Posted on 06/26/2004 2:45:57 PM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow
AFTER ACTION REPORT - DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE RALLY!!
Well, what can I say? It was a HUGE success! We had about 300 men and women in attendance, not including children. The guest speakers were phenominal, and the music was awesome!!
Here's how things broke down:
Item 1: All week, the weathermen had been forcasting rain and thunderstorms for Saturday. Prayers went up for a dry afternoon, and as God would have it, we didn't have a sprinkle! Not a drop! 45 minutes after we got home this afternoon, it started pouring! Praise God!
Item 2: The rally was not without incident, I'm sorry to say. A small contingent of rabble was gathering while we were setting up. A total of 8 were there, lead by a skinny white boy in an ANSWER t-shirt. They were handing out flyers and had their usual signs and chants...which I thought was interesting that they could call us "bigots", "right-wingers", and "hate-mongers" without even hearing a word of our message.
Once the band started playing, the Rabble of 8 started marching THROUGH our protest area (that I had paid for), IN FRONT of the band, and making small circles around the crowd...chanting through bull-horns the whole time their ridiculous, and frankly, overplayed, slogans.
Here's a picture of them in all their glory. Not sure what the garden hose is for. Maybe Gunny Sgt. Hartman was right, and this particluar rabble CAN do an amazing trick involving the hose and a golf-ball.
Anyway, I had about 2 dozen of our people form a phalanx around the band, so that the rabble would have to walk behind the band, and up on the capitol steps, just to get around us.
They tried this once, and found it difficult, so about 2 dozen more people took to the steps and stood behind the band, thus making the Rabble's job of circling us all the more difficult.
At this point, the State Capitol security showed up and told the Miserable 8 to take a hike down the hill, to the end of the Capitol walkway, at edge of the curb. Essentially, about 100 feet down the hill from us.
Poor widdle sad commies:
It was at this point that one of the speakers, Pastor Jay, walked down to them to talk. He said to them, "I just want to let you guys know that we all love you and are here to help." To which the Rabble of 8 replied with...well...nothing except the same slogans they had been shouting. He then asked, "Why are you guys doing this? Why are you attempting to silence us? Why can't you let us have our say?" To which they replied with more moronic chanting. Apparently they weren't interested in debate, or even decent conversation. Pastor Jay then said, "Well, if any of you want to pray, you can come find me. I'm here for you, and I love you.", they cursed at him, and he left.
They, of course, the took to waving at cars and shouting their slogans, which we couldn't even hear at this point. After about 10 minutes of that, they got bored and left.
After they left, a group of "our" people, about 12 strong, walked down to the end of the walkway with our "Save Marriage", and "Let not judges put together what God has kept asunder", and "Marriage - One Man, One Woman" signs. About half of those 12 were kids aged 8-15...they came with a whole contingent of the local Homeschooling chapter, and let me tell you, those kids were so proud and happy to be a part of something like this!
However,
The former Rabble of 8 decided to take to their vehicles, and drive around the block over and over. Each time they'd pass the group of 12 (6 of which were kids), they'd shout obsceneties, flip the middle finger, spit, and curse. One time, towards the end of the rally, the threw a handful of coins at the group, and one of the girls, aged 10, was struck in the eye by a quarter. The father of the girl takes off after the car, which turns into the mall parking garage. The guy takes off after them, and runs into the garage, with the Capitol Security in tow.
Eventually, the cops got ahold of the kids who threw coins at CHILDREN. I'm not sure what happened to the perps after that point, if they were arrested or not.
But, yes, ANSWER and pro-gay protest groups...these are your brethren. Idiots with body odor, poor taste in clothing, who curse, spit, and throw things at children. You must be so proud.
Item 3: But, all in all, that was a minor event in a day filled with praise, worship, testimony, and prayer. Everything went according to schedule, our opposition was pathetically few, the band was rocking, the speakers were passionate, the crowd was loud and joyous. Man...what an event!!!
Item 4: Here's something that was particularly odd, yet refreshingly nice. During the entire rally, there were two large "butch" looking women sitting atop a knoll near the rally. Since one of our guest speakers is a reformed lesbian, she went off to talk to them. They said they were there to listen to what we had to say. After our speaker left them, the Rabble of 8 leader went over and tried to hand them a flyer. They refused to join up with the rabble, and remained seated. They actually stayed for the duration, took some of our literature, and listened to what our speakers had to say.
Odd, that. But nice all the same.
Pictures to follow
Crowd, from the back-left:
Crowd, from the back-middle:
Crowd, from the back-right:
Crowd shots 1, 2, and 3 (such an ethnically diverse crowd for a bunch of bigots and haters, huh?)
Our musical entertainment - SingForHim:
Our Speakers:
Attorney Scott Spear
Minister Ruth Dapaah-Afriyie:
Pastor Jay (who went fearlessly into the belly of the beast):
Pastor Ken:
Pastor Jason
And last, but not least, Pastor Dave:
Oh, I forgot to mention, and neglected to get a photo of him, but the event was emcee'd by Kris Mineau of the Massachusetts Family Institute.
Megablessings on all who attended, prayed and supported us in this effort!
Amen!
Can you please ping your lists?
And get folks to sign the Save Marriage petition at The American Center for
Law and Justice at:
http://www.aclj.org/petitions/marriage/petition.asp
The last I heard (a week ago?), the petition had about 350,000 signatories.
Mmm-hmm...4 of our speakers told the crowd to go home and call, fax, e-mail, and snail-mail. We had information sheets to hand out, and I have an e-mail list of about 200 names now that I can send out links to.
Such a holy, blessed day. I feel awesome!
We had petitions there for people to sign as well. Got about 275 new names put on it.
I got this one, lj. Ping.
You've probably already know about it, but the ACLJ does air their radio show in RI.
Here is the listing from their website (their show is titled "Jay Sekulow Live",
after their lead attorney):
RI Warwick/Providence WARV-AM 1590 12:00 PM E
Keep up the good work!
From my experience that's business as usual for some groups. They never seem to realize the damage they do to their own cause. I'm glad Pastor Jay approached the group in a Christlike manner as some in the group, someday, will remember his attitude.
That was the entire spirit of the rally...one of love, compassion, and support.
The opposition wanted SO BADLY for us to react the same way they were behaving. Wasn't going to happen.
I'm really proud of you guys for taking action and doing it right.
great job. thanks for the after-report. Sounds like a wonderful afternoon. It sounds like it was truly a blessing from God that it didn't rain until after. Keep up the good work. God bless you all!!
Boy what great afternoon you guys had, wish I had been there. What a spirit filled event it must have been. God Bless you and thank you so much for the after action report, it was a blessing.
Kudos for taking a stand in RI!! Great job keeping a Christ-like attitude towards the hateful rabble of 8. You all did not react like they wanted you to, and they will remember the love and strength displayed.
Thanks for your inspiring rally!
The best part is, we're not done by a long shot. Our next event will be in late September. Then another, and another, and another.
We're not giving up. We may not win this war, but we'll go down fighting until the very end.
Just thought I'd ping y'all to something I've been working my tail off for this last month.
What a great rally! Too bad you had to deal with the hippies.
Hair has a little thing she says about hippies, but I can't remember it exactly...she told me at the weddingmoot...
It was funny...maybe she can post it?
Oh, and 2J, the hippie comment is a South Park reference. Cartman is having nightmares where he mutters..."Hippies, hippies everywhere. They want to save the world but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad!"
LOL!!
Awesome! ItsOurTimeNow, I can't believe it - I mean I can, and it's nothing other than awesome what one person's vision and courage can do. We take one step towards God, He takes a thousand towards us.
May your example inspire other Freepers (and non-freepers alike.)
I hope those who attended had www.freerepublic.com somewhere on the literature!
And thanks so much for telling us all about it.
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