Costa Mesa panel supports gay rally

Lolita Harper

Leaders of a county lesbian organization marched out of City Hall

on Wednesday night with overwhelming support for their proposed city

demonstration.

The Costa Mesa Human Relations Committee voted 7 to 2 to recommend

that the City Council approve the proposed parade route for the

Orange County Dyke March around Lions Park and either waive or reduce

the associated fees.

Members Allan Mansoor and Janice Davidson dissented, and other

members of the committee were absent.

Committee members said they would draft a formal letter to the

council recommending a “rolling closure” of portions of 18th Street,

Harbor Boulevard and Pomona Place for the 1.3-mile march. A “rolling

closure” means the streets will be closed as the march proceeds down

the street and opened as soon as marchers pass. The committee

recommended a one-hour cap on any street closure.

“I don’t have a problem with the rolling closures,” committee

member Bonnie Saryan said. “This is different from what I initially

envisioned.”

Lori Hutson and Lori Profeta, the coordinators of the Orange

County Dyke March, explained the importance of the one-day event to

committee and audience members, saying it demonstrates the need of

lesbian visibility and social justice.

It started in 1993 in Washington, D.C., and has grown in

popularity, reaching 15 cities across the country, such as Los

Angeles, Chicago and New York.

The group thinks it is important to bring the event to

traditionally conservative Orange County to counteract some of the

violence and discrimination lesbians have faced, Profeta said.

Hutson and Profeta said they chose Costa Mesa as the host city

because of its reputation for diversity and its ongoing efforts to

eradicate discrimination.

Profeta said they have not felt that the organization was being

discriminated against because of content but argued that the large

fees for permits and street closures created an insurmountable

hurdle.

“We want this event to happen,” Profeta said. “We are really

passionate about it, and we have done a lot of hard work.”

Profeta said at this point in the process -- with the march

scheduled for Aug. 17 -- she was less concerned with the fees than

the parade route.

Visibility is the most important factor and the idea of marching

only on sidewalks or in a residential area, as city officials

suggested to the group in previous meetings, were not feasible, she

said.

Costa Mesa resident Martin Millard agreed and said the high costs

for special events have a chilling effect on other groups who wish to

exercise their right to assemble.

Millard also condemned the city for choosing to previously waive

fees for the Lions Club Fish Fry, as documented in a staff report,

saying the city should not pick and choose who is worthy of a

discount.

“It demonstrates the city is accepting the content of one group

and not the other, and that is not the place of government,” Millard

said.

The permit fee is relatively small -- $100 -- but the police fees,

which are more than $4,000, is exorbitant, Profeta and Hutson said.

The women pointed out a Supreme Court decision that rules that

only “nominal” fees should be imposed on demonstrations such as this

and said Costa Mesa’s costs exceed the spirit of that decision.

Human Relation Committee Member Al Ramirez -- and the majority of

his colleagues -- worried that the high special permit costs would

deter smaller groups from assembling.

“This seems unfair, it really does,” Ramirez said. “It means that

government has that much more power to say you will or will not

assemble, using the leverage of costs.”

Mansoor, who voted against the committee’s recommendation to the

council, agreed that the current fees were too high but said

consistency in applying fee waivers was the most important issue.

“Fairness and consistency are what we need to be most concerned

with,” said Mansoor, who is also a City Council candidate.

He suggested the council deny the fee waivers but research the

possibility of lowering the fees for all groups in the future.

Profeta and Hutson thanked members of the Human Relations

Committee for their recommendation and bolstered the notion that the

required fees were unacceptable.

“If we didn’t have the backing of a major organization, we would

have had to throw our hands up and walk away,” said Profeta, who

pointed out that the march was being funded by the countywide gay and

lesbian organization.

The City Council will review the details of the Orange County Dyke

March at Monday’s meeting at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 77 Fair Drive.

* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at [email protected].