Posted on 01/14/2005 9:14:38 AM PST by dirtboy
PC IS A DIRTY acronym in my house. My negative views of political correctness are so strong that I recently wrote a book on the subject.
So when I first heard reports that political correctness stopped Christians from assembling and preaching the gospel at a gay rally, I thought I knew on which side I would stand. Trouble is, I know the players. And politically correct they're not.
I refer to the brouhaha over October's Philadelphia celebration of OutFest. Now, months later, because of a combination of criminal prosecutions, Internet kerosene and a segment on "The O'Reilly Factor," there's a growing national controversy over what happened that day.
Here's what's not in dispute: OutFest is a day for coming out of the closet. (Not that there's anything wrong with the closet!) Repent America is a Christian organization whose members attended OutFest. They came to preach that homosexuality is a sin, against the teachings of the Bible.
Things got verbally ugly between the gays and Christians. Eleven members of Repent America were charged with criminal offenses. Charges remain against four members, carrying a combined penalty of 47 years (though conventional wisdom expects only probation).
The online spin is that the City of PC Love favored gay rights over Christian rights. Singled out for criticism have been District Attorney Lynne Abraham, Police Chief Inspector Jim Tiano, and Police Captain William Fisher. Which is where my suspicion began.
Somebody needs to tell the national wing nuts that Lynne Abraham doesn't cower to the forces of political correctness.
We're talking about the woman who prosecuted Mumia in the face of criticism from the Hollywood left, the person who prosecuted the Republican convention protesters who threw a bike at Police Commissioner John Timoney, despite objections from so-called civil libertarians, and the individual who twice pursued third-degree murder charges against pothead Daniel Brough, the guy who started a fire that killed two firefighters, even after a judge said murder charges didn't apply.
Here's how police arrest records summarize OutFest:
"... The protesters were ordered by both Capt. Fisher and Chief Inspector Tiano to move, but the group failed ignored [sic] the order to move. Once more they ordered the group (3) more times but all three times the group failed to comply with police orders to move. The protesters then proceeded to go in the opposite direction in which they were ordered to go. By this time the crowd was in excess of 500 persons.
"The protesters refused and were ordered to halt but continued through the crowds to 13th and Locust where the main event stage was set up.
"The entire time that the protesters were making their way to the main stage, they continued using the bullhorn to shout their anti/gay lesbian message to the crowd which surrounded the protesters. The crowd has to be restrained by plainclothes police to ensure the safety of the protesters."
When I read this to Michael Marcavage, the leader of Repent America and one of those facing charges, he didn't deny disobeying police commands. ("They said to go to Walnut Street so we turned and walked the other way in an effort to be able to stay in the event.")
I told him that it seemed like he'd come to cause trouble. He told me he was there to preach the gospel, and to convert gays to a straight life.
"What we did is we went into the event with some signs with biblical passages concerning homosexuality, that homosexuality is sin, but Christ can set you free. And that's what we're there to do, to proclaim the Gospel."
Whatever his motivation, he clearly has a right to be there - as long as he respects the rights of others to do likewise. But I have to believe there are more fertile recruitment grounds for evangelical Christians than a gay-rights rally, so why not just let these folks have their day?
"That is not necessarily true. We do see people who are in tears, who have called me, who have said that they are not happy living this lifestyle anymore. They would like me to counsel them, work with them, to help them overcome this lifestyle. So it's not like there aren't any converts," Marcavage told me.
At fault here is whoever interfered with another group's right to be heard. I wasn't there, but I strongly suspect that was Repent America. What I know for sure is that those who are portraying this as another case of PC run amok just don't know the players.
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Michael Smerconish's column appears Thursdays. He can be heard weekdays 5:30-9 a.m. on the Big Talker, 1210/AM. Contact him via the Web at www.mastalk.com.
Really? Cannot go TOO far? I have some suggestions that might make that statement look silly.
I agree with what you're saying, but do know that you're comparing apples and oranges. Repent America was on a PUBLIC street and they had every right to be there. A church is by nature PRIVATE property. Even so, you're right: Homos could stand up in a church and scream or probably even get naked and start fondling each other, and they still wouldn't face felony charges.
The author of this article obviously has some sort of agenda or else is too dim to grasp the real issue here, which is: What gave the police the authority to declare that one group can walk on this public street while another cannot?
MM
"Really? Cannot go TOO far? I have some suggestions that might make that statement look silly."
I could easily do the same for your statement.
However, yes, amaze and astound me with your secular legalism.
I don't have tv. I got the feeling that the video is pretty damning of the four. Would you agree?
There are better ways to fight back. Do you really think 11 men entering an area with 30,000 people hostile to their message were going to convert a single one of them by singing and yelling bible verses over a blowhorn? Do you really think those men believed they were going to convert anyone with that method? Unless they are delusional, I think not. They were there to agitate. And knowing the fascist nature of the Philadelphia government, they probably knew they would be arrested and charged. I think they honestly and rightly believe the civil rights of Christians in the US are in jeopardy. And they want to push the issue in the courts hoping to somehow protect and preserve those rights. With the Liberal and activist nature of our present day courts, now is NOT the time. McCarvage and his group are going to help further jeopardize those rights they seek to protect.
I have lived in the city of Philadelphia for most of my life. If you were to traverse the streets of Philadelphia, on any given day, on this very day, you would encounter several people on street corners who are preaching and quoting from the bible. Go to the Fernrock Transportation Center in Philadelphia. There is a preacher who lives across from the station and continually and perpetually has a microphone system set up outside his house (near or beside the street) replete with a soapbox upon which he stands each and every day, many times a day preaching and quoting form the bible. He is particularly mindful about when children and teenagers are letting out of school and he preaches to them daily after they get off the train to catch the bus on their way home. His message is not berating, however, but positive. The kids, among themselves make jokes and mock him, and seem to think he is nuts, but I know they are listening. I believe what he doing is good. And he has every right to do it.
That said, I believe McCarvage and his group has every right to do what they did, whether we support his methods or find them distasteful, whether or not we believe they are effective or ineffective and whether or not he is or isn't the biggest weirdo on the planet. Furthermore, official actions the Philadelphia government took against McCarvage and his gang are fascist, despicable and far worse than anything the "supposed" perpetrators did. At MOST they should have been charged with some misdemeanor, for disobeying police when they were asked to move to the other side of the street.
Additionally, if the situation had been reversed, I can guarantee you NOTHING would have happened to the homosexual group. I was present when ACT UP trespassed upon PRIVATE property, ACTED UP for over an hour, disrupting a Republican function, and nothing happened. Police arrived (after an hour) and asked them to leave. They should have been arrested on the spot.
Thus, the Philadelphia government has an obvious bias which is deeply disturbing.
Lastly, I would like to see McCarvage and his group end this style of protest, because it is a losing strategy.
I would prefer that they had protested outside the event, with a larger group of folks, which included area residents (not people from VA) with protest signs. THAT would have been far more effective and may have inspired other area residents and people from the city of Philadelphia and elsewhere to fight back themselves. It would have planted the more fertile idea that they and all of us have a right to our say in these matters for instance whether the city of Philadelphia or any city should be allowing groups to openly tout perversion on public property with the use of taxpayer money.
Should the Smerconishs and reptilian Lynn Abrams of the world EVER get their way, they'll be blood in the street for sure.
Ok, you go first. Make a suggestion that makes my statement look silly.
Secular legalism? Tell me the basis for that comment.
PS, now THAT is silly!
Additionally, if the situation had been reversed, I can guarantee you NOTHING would have happened to the homosexual group. I was present when ACT UP trespassed upon PRIVATE property, ACTED UP for over an hour, disrupting a Republican function, and nothing happened. Police arrived (after an hour) and asked them to leave. They should have been arrested on the spot.
If you ever have the opportunity, please review Don Adams (and my) case. On October 1, 1998 when my brother, myself and other protestors (not together, we didn't know each other at the time, and we previously had not contacted one another) arrived indepently to protest then president Clinton during his vist to Philadelphia at the height of impeachment season, we surprisingly found a large contingent of Teamsters who were present to support the president. From the beginning, they charged at some of us ripping signs out of our hands, shouting obscenities, berated us, yelled and screamed at us, knocked old people down, brutally beat my brother Don Adams, knocked me over and beat me when I was attempting to protedct him, pushed and shoved police and continued persuing a man they thought was gay (while shouting gay epitaphs at him) with police at his side admonishing them to stay back. Not a single one of those people were arrested until more than four weeks later when two werre arrested and charged (after local political elections and a national Teamster election) despite the fact that all of this was captured on the news cameras of six different newstations and the Teamster's own video camera. It took a great deal of work and effort on our part and one more year to get three more of them arrested.
Additionally, the DA's office did not charge those who knocked over and hit an elderly man for those actions, or those persuing the man they thought was gay (in fact they talked him out of pressing charges) for those actions, despite the fact that this also was on video.
There is an extremely unfair, lopsided and fascist double standard for protesters on the right vs. protesters on the left in Philadelphia. And it should be deeply troubling to everyone.
Michael Smerconish, you are an insincere phony, baloney who like most politicians, is more concerned about protecting and advancing your own career than you are concerned about advancing truth, integrity and the constitution. Furthermore, you are NOT conservative.
You're endorsing homesexuals right to use a bull horn next to your church?
Government has an obligation to keep order. If there is a disturbance and a cop tells you to move you have to move. If you refuse the cop is empowered to arrest you.
Exactly. He is also shallow and lacks intellectual breadth and depth. Michael talks about himself on his radio program ad nauseum. I can't stomach listening to him anymore and DON'T.
Kinda like going to jail for failure to buckle up.
Your post is confusing, are you saying the praying belongs within the closed doors of one's residence or that the celebration of an alternative "lifestyle" should only be done in that manner?
He's dim and his reasoning is frequently immature and juvenile. But he has an incredible EGO!
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