Minor Clashes Mark Festival : Orange County’s First Gay-Pride Event Is Marred

Gay rights advocates and fundamentalist Christians shoved and taunted each other Saturday at Orange County’s first gay-pride festival, where small clashes erupted.

But organizers, who had battled for months to see the festival realized, declared it a victory.

“I can’t believe this is Orange County,” exclaimed Marcy Aguirre, a lesbian attending the festival. “It looks like we finally made it here. This is so beautiful.”

Dozens of uniformed police and mounted officers patroled the festival grounds at Centennial Regional Park in Santa Ana, where someone had sprinkled tacks in the parking lots to puncture tires. But despite the shouting and shoving, no violence occurred and no one was arrested.

Inside the park’s chain-link fence, the festival itself was a peaceful scene of strolling couples, barbecues, bright balloons and musicians. Police estimated that about 1,000 people had arrived by mid-afternoon.

Tom Nolan, a gay county supervisor from San Mateo, said both gay activists and opponents of gay rights throughout the state are watching Orange County as the festival continues today.

“It’s a miracle that this is happening in Orange County,” Nolan said. “When people think of Orange County, they think of anti-gay conservatives. This is going to give other smaller communities the strength to carry on and have their own festivals.”

Janet Avery, president of Orange County Cultural Pride, the festival’s organizer, said: “I’m exhilarated. It’s here and it’s happening. Nobody can ever take this day away from us.”

John J. Duran, an attorney for Orange County Cultural Pride, said the festival’s success was a victory for gay rights.

“I’m going to be on pins and needles until this is over,” Duran said. “But right now, we’re the victors. We’ve been the winners in this battle since the gates opened this morning and the festival came alive.”

But the clashes also began soon after the gates opened. Outside the 87-acre park, picketers circled the sidewalks of Edinger Avenue and Fairview Street, waving signs and shouting at arriving cars. One sign read, “Sodomy, Drugs, AIDS And Abortion All End In Death.”

The continued magnet for the controversy was the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, head of the Anaheim-based Traditional Values Coalition and the leader for the last several months of the unsuccessful effort to prevent the festival.

Sheldon and his supporters have filed recall notices against six of the seven Santa Ana City Council members who refused to sign a “pro-family” resolution, drafted by Sheldon, that would have banned the festival from the park.

Trade Epithets

Sheldon’s plan for a noon press conference at a park entrance instead became a verbal battle between the two sides. Fundamentalists shouted, “sinners!” and “sodomites!” and gay activists countered with, “you bigots! and liars!”

Instead of holding a press conference, Sheldon spoke with individual reporters. The tense atmosphere led to occasional pushing matches as gays sought access to Sheldon’s mini-press conferences.

“They’re violating our civil rights,” Sheldon said of the gay protesters.

“We’re not here to win or lose,” Sheldon said. “We just want to show these people their sins and lead them down the right path.”