Thread: Laguna Beach Parade Hit By Political Fight

http://www.wral.com/apnationalnews/6394915/detail.html

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- For nearly 40 years, this quaint city overlooking the Pacific has united around its annual Patriots' Day Parade, a celebration of school marching bands, charities, civic groups and military personnel.

The small-town tradition, though, has become an unlikely battlefield in the national debate over illegal immigration.

The nonprofit group that runs the parade recently rejected a float sponsored by the Minuteman Project, a self-styled border patrol run by illegal immigration opponent Jim Gilchrist. Now, his group is threatening legal action on free-speech and discrimination grounds and has gone to the airwaves to criticize the city and its parade.

Despite a stream of e-mails and phone calls from Minuteman supporters, however, the parade committee reaffirmed its position in a three-hour meeting late Monday and voted unanimously to ban the Minuteman Project on political grounds.

"This is utter nonsense. It's taken on a life of its own," said Charles J. Quilter II, association vice president and a retired Marine colonel. "We're just trying to do the right thing for a small-town parade."

The vote sets the stage for a legal showdown in a controversy that has shaken Laguna Beach, a bohemian town of 24,000 tucked into coastal hills that is best-known for its vibrant arts scene, ocean vistas, laid-back atmosphere and prominent gay population.

The issue began when two members of the Minuteman Project who live in Laguna Beach filled out an application to enter a float in the March 4 parade on behalf of their group.

The parade committee, however, turned down the application because it found the group's participation would violate its bylaws, which ban groups with a religious or political affiliation or message. The association, which isn't affiliated with the city, puts on the show each year for about $10,000, Quilter said.

The Minuteman Project, co-founded by Gilchrist, uses volunteer civilians to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border for illegal immigrants. Gilchrist ran unsuccessfully for the 48th congressional district last year and has suggested he may challenge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for re-election.

The organization proposed a float bearing dancers who would perform a choreographed act with binoculars and folding chairs to imitate border patrollers and another group of actors in Revolutionary War costumes, Gilchrist said Monday during a telephone interview. About 400 civilian volunteers would follow the float on foot, he said.

Gilchrist maintains that the Minuteman Project isn't political and that many of the parade's past and current entrants violate the same rule, including a gay men's choir, a peace group and a local center that runs a day laborer center on the city's outskirts. Because of these inconsistencies, he said, his group has retained an attorney and plans to file a lawsuit alleging discrimination and violation of free speech by the end of the week.

"They say the Minuteman Project is controversial, but so is the gay group and so is the vigil for peace. Every time I go down to the Main Beach there, I see them protesting" against the Iraq war, said Gilchrist, who is also a former Marine. "I have no objection to any of these other groups, so why are they discriminating against us?"

Parade organizers say they just want the controversy to end so they can continue planning an annual treat, a parade where "half the town's in it and the other half's watching," Quilter said.

"These hateful calls and e-mails can really wear a person down," Quilter said. "I think the issue that they're trying to raise is an important part of the national debate. ... But it's a political dialogue and has nothing to do with a small-town parade."

Patriots' Day is traditionally celebrated April 19, the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord that began the Revolutionary War. Laguna Beach has always used an earlier date for its parade, eventually moving it to the first Saturday in March, according to the parade organizers' Web site.

The first parade was held in February 1967, spurred by a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution who hoped for an event that would "instill in our youth love of country and respect for the flag," the Web site says.

I bet the ACLU is not going to help on the free Speech issue.

That's interesting. A Patriot's Day Parade in which modern day patriots are unwelcome? ? ? hmmmm

RR