Largest LGBT Pride event ever held in Orange County, CA

Thousands of people turned out Saturday for the Orange County Pride Festival in downtown Santa Ana, which longtime activists said could be the largest LGBT pride event in Orange County history.

“It’s good for us to know we’re all here,” said Huntington Beach Mayor Pro Tem Joe Shaw, who was on-hand at the festival. “Orange County is not going backwards. We’re going forward.”

The festival featured dozens of booths, including the Orange County chapters of the Democratic Party and Log Cabin Republicans, the county’s Health Care and Social Services Agencies and religious groups like the Orange County Congregation Community Organization and the Episcopal Church:

Laura Kanter, director of youth services at The Center OC, noted the wide ethnic and socioeconomic diversity being celebrated at the festival.

“I think it’s amazing that this is happening in Santa Ana,” Kanter said.

One example of the diversity was the live music and dancing, which ranged from rock to electronic to Mexican ballet folklórico:

Youth activists also had a booth at the event, where high school and college students gathered petition signatures for Orange County school districts to fully implement state laws on LGBT-related issues.

“We know these laws exist and we’re going to make sure that they’re implemented in our schools,” said Cindy Cuevas, a student at Valley High School in Santa Ana.

The petition calls for the implementation of anti-bullying Seth’s Law, the LGBT and disability history-focused FAIR Education Act, and the transgender students law known as AB 1266.

Cuevas and others said they plan to present their petition to school boards across the county.

Kanter said she hoped that amid the partying on Saturday, people would see the value of becoming politically active.

“There’s always going to be people trying to undo any progress that we make,” said Kanter.

Many advocates noted a generational difference in attitudes towards LGBT people, including in Latino, Vietnamese and religious communities.

“You can see the younger generation is more accepting,” said Hieu Nguyen, co-chair of the community group Viet Rainbow of Orange County.

Youth advocates, meanwhile, said their movement is growing in Orange County schools and colleges.

“So many of these young people are opening their eyes” to how diverse the world is, said Vincent Buendia, a junior at Gilbert High School in Anaheim who co-founded the gay straight alliance group at his school.

“It’s really amazing to see.”

You can reach Nick Gerda at ngerda@gmail.com, and follow him on Twitter: @nicholasgerda.

by Nick Gerda,  Writer

Copyright 2014 – Voice of Orange County, provided by The Associated Press

The Gayly – August 10, 2014 @ 2:10pm