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Published: July 26, 2007

Saturday, July 21, 2007 – San Diego “Gay Pride” parade

The “leather realm,” a festival area devoted to sadomasochistic sex, offered workshops on “Leather 101;” a “leather women’s” panel; “daddy/boy” relationships; negotiation skills; entering the leather community; impact play; preserving leather history; and bondage.

The 2007 San Diego “gay pride” parade took place Saturday, July 21 – one weekend earlier than usual – culminating in a festival inside Balboa Park, where for years the local homosexual community, aided by the ACLU, has been trying to evict the Boy Scouts.

During the parade, an airplane sponsored by the Virginia-based Family Policy Network and California-based Defend the Family International circled overhead with a banner that said “Jesus Christ: www.HopeForHomosexuals.com.” This year, the “Hope Days” banner has also flown over “gay pride” events in Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Columbus (OH) and Philadelphia.

After viewing the banner at San Diego’s parade, an Oceanside resident named Fred wrote to the Family Policy Network saying, “You [Christians] need to make your own state and all go there... then we can nuke it!!”

At University and Ninth avenues, a group of Los Angeles-based street preachers, led by Ruben Israel and flanked by mounted police, held bold-lettered signs with Bible verses condemning homosexuality and, using a bull horn, told parade-goers that homosexuality is sinful, and shaming elected officials and law enforcement officers for their participation.

“The parade went pretty well this year compared to previous years,” said Israel. “I’ve been preaching at these parades for 28 years. San Diego is one of about 30 pride parades that we preached at this year. It’s normal whenever you preach to these types of people, you’re going to have nudity, grabbing and spitting. They threw a couple of objects, but the police moved in and they were able to stop them. One of our guys was almost hit with a full water bottle that came across the street.

“People often think we are preaching a very hard message and that we’re the ones that are hateful. My response is, ‘Which direction are the police facing, them or us?’ If we were anything like the way they label us, they’d be facing us.”

As San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders marched by, Israel said he told him, “You are nothing but a vote whore, and you’ve just sold your soul for a vote.” He told parading San Diego police officers, “You are a criminal in God’s eyes. You can uphold the law of man, but you have broken the law of God.”

“When I come to San Diego,” continued Israel, “I am not there to run for mayor, so I don’t tickle ears. I’m there as an ambassador to God, and when God calls this particular sin an abomination in the Old Testament and reprobate in the New Testament, I’m there to amplify that message.”

In contrast to last year, where an estimated 185 contingents marched for more than three hours, this year’s parade included 150 contingents that marched for approximately 2-1/2 hours. Cardboard trash bins advertising anal lubricant, which in 2006 lined the entire parade route down University and Sixth avenues, this year were confined inside the festival area out of public view.

The parade and festival occurred days after the San Diego City Council voted to proclaim July 2007 “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month in the City of San Diego.” In previous years, the council has proclaimed a “pride week,” but this year for the first time they declared a “pride month.”

Nearly every San Diego city councilmember marched in this year’s parade. Participating for the first time were GOP council members Kevin Faulconer, who represents District 2, and District 7 second-term councilman Jim Madaffer.

Faulconer, according to his web site, has two children aged four and two. Madaffer has twin sons in Boy Scouting and is currently active in Scouts, according to a spokeswoman from his office. During his first term, Madaffer fought to keep the Scouts in Balboa Park, consistently siding with them in council votes. In 2001, he referred to the local homosexual community as a “vocal minority.” Now, however, he appears to be siding with them.

The only council member who did not march was District 5 representative Brian Maienschein. However, he voted for the “pride month” proclamation earlier in the week.

Other city officials who strutted in the parade were San Diego police chief William Lansdowne; sheriff Bill Kolender; homosexual district attorney Bonnie Dumanis; homosexual female fire chief Tracy Jarman; city attorney Mike Aguirre; and San Diego County school board vice president John Witt, who drove his antique convertible bestridden by two drag queens.

Participating law enforcement agencies, whose officers also manned recruiting booths inside the festival area, included the San Diego and Chula Vista police departments, and the Harbor Police.

As in previous years, small children were everywhere present in the parade and along the route. The San Diego Cooperative Charter School marched with elementary students in its contingent. Kids were exposed to public displays of near-nudity, floats featuring gyrating men, leather sex aficionados, same-sex sexual behaviors, and a marcher with the words “F*** Me” painted on her bare back.

Other parade contingents included Sempra Energy; Wells Fargo Bank; GM Automobiles; Cox Communications; AT&T; Starbucks Coffee; Hewlett Packard; Sunset Cliffs Animal Hospital; Whole Foods Market; San Diego State University; UCSD’s LGBT Community; Cal State University San Marcos; Greenwood Memorial Park Mortuary and Flower Shop and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, drag queens who dress up in outlandish nun costumes and mock the Catholic Church.

Among religious organizations taking part in the parade were St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral; Temple Emanu-El; Christ Chapel North Park; Congregation Dor Hadash; Mission Hills United Church of Christ; Pilgrim United Church of Christ; Pacific Beach United Methodist Church; University Christian Church.

The San Diego Union-Tribune erroneously reported July 22 that “when a convertible carrying three Catholic clergy members from San Diego passed by the [street preachers’] protest zone, the crowd erupted in cheers.” The clergy members were from the Catholic Church of America, which is not recognized or affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego.

Inside the festival area were special sections for bisexuals, transgenders, seniors, sobriety support, and “queer, queer-friendly, and questioning youth;” a lesbian health fair; an “art of pride” exhibit; and an adults-only “freedom zone” featuring XXX hardcore homosexual pornography, models and porn movie actors, and sex devices.

The Children’s Garden, which in 2005 was discovered to have employed convicted child molester Martin Ramirez playing the role of “Marty the Clown,” was this year moved from the outskirts to the center of the festival, near the bisexual and transgender areas. According to the official “pride” program, “The Children’s Garden offers reading, arts-n-crafts and games for children 4-10 years old.”

The “leather realm,” a festival area devoted to sadomasochistic sex, offered workshops on “Leather 101;” a “leather women’s” panel; “daddy/boy” relationships; negotiation skills; entering the leather community; impact play; preserving leather history; and bondage.

Festival exhibitors included the Union-Tribune; Mrs. Fields Cookies; Bank of America; Ritz Camera; Midway Jeep and Chrysler; Pacific Home Remodeling; Century 21 Sea Coast; Cunningham BMW; La Jolla Playhouse; Rancho Coastal Humane Society; Veterinary Pet Insurance; Pacific Monarch and Welk Resorts; State Farm Insurance; American Cancer Society; Merrill Lynch; Sorrento Valley Dental Group; and Gilead Sciences.

Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties sponsored a “community tent” inside the festival. Dignity San Diego, a group that sanctions homogenital behavior and claims to be Catholic but is not officially recognized by the Catholic Church, had a booth hawking holy cards, pins, and a resource pamphlet for “GLBT survivors of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy.”

At the back of the official pride program was a copy of Republican Catholic governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's letter bearing “warmest greetings” to sodomy celebrants. “The last few years have seen a significant shift in society’s views towards the LGBT community,” wrote Schwarzenegger. “Icy tolerance is slowly melting away to reveal neighborhoods, organizations and individuals united by similar goals instead of divided by misunderstanding. Although much remains to be done to stop discrimination and bigotry, the progress that has been made is certainly cause for celebration.”

A sideline commentary next to Schwarzenegger’s letter, penned by the San Diego Pride board of directors, said that Schwarzenegger’s words “are hollow.” The board chastised the governor for announcing his intention to veto Assembly Bill 43, which would give California homosexual couples the “freedom to marry” and for vetoing two out of seven pro-homosexual bills related to “bullying of LGBT students in schools” and “including LGBT history in the curriculum at age-appropriate grades.”

© California Catholic Daily 2007. All Rights Reserved.