Ladera Ranch HOA Refuses To Allow Pride Event At Neighborhood Park
LADERA RANCH (CBSLA) — A Ladera Ranch father wants everyone to know that they are welcome at pride event in the community this week for his son and other LGBTQ+ teens.
"I think that we're on the side of right," the dad, Keith, said. "I think that all we're doing here is supporting our children and we're having a fun family event."
Keith said the neighborhood homeowner's association initially gave the event organizers a permit to hold the Love Pride Parade, but later changed its mind because there would be more than 25 people.
"They will not permit something like this. They will not allow us to use the entire park, even though other events have been held here including a Trump rally," he said. "There have been many events here in the park that have been much more than 25 people. There have been vendors here, they have used the entire park."
The idea for the family-friendly event came after a group of teens holding pride signs in Ladera Ranch were questioned by a woman about why they supported the LGBTQ+ community.
"We were just like, 'We're supporting this one because it's the month to support this one, and she just said, 'Whatever,' and started to walk away," Keith's son said. "Then Xander said, 'Have a nice day,' and she said, 'You too. Get better,' and we were just shocked."
When neighbor Morgane Sabin heard about the experience, she planned an event to show support for the LGBTQ+ community.
"If you look at the events in the past year — different Trump rallies happening without any issues and then the Asian family getting harassed because they were Asian," she said. "And now again, once again, we are trying to support differences here in Ladera [Ranch] and they're not supporting it, so that tells me that differences are not welcome here."
In response to Sabin's question for why the permit was not being granted for a larger crowd, the HOA sent her an email that said, in part:
"Given that this is a neighborhood park we limit the number of large-scale events that are at Founders out of respect for the neighbors."
CBS Los Angeles reached out to the HOA, but did not immediately hear back.