Four firefighters who filed a lawsuit against the city after being forced to drive a fire truck in the 2007 San Diego LGBT Pride parade told a jury this week they were subjected to sexual taunts, inappropriate behavior and crude remarks they say were aimed at them.

Firefighter Alexander Kane testified he heard people say, “Let me blow your hose, let me hold your hose, hose this, hose that” during the three-hour long July 21 parade in Hillcrest. “Give me mouth to mouth,” was another common remark he and other firefighters said they heard.

“I saw some sexual gestures. I felt they directed it towards us,” said Kane on Monday. “There were dozens, if not hundreds of incidents.”

The four firefighters testified as the last witnesses in their lawsuit this week. Their attorney, Charles LiMandri, rested his case Wednesday. The city’s defense, led by City Attorney Michael Aguirre, is scheduled to begin today in San Diego Superior Court.

According to published reports, the firefighters are seeking $750,000 each. The six-woman, six-man jury began hearing testimony on Sept. 16.

The firefighters, Fire Chief Tracy Jarman and other fire department officials said the four men were ordered to participate in the parade, despite their earlier requests not to. Kane testified he asked Capt. John Ghiotto he not be considered to participate three months earlier.

Ghiotto, however, was also ordered to participate, and is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, alongside Kane, Chad Allison and Capt. Jason Hewitt.

A Mission Hills fire crew was initially selected to ride in the parade, but the unit leader’s mother died and he could not participate. The other three firefighters assigned to the parade took the day off, and the assignment went to the Station 5 firefighters with short notice.

Assistant Chief Jeffrey Carle testified he did not know until the night before the parade the Station 5 firefighters objected to participating. The morning of the parade, Carle issued a direct order for the crew to participate, without seeking a second opinion.

“I was kind of blindsided,” said Allison on Tuesday. “I had objections. I didn’t feel comfortable.”

Jarman testified she was not aware of the firefighters’ objections until the crew was in line for the parade. “I sensed they were grumpy and unhappy,” she said.

Jarman said she heard a spectator yell “show me your hose” when the fire truck passed by.

She also told the jury, in light of the firefighters’ complaints and the ensuing lawsuit, only fire personnel who volunteer to participate in parades will be considered.

When the firefighters complained they were subject to sexual harassment, Jarman said it “wouldn’t happen again.” She added, “I took it very seriously.”

Kane and Allison testified they were surprised by the skimpy clothing some men wore. “There were grown men wearing underwear, or tight shorts,” Kane said. Allison said, “I saw men in thongs” and a man with “an S/M outfit.”

Kane said he saw people in the crowd who appeared to be “licking their tongue” at him. Allison said people blew kisses at the firefighters and people were touching themselves. “I was tired of hearing people say these things,” Allison added. “… I felt very upset about being forced into it. I was not in control. I felt trapped. I was humiliated and embarrassed.

“I felt I was being harassed. I think we were pretty much shell shocked.”

The firefighters testified they are not anti-gay.

“I have no problems with the gay lifestyle,” Kane said.

“I’ve never been considered bigoted or homophobic until this lawsuit,” Ghiotto said.

Allison told the jury he saw his gay uncle’s partner on the street, and he got out of the truck to hug him.

“I heard someone behind me say, ‘Oh, look, a firefighter is giving out hugs,’” he testified.

Allison said he turned around and saw an overweight man wearing a T-shirt that said, “Have you ever ridden a fat man?”

Allison’s relationship with his gay uncle has suffered, the jury was told, as a result of the lawsuit.

The firefighters said they were also harassed by parade protesters.

Jarman said some of the four who filed the suit “chose to move on to other stations,” adding “they were not asked to” go to another station. She described the four as “men of integrity.”

Allison said he went to a counselor to discuss his reaction to the incident. His therapist also testified and said the stress and anxiety increased as the months wore on, particularly when he had to give a deposition.

Allison, who has been with the fire department eight years, said he volunteered to go to New York to help other firefighters work at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He said he attended eight memorial services.

On cross examination, a deputy city attorney asked Allison if he received counseling following his work in New York, but LiMandri objected to the question, calling it irrelevant. Judge Michael Anello instructed Allison not to answer the question.

Kane said, in general, during the parade and Pride weekend there is an “excessive amount of alcohol” consumed and “there is drug use.”

Kane and Allison said they saw a man on a float who was fondling himself. Kane testified he saw other sexual conduct.

Jarman and other firefighters who marched in the parade testified they did not see the things the other firefighters described.

“It was loud and there were a lot of cheering people, clapping,” Jarman said.

Jarman testified the fire department participates in all other parades including the Martin Luther King, Jr. parade, the Cesar Chavez parade, and Veterans Day parades. She said race, religion, or sexual orientation is not a factor as to who marches in all the parades.

Jarman said it would be a violation of fire department policy to order blacks, Hispanics, or Christians to participate in the parades for Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, and Christmas, respectively. She also said it would be a violation to order only gays and lesbians to participate in the Pride parade.

Jarman also said firefighters often run at the beach and would be exposed to skimpy bathing suits there.

Battalion Chief Tony Pollard testified Sept. 17 that “the order ha[d] come down” and he told Ghiotto he would be in the parade. When Ghiotto expressed concern, Pollard said he could file a grievance.

Pollard said he had participated in the 2006 parade, but did not hear lewd remarks.

Battalion Chief Grace Yamane testified Monday she participated in the 2007 parade and did not hear sexual taunts or remarks.

“We get a lot of applause. The citizens are very happy to see us. It seems the community really likes us. They applaud and cheer us on,” Yamane said.

Yamane said she was told after the 2007 parade the four firefighters needed “crisis counseling,” which she helped arrange.

Linda Erwin-Gallagher, a manager for a city employee association, testified Monday that Yamane called her about the men’s complaints, and she said she met with them.

“They said they were exposed to lewd gestures and comments. They felt uncomfortable,” Erwin-Gallagher said. “People experience trauma in different ways. They felt uncomfortable, not having any options.”

Erwin-Gallagher was asked if she felt the firefighters were traumatized by the parade, but Anello sustained an objection, saying she was not qualified to diagnose the firefighters.

Ron de Harte, the executive director of San Diego Pride, was asked by Aguirre to look at enlarged photographs presented by LiMandri of people who were in the parade.

De Harte pointed to some photos that showed people on grass or close to tents. He said most of the shots shown by LiMandri were that of the Pride Festival in Balboa Park or of people walking around after the parade was over.