San Diego Pride July 24, 1999

San Diego Pride 99

July 24th, 1999

Use your back button to return to the previous page.

Return to Dale Jag's Home Page
Return to California Page
Return to the San Diego Page

To order pictures, include the number to the right of the picture and
Click here for prices and ordering.

G.S.G.R.A.

Cute Guy in the Crowd

I have this feeling that San Diego doesn't like this Knight thing!

Citizens Patrol

TransFamily

This was the first picture I took when we realized something was wrong!

About 10 seconds later, this is what the street looked like.

While "San Diego's Finest" was busy marking tires to issue parking tickets, busy ticketing people for drinking in the streets and busy ticketing people for improper dress code, some nut set off a canister of tear gas in the crowd. Plenty of my friends were right there where it happened. You would think that after the incident, the police would ask people in the crowd that were video taping the parade to give them a copy. None of my friends seen any of the cops asking for video. More then 72 hours have passed and no arrests were made. On Wednesday, July 28th, I talked to Sgt. Nunley, detective on the case of this matter and he is now taking videos from people that may have something on tape. Unfortunately, most have already left the area and don't know the tapes are needed. If you believe you may have something on tape or possibly have other information, please call Sgt. Nunley at 619 692-4800.

Here is an Associated Press article.

Tear Gas Device Explodes Amidst Families and Children in Gay Pride Parade; Family Pride Coalition and Pride Organizers Outraged at Attack

SAN DIEGO, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- San Diego's annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Weekend began Saturday with a parade of 200 floats and contingencies. A group of 70 children, parents and grandparents began the parade with celebration and festivity as part of the Family Matters contingency.

Shortly after beginning their march, a tear gas device exploded just beside the families. As this chemical irritant filled the air, parents and grandparents seized the children and ran. Neighbors and business owners quickly opened their doors to immerse the children in water, and Pride officials immediately implemented their emergency plan. Four people were hospitalized, including a three-year old girl. Seven additional children, a pregnant mother and numerous other adults were treated for respiratory difficulties, eye and skin irritations.

Family Matters, a local gay and lesbian parenting organization, was marching together as a group of families after being presented with a Community Service Award for Outstanding Community Organization.

C. Ray Drew, Executive Director of the Family Pride Coalition, a national organization representing gay and lesbian parents, was a participant in the parade and directly beside the device when it exploded. Drew said, "This was, quite simply, a terrorist act. I understand that people hate us because we're gay. I understand that people want to harm us because we're gay. But I don't understand how anyone could deliberately hurt our children."

Drew continued, "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 violent, 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."

As of 11:00 AM, PDT, the San Diego Police Department had not apprehended the suspect. Nicole Murray-Ramirez, a community activist, has organized a reward for information leading to an arrest. The reward has been growing over the weekend as the gay and lesbian community responded to the outrage. The reward currently stands at $11,000.

Drew said, "Our families will continue to live their lives with love, commitment, respect and pride, OUR family values. No terrorist can take that away from us."

The Family Pride Coalition is a national organization devoted to protecting and supporting the families of gay and lesbian parents.