From: rwockner@netcom.com (Rex Wockner)
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 1994 09:52:23 -0700 (PDT)


"NORMAL PEOPLE" FILE SUIT TO JOIN SAN DIEGO PRIDE PARADE

by Rex Wockner

        "The Normal People," a group of heterosexuals who want to march 
in the July 16 San Diego gay/lesbian pride parade to protest the 
so-called gay political agenda, filed suit July 12 in San Diego Superior 
Court seeking an injunction to stop the pride committee from banning them.
        They also asked for damages and punitive damages. Damage amounts 
are not specified in California lawsuits.
        The complaint charges that pride organizers violated San Diego's 
Human Dignity Ordinance by discriminating against The Normal People based 
on their sexual orientation in the area of access to city 
facilities--apparently meaning University Avenue in Hillcrest, the route 
of the parade.
        The attorney for the gay-pride committee, Jordan Budd of the 
American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego, scoffed at the lawsuit's 
claims and said the suit "will have a very short life."
        The pride committee and the city are not "joined at the hip" such 
that pride organizers have the ability to allocate access to city 
facilities, Budd said.
        "And there will be thousands of straight marchers in the parade, 
including the police chief," Budd said. "The exclusion has nothing to do 
with their sexual orientation and it has everything to do with their 
message, their viewpoint, which is antithetical to the message and the 
viewpoint of the parade.
        "The organizers," Budd said, "are protecting their rights under 
the First Amendment to have a private parade without having opponents 
obstruct and dilute their message with a contrary viewpoint."
        The Normal People pulled together as a result of discussions on 
former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock's radio talk show about lawsuits 
filed by gays in Boston and New York after they were banned from St. 
Patrick's Day parades in those cities.
        Courts refused to let gays march in New York but OK'd their 
participation in Boston. Boston parade organizers responded by cancelling 
last year's parade.

                            == END ==




Jordan Budd, ACLU of San Diego 232-2121
Peter Lepiscopo 299-5343