Judge Sides With Laguna Parade Organizers

A judge refused Tuesday to order Laguna Beach parade organizers to include the controversial Minuteman border patrol organization in their March 4 Patriots Day parade.

Superior Court Judge Michael Brenner said requiring the inclusion of certain groups would violate the parade organizers’ free-speech rights.

“This is their parade,” the judge said, “and they can express what they want in their parade.”

Parade organizers had denied the Minuteman organization entry in January, saying its bylaws prohibited political or religious entries.

The Minuteman group protested, filed a lawsuit that sought $25,000 in damages and requested a court order allowing them to participate.

Charles J. Quilter II, vice president of the Patriots Day Parade Assn., said he wasn’t terribly pleased with the court decision.

“Most people who prevail in court should feel happy,” he said. “We are sad that we have to be here at all. We take no pleasure in today’s ruling. We would prefer to spend time planning the parade.”

Minuteman attorney Richard Ackerman said he would recommend that his client appeal. The judge’s decision to allow his clients to be excluded from the parade made it “a great day for those who believe in discrimination,” he said.

The 40th-annual Patriots Day Parade is a homespun event that includes military veterans, Boy Scouts and high school bands.

The three-hour march from Laguna Beach High School to the town hall is designed to promote local patriotism and celebrates Revolutionary War battle victories.

Brenner said the Minuteman’s request closely resembled a 1995 Supreme Court case involving a gay organization that wanted to march in a St. Patrick’s Day Parade in South Boston.

In that case, the court ruled that parades were protected under the First Amendment and that the state could not compel organizers to include groups with messages the organizers opposed.

Laguna Beach City Atty. Robert Owen said the judge’s rejection of the Minuteman request indicated the judge “believed the Minuteman case was a total loser.”

Ackerman argued that the parade organizers allowed other groups with political motives in the parade, including the Laguna Beach Peace Vigil, which for years has protested various wars each weekend on the beach.

Ackerman unsuccessfully argued that the parade organization, which takes in $20 entry fees from about 100 groups each year, was a business that violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which applies to private enterprise.

Brenner disagreed. He said previous case decisions showed that even the Boy Scouts of America, which has its own stores to sell uniforms, was not considered a business.

Minuteman co-founder Jim Gilchrist, who recently ran for Congress, declined to comment Tuesday, saying he wanted to learn more about the decision first. He has said he planned to have more than 1,200 people protest at the parade.