Lawsuit protects everyone

This letter is written in response to your editorial (“Drop the

lawsuit against the city,” Thursday) asking why Orange County Dyke

March and the Center Orange County need to go forward with the

lawsuit against Costa Mesa when the city has withdrawn many of the

conditions.

While we are pleased to have reached an agreement with the city to

let the march go forward without most of the burdensome conditions

the city wanted to impose, the lawsuit is still necessary to protect

our constitutional rights. Costa Mesa’s permit process gives city

officials far too much discretion to impose arbitrary and burdensome

conditions on events that they view as unpopular or controversial.

That threatens everyone’s right to freedom of speech and peaceful

assembly. We are fighting not only on our own behalf, but on behalf

of other groups who may come after us.

While, of course, it’s a good idea for any event organizer to

carry insurance, it should be their own decision whether or not to do

so, not the city’s. What if the city imposed a million-dollar

insurance requirement on a group who wanted to do a protest, but had

no money to buy insurance? Having money should never be a condition

for exercising our rights. The whole point of the lawsuit is that the

city’s permit process needs a complete overhaul so it can no longer

imperil the rights guaranteed to all of us by the U.S. Constitution.

TERRY STONE

Executive director, the Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center of

Orange County

Garden Grove