Tempest by the sea in Long Beach

A boisterous demonstration on the Long Beach boardwalk Sunday generated the sights and sounds of an LGBTQ-solidarity rally. But while the city has ample cause to be proud of its Pride events, this gathering doesn't count among them. Rather, it reflects conflicts, feuds and ill will that add up to a multipronged civic spat.

The protesters claimed city leaders showed "bias" earlier this spring by directing the popular food stand Riptides 11561 to move a rainbow Pride flag a number of feet to the private property of the business. LGBT Network president David Kilmnick spoke defiantly. "We are going to stand up for equality," he said. "We are going to stand up for everybody’s rights and we are not going to be intimidated."

OK, but the fact is that a local law of the seaside city reads plainly: "No sign shall be erected, affixed or maintained within the perimeter of any public mall or upon any public street or public property." And if anyone doubts the city's willingness to enforce it across the political spectrum, consider the case of resident Michael Wasserman. He's suing the city over citations issued against him for displays on his Donald Trump-messaged car parked in public space.

Officials have said they cannot force him, but have asked him to remove, a profane anti-President Biden sign off his balcony. Wasserman, claiming violation of his free-speech rights, asks for $25 million.

If Long Beach voters prefer a public landscape crowded with symbols, flags, signs and messages, they can seek to void the city's rule through the local legislative process. But Kilmnick, for one, has raised the rhetorical ante, seemingly without a practical goal. His organization, which has run big Pride on the Beach festivals, demands the resignation of Police Commissioner Ronald Walsh and City Council President John Bendo.

Nothing raised so far seems to have merited such an extreme and undisciplined demand.

Bendo bristled at bias claims. "This city opened itself and its hearts to those Pride festivals," he said. "I marched in those festivals."

As if intent on turning up the noise, the Long Beach PBA joined in the Network's weekend rally. This political alliance apparently stems from the fact that the union, which has raised various labor grievances about Walsh's deployment of cops, last month also called for his resignation. It is hard to believe this coalition's effort to target individual officials leads anywhere coherent.

Then there's the money. The LGBT Network has refused to pay its $70,000 bill for past Pride events. That's another subject of conflicting accounts.

And so, on Sunday, demonstrators cheered as Kilmnick raised another rainbow flag on city property. What's next? "We are going to have to contact our buildings department, it's under their jurisdiction, and they are going to have to decide," Bendo said. "Quite frankly, this is an attempt to antagonize."

City officials can only be expected to enforce rules even-handedly or see them changed. The trick is how to do that without antagonizing their antagonists, who might only cherish the fight for its own sake.

— The editorial board