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Conservative Christians Disrupt Pride
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
May 4, 2003
6:29 p.m. ET/+5GMT/-3PT
(Charlotte, North Carolina) Charlotte's LGBT Pride celebrations were marred on the weekend by a noisy demonstration by a right-wing Christian group.
As several hundred gays and their friends enjoyed the U b U Festival in Marshall Park, members of the militant Dallas-based Operation Rescue and Operation Save America marched into the park and began harassing people.
Yelling through a bullhorn, Flip Benham, national director of the group berated the crowd. Benham recently moved to Charlotte.
Part of the Pride celebration was an exchange of vows by 15 gay and lesbian couples. The blessings ceremony was being conduced by Rev. Jane Esdale, a local Baptist minister and a member of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America.
"A woman can't marry a woman! I don't care what these people tell you!" shouted Benham through the bullhorn.
Onstage, the Rev. Jane Esdale continued unfazed, reading Bible passages and leading the couples in their vows.
Benham continued: "God loves you so much, every single one of you! Come down from that stage!"
Esdale's voice at times was drowned out by Benham's shouting, and the audience grew agitated. "Get a life!" one man shouted. "Don't judge lest ye be judged," a woman yelled.
Police kept an eye on the protest but did not attempt to stop it.
©365Gay.com Ltd® 2003
[Can you imagine the outrage if a gay rights group busted into a christian wedding ceremony yelling through bullhorns? I don't think these bigots made any allies, and hopefully this incident recieved enough local media attention to show the general public how crazy these religious wackos are and how determined they are to butt into other people's lives and dictate how other people should live.]