Official’s Letter on Gays Draws Protest

Calling on elected officials to protect rather than persecute homosexual students, about a dozen gay rights activists Thursday appeared before the Orange County Board of Education and protested a recent attack on homosexuality by board member Felix Rocha Jr.

The protesters, including clergymen and parents, warned that an anti-homosexual statement from a prominent elected official could give tacit approval to gay-bashers. They also called for a dialogue between gay teachers, students and administrators and the five-member board.

In a letter to the editor published in The Times last month, Rocha said that “homosexuality has no dignity.”

Rocha, who was elected last year to a four-year term, said his letter was written to oppose state Assembly Bill 101, which seeks to ban discrimination against students based on sexual orientation. Current law prohibits discrimination based on religion, age, sex, color, or physical or mental disability.

“As an elected official, a father and someone retired from the federal government, I don’t think this belongs in the education code,” Rocha said in an interview Thursday with The Times.

The Board of Education itself has taken no action on the issue.

Althea Ingram, co-coordinator of the Orange County Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center’s leadership training program, said Rocha’s statements were “outrageous.”

“Shame on you and shame on anyone who would say a statement like that,” Ingram said.

David Robert Heywood, a Cal State Fullerton student and a member of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, called Rocha’s viewpoint “disgusting.”

“He is in a position of influence over young people, and he’s acting in an undignified manner. We hope to get that across to him today,” he said.