IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Two coordinators of the Idaho Falls Annual Heritage Festival resigned after the mayor requested that the festival no longer include gay, religious or political booths.

In a letter to the mayor, Festival Chair Glenn Rodgers and Principal Coordinator LaDonna Foster said they could not serve in the volunteer positions as long as the mayor tried to restrict participation.

“From our perspective, your decision to discriminate is reprehensible, un-American, and totally unacceptable,” Rodgers and Foster wrote.

Mayor Linda Milam objected to participation by the Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the Southeast Idaho AIDS Coalition and the Gays and Lesbians Alliance.

But Milam said she was not discriminating, only trying to return the festival to its original focus on ethnic heritage.

The Mayor’s Cultural Awareness and Human Relations Committee took over sponsorship of the 13-year-old festival several years ago when participation dropped so low that it was nearly canceled, Milam said.

It was still called the “Ethnic Heritage Festival,” and the mayor’s committee was created to focus on ethnic and racial issues, Milam said. Asked if she opposes gays and lesbians, Milam said, “No, absolutely not. I’m not against anybody.”

More recently the festival focus expanded, and the name was shortened to the “Heritage Festival.”

But, Milam said, “The mayor’s committee has taken a very careful stance to not become involved in religious issues. Last year there were complaints because political groups set up booths and I said, ‘Let’s not have the good that this festival can do get lost in trying to be so broad that it loses its original intent.’”

While the festival was supposed to be restricted to ethnic groups this year, gay and lesbian groups set up a booth, as did religious groups, including the Buddhists, Baha’is and Holy Rosary Catholic Church.

“The Mayor’s Committee was set up to deal with some racial and ethnic issues that were in this community. That is its role,” Milam said. “Its role is not to solve all the problems in the world.”

John Schroeder, who volunteered at the booth sponsored by the AIDS Coalition and two gay and lesbian groups, said his booth fit the heritage theme.

“We tailored the message to gay and lesbian heritage in Idaho. We had wildflower seeds and pots and anyone who wanted could plant the seeds. We explained that the wildflowers would be many different colors, and that diversity makes a beautiful bouquet,” Schroeder said.

He called Milam’s decision “a covert way of imposing her bigotry on the community and the festival.”

Milam said her request was never official city policy. But in the future, she said, other community groups would have to take over the Mayor’s Committee sponsorship or the festival would be limited to ethnic groups only.

Rodgers said that if the event were restricted to ethnic groups, two-thirds of the vendors would be lost — including the Mayor’s booth.

Milam said that would be OK.

“Sometimes things go away. That’s not a bad thing,” the mayor said. “If the Mayor’s Committee chooses to do an ethnic festival then they can go back to a small event.”