LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
San Diego Pride Parade Hit with Tear Gas |
by Rex Wockner |
SAN DIEGO Hundreds of gay-pride marchers and spectators were tear-gassed July 24 when someone threw a military-issue tear-gas grenade into the Family Matters contingent during the 25th annual Pride Parade. Family Matters is a social and educational group for gay and lesbian parents and their families and for gays and lesbians who are considering parenthood. The 70-person contingent included small children and babies in strollers. "I was introducing the contingents and then all of a sudden I see these hundreds of people screaming and running past the reviewing stand," said emcee Nicole Murray Ramirez. "It was like a Godzilla-is-coming stampede from the movies. "The most heartbreaking thing was it hit right in front of those dozens of young kids. I'll never forget seeing these kids and families getting tear-gassed. There were all these little kids in strollers crying with this gas in their eyes." "It was very eerie," Ramirez said. "One minute the street was packed with thousands of people and then I looked back and it was deserted, like a bomb had gone off." "We saw this cloud of smoke coming," said spectator Guido Gaietta. "I thought it was a car fire or something. Then I saw the crowd screaming and running toward me. People were screaming, 'Run, run' and 'Get away, get away.' So, obviously, I started running because all these people are running toward me. And then all of a sudden there were tears in my eyes, and it got in my throat. It was pretty nasty. We ran for a couple a blocks to escape it and our faces were all red. Some people were vomiting in the street." "There was one good thing," spectator Peter Rauber said. "The cheering afterwards was about three times as enthusiastic. But it left me with a feeling of fear. You never know when somebody might do something like this." Executive Director Mandy Schultz said: "When we see all the obstacles we hurdled to get us to where we are today, it's a huge eye-opener to have an incident of this nature happen at our event. It just goes to show how much hate there is out in the world. But our community didn't run away in fear. We came back and were able to continue the parade and celebrate and be a strong, united front. It was a horrible and unfortunate moment and yet it was beautifully gratifying to see that we could all stand together." In a press statement, the executive director of the national Family Pride Coalition, C. Ray Drew, who was marching with the Family Matters contingent, said: "This was, quite simply, a terrorist act. "Every day, we hear the radical right call us pedophiles and a threat to children. Mentally disturbed people feed off the hate-filled rhetoric of the radical right. It emboldens the disturbed person with a sense of legitimacy. We as a nation must recognize the profound harm to children and families caused by the radical right and hold them accountable for their hate." "Someone either saw the guy throw it or the guy went back to wherever he's from and is bragging about it," Murray Ramirez said. "The reward money is going to grow." At press time, a police spokesman said no suspect had been identified. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 9, No. 10, July 30, 1999 |