According to documents acquired by the OC Weekly, the group banning Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender groups from participating in the Orange County Tet Parade have officially applied to host the 2014 event.
Earlier this month, the organization known as the Vietnamese American Federation of Southern California voted to ban Gay groups from participating in the event for the second year in a row, however, the group had not officially applied to host the event until recently.
According to Assistant City Attorney Christian Bettenhausen, the organization’s actions are protected under the First Amendment.
“Prior case law states that the First Amendment protects a parade organizer’s right to host a parade, as well as their right to exclude whoever they want from the parade,” Bettenhausen said. “The city cannot force an organizer to include a particular group…Doing this would open the city up to liability, because it violates the organizer’s First Amendment right to say whatever they want to say through their parade.”
For more information about the past bans against LGBT groups from the Tet Parade, go to the OC Weekly.
