Marchers asking for equal rights

After reading Sharon Williamson’s letter to the editor (“March

organizers should think of community,” Tuesday) I felt obliged to

clarify why the Dyke March Organizing Committee, the Center Orange

County and the American Civil Liberties Union continue to pursue

legal action against the city of Costa Mesa. It is not, as Williamson

suggests, for publicity or to push an agenda. Rather, it is for the

protection of the rights of all community members and any

organization which hopes to hold an event in the fine city of Costa

Mesa.

I appreciate that Williamson has been through the permitting

process with the city and I wish her much success with her event.

While it is true that the four conditions attached to her permit are

similar to four of the conditions attached to the Dyke March permit,

the march organizers and I feel that the additional 17 conditions

attached to the Dyke March permit are burdensome and unreasonable.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has often

been accused of asking for special rights or, in Williamson’s words,

“shoving our interests down the throats of the public.” But the fact

is, we are not asking to be treated any differently than any other

group which applies for a special events permit from the city of

Costa Mesa. We are just asking that all groups be treated the same

and be held to the same conditions -- conditions that do not

interfere with any group’s constitutional right to free speech and

peaceful assembly. We believe the city’s permit scheme vests

unbridled discretion in city officials and places unconstitutional

restrictions on 1st Amendment rights. We are fighting not only on our

own behalf, but on behalf of other groups who may follow. Whether

Williamson realizes it or not, we are fighting for her rights, as

well.

As for Williamson’s admonition of the permit applicants, I take no

shame in drawing attention to the inequities and injustices of life

when I see them and doing all I can to eliminate them. My parents,

who raised me in Costa Mesa, taught me to stand up for not only my

rights, but the rights of all people when they are trod upon.

PAUL BLANK

Corona del Mar

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Paul Blank is the chairman of the board of the

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Services Center of

Orange County, the fourth largest such community center in the United

States.