of Arts grounds throughout the day, stopping at tables to collect literature from organizations such as PAWS: Helping People with AIDS Keep Their Pets; the Orange County Blade, the county’s only gay and lesbian magazine, and the Log Cabin Club, a gay Republican group.

By the early afternoon, people had arrived from as far away as Ontario and Westchester at the festival grounds, where disc jockeys spun country and pop songs.

“We can go outside and hold hands and dance and not have to pretend we’re just friends,” said Kathy from Orange, who declined to give her last name because she said her lover hasn’t told anyone that she is a lesbian. “This is smaller than other gay pride festivals I’ve been to, but it’ll just take time before it gets really big.”

Three people, carrying cardboard signs spray-painted with Bible verses and “Jesus Saves,” turned out near the entrance of the festival grounds to stage a brief and quiet protest.

Doug Reilly, co-chairman of the nonprofit Laguna Outreach, said he thinks the Pride Weekend would further promote this artists’ enclave as a fashionable resort town for gays and lesbians.

“This is fabulous. Attendance is great. I would say the chances of our having another one are excellent,” Reilly said.

Critics of the pride festival said they were concerned that the weekend events would undermine the city’s reputation as a home for the arts.

But organizers said that presenting Laguna Beach as a place open to gays and lesbians would not change the city’s image because the city has always been accepting of its gay and lesbian community.

Laguna resident Marcy Jacklich wasn’t concerned about the debate. On Saturday, she came to the festival with commerce on her mind, selling custom-made gift baskets to the crowd. She ended up having a good time.

“I’ve met some really nice people today that I otherwise wouldn’t have met,” she said. “I support everybody in the community, whether it’s the Girl Scouts or the Boy Scouts or whatever.”

With a sweep of her arm to encompass the small groups laughing over shared jokes and couples pushing children in strollers, Jacklich added: “People give a bad image if they do something bad. But do you see anything bad here? I don’t.”