200,000 Attend Gay Pride Parade : Festival: Some march to show solidarity and pride. Others say it is an occasion to celebrate.

More than 200,000 exuberant people braved early morning earthquakes, traffic jams and stifling heat to attend the 22nd annual Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Pride Celebration on Sunday.

They came for different reasons, making a statements in their own way. Some, such as Richard Porter of Long Beach and his partner, Mike, had come to lend political support to gay rights causes and to show solidarity and pride in their sexual orientation.

Others, such as Chris Logan of Woodland Hills, came mostly to have a good time. “It’s a celebration,” Logan said from his front-row seat along the 1.5-mile parade route on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Indeed, it was. As Logan and his friends watched, more than 5,000 participants from 263 groups marched or motored by, everyone from gay and lesbian politicians to “leather contingents” and the West Hollywood Cheerleaders, a group of cross-dressers carrying pompons and sporting beehive hairdos.

Behind them, gawkers stood 10 deep on the sidewalks and dangled out of second-story windows to watch the parade unfold under cloudless skies. By afternoon, after the parade wound down, music blared from the dance hall speakers at the festival next door. Parade-goers turned their attention to arcade games and special interest booths that catered to those seeking everything from AIDS counseling to a job with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Although there was much celebration, there was also sadness and anger.

Many of the parade marchers decried Gov. Pete Wilson’s veto of AB101, the civil rights bill that would have barred California employers and landlords from discriminating against people on the basis of sexual orientation. They vowed to redouble their efforts to get such legislation passed this year.

“It’s clear from the turnout that rejection of AB101 has mobilized and galvanized this community,” said Michael Yates, president of the Christopher Street West gay rights group that produces the event every year. “The message is: We’re here, we’re not going away and we’re entitled to the same rights as anyone else.”

It was a day to mourn people such as Mark Kostopolous, who died recently of complications of AIDS. More than a dozen members of Kostopolous’ group, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP/LA), marched to the slow cadence of a banging drum, carrying photos of the outspoken and avuncular gay rights activist wearing his trademark angry scowl.

It was also a day to congratulate those just “coming out” and declaring their sexual orientation, and those long active in the fight for gay and lesbian civil rights.

Television actor Dick Sargent--Samantha the witch’s put-upon husband on “Bewitched”--was a grand marshal in the parade, along with television wife Elizabeth Montgomery. He was chosen because of his decision in October to “come out,” and she was chosen for her longtime support of gay rights.

There were several minor controversies and one arrest for public drunkenness. Queer Nation, a radical gay activist group, charged parade organizers with discrimination because of the $10 cover charge that most had to pay to get into the festival. Yates said the admission fee would cover part of the anticipated $400,000 festival price tag.

And as before a handful of protesters told marchers they were sinning in the eyes of God.

“You need a man!” one fundamentalist protester shouted to Torie Osborn, executive director of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center and this year’s parade Woman of the Year. “No, YOU need a man!” Osborn retorted.

The Los Angeles pride celebration was among the largest in the United States. Other parades were held in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and New York, where tens of thousands lined 5th Avenue to watch floats, costumes, singers and dancers.