Originally printed 11/13/2008
Metropolitan Community Church Rev. Mark Bidwell agreed. “While I don’t agree with what that church teaches or preaches, they are still a church and I have to have a respect for that,” he said of the protest. “What I’d rather see happen is to be able to go and talk to the pastors of that church, talk to the congregation in a peaceful way and let them know that all we’re seeking are the basic rights we should be entitled to.”
Rev. Bidwell pointed out that though their actions remained mostly non-violent, they caused chaos that could have led to injury. “Some of the things they have done, like pulling the fire alarm - people could have been hurt,” he chastised. “I think the fact that they could have stood there inside the church - maybe in silence - could have meant as much than some of the actions that they took.”
Bash Back! has been known to speak out against peaceful gay activists, claiming that their actions are conforming to a hetero-normative society.
To Rev. Bidwell and others, the actions of Bash Back! are harmful to the LGBT community, fueling the fears that many anti-gay believers already have about gays and lesbians. “I believe in the peaceful protest,” he said. “I believe in what Martin Luther King and Ghandi and Jesus taught us that to use violence any time, I think, is wrong. To destroy property any time is wrong. The idea that this reflects on our community can be harmful for us because all that does is it makes people more afraid.”
http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=32938
“talk to the congregation in a peaceful way and let them know that all we’re seeking are the basic rights we should be entitled to.””
AND what ‘rights’ is it exactly that gay humans don’t have that everyone else has ????
“I believe in what Martin Luther King and Ghandi and Jesus taught us that to use violence any time, I think, is wrong.”
I don’t know what religious texts this PASTOR has been reading, but that is not what those men said or believed.