Supporters of gay rights protested outside the offices of a Tet Parade organizer demanding that gay Vietnamese Americans be allowed to participate in the parade, reports the OC Register.
Parade organizers fear if the gays are allowed to participate, other groups will pull out. The annual parade has been run by the city of Westminister which has the largest concentration of Vietnamese Americans in the country. But this year the city citing budget constraints handed over the parade to a community coalition that includes the Vietnamese Interfaith Council in America. The council has called for a boycott of the parade the last three years due to the inclusion of gays.
“They deny our human rights, which they’ve been fighting for all these years. What about us? We’re not humans?” Tuan Trong Le of the Gay Vietnamese Alliance said said. The city has called for the parade leaders to allow all groups to participate.
“We support everyone,” May Tri Ta said. “We want everyone to participate. ”
Parade organizations held a closed door meeting yesterday. The parade is set for Sunday. You can watch video of the protest in the OC Register.