The spirits at this weekend’s Lunar New Year Parade may be dampened by the political whirlwind that followed the banning of the religious movement Falun Gong, a religious practice that is viewed as a cult in China.

Last week the Board of Supervisors passed a seemingly harmless resolution condemning the discrimination of the Falun Gong religion in the name of civil rights, sparking criticism from the Chinese community.

Falun Gong is based on ancient practices, which use mediation and exercise to heal the body and mind, according to the official Web site. The group also boasts tens of millions of members in 60 countries.

Trouble started when the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce rejected the religious group’s application to participate in this year’s parade, Falun Gong accused the chamber of trying to polish business ties to mainland China.

The chamber said the decision was based on the groups past behavior. Falun Gong did participate in the 2004 parade, but handed out flyers, violating a parade policy that prohibits the distribution of political materials.

Although the chamber has turned down the group’s application in past years as well, this year’s rejection caused Falun Gong members to take matters to the political level.

Despite the publication of advertisements arguing that the Board is supporting a “homophobic cult,” Supervisor Fiona Ma still stands by her decision to support the resolution.

“As the only APA (Asian Pacific American) on the Board of Supervisors, there is a higher expectation level and many people in my community have urged me to change my position,” said Ma in a statement released by her office last week.

To appease the many Chinese residents she represents, Ma had amended a part of the resolution, which specifically cited China for discrimination. She has said she does not support the Falun Gong practice, but she does support human rights.

“The trouble is, I represent more than the APA community,” said Ma. “I took an oath to defend the constitution of the US and the constitution of the state of California and I am fulfilling it with this vote today.”

Some Chinese students at SF State don’t think it should be a political issue.

“Personally, I think that they are damaging Chinese culture and damaging the Chinese people,” said Pery Zhang, 20, vice president of the Chinese Student and Scholar Association. He is originally from the city of Guangzhou in mainland China.

Zhang, a junior majoring in business, has heard that some Falun Gong members may not necessarily believe in the religion, but are just using their religion as a reason to stay in the country. He has also heard stories of Falun Gong members being paid to sit in during protests.

Several other members have expressed that Falun Gong should not make this into such a big deal, turning it into a negative thing, said Zhang. In an email, one member, Li Xue, called the Falun Gong text “nonsense.”

“The movement in China had a lot of followers, I think they got to the point where there was too many of them and the government didn’t like it.” said Egidio Choi, a 23-year-old Business major, who is originally from Macau, a city near Hong Kong. “But here, I don’t know. I don’t know why it is such a big deal.”

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