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-The COLOR team

March to replace annual gay pride event in Ventura
Alliance using scarce funds for health services

When the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance made a last-minute decision to cancel an annual gay pride celebration this year in downtown Ventura because of state budget cuts, activist John Wilner stepped up to organize a march to be held Saturday along Main Street.

Wilner said members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community should not retreat in a year that saw the passage of Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California, and the 40th anniversary of New York City’s Stonewall riots in support of gay rights.

“I thought it was really such a shame not to have any event to show our pride, especially on the heels of being stripped of our rights to marriage,” said Wilner, co-founder of Community Organized for Liberty Opportunity and Respect, or COLOR.

The Rainbow Alliance uses the majority of its funding to provide HIV/AIDS health services. After the state cut its funding, the nonprofit group decided to use all of its resources on its primary mission and not hold the celebration this year, Wilner said.

So Wilner got the idea for a march. Participants will begin gathering at 4 p.m. Saturday at Mission Park, on Main Street across from the San Buenaventura Mission. Wilner said he will start the march when the group reaches “critical mass,” adding he is hoping for about 200 people. Right now, the start is planned for about 5 p.m.

“We need to show that we, as LGBT people, are your sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, co-workers and friends. You know us already. We’re normal people,” Wilner said.

Participants will march east on Main to Ash Street, then turn south, cross the Ash Street pedestrian bridge to the Ventura Promenade, continue west to Figueroa Street and head back to the park. Wilner said volunteers will remind people to keep the march to the sidewalks and not impede traffic.

After the march, the group plans to celebrate at Paddy’s at 2 W. Main St. The Rainbow Alliance will also hold a carwash Saturday in the Paddy’s parking lot as a fundraiser for its Youth Empowerment Program.

For more information about the event, contact Wilner at 653-0411 or john@vccolor.org

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/aug/19/march-to-replace-annual-gay-pride-event-in/#ixzz1P0lVzHwx
- vcstar.com

By Anne Kallas
Posted August 19, 2009 at midnight