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526 Comments
- tgjerusalem, on 06/29/2009, -8/+221Before the "ZOMG ITS ANTI-CHRISTIAN DISCRIMINATION!!1!!" crap starts:
The park had been rented in full for the event. When a private group rents a space, they get to decide who gets to come to their party. If you rent a park out for your wedding or graduation or family reunion or whatever, and some Hari Krishna came wandered in and started harassing your guests, you can throw them out. They can come back tomorrow when the park is open again, but for the duration of your party it's closed.
And I don't know specifically about the Loring Park festival, but every gay pride event I've ever been to has prominently included religious groups. This includes big pride events in NYC and Washington DC, and events in small cities and towns in upstate NY. Whole congregations will walk in parades together, clergy are prominent, and everyone loves them. Quakers, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, MCC, Dignity Catholic, etc., few groups get cheers from the crowd as loudly as the churches. Congregation Beth Simchat Torah has a fantastic float. Half the crowd was wearing the 'Queer by God' stickers MCC handed out.
We're not anti-Christian, or anti-religious. We're anti-people who treat us like *****. Since the NYC parade is in public, the handful of ***** trying to cause trouble were free to wander around looking like douchhats. Fortunately there were about three of them vs. thousands of happy people, so they were easily ignored.
In a smaller, private event like the one in Loring Park, if you're not going to play nice, you're going to get kicked out of the party. - jmontes, on 06/29/2009, -9/+156Nothing stopping them from holding their own Straight Pride Festival and handing out all of the free bibles that they can.
- stuartnow, on 06/29/2009, -11/+106I don't understand how someone else being gay should effect a Christians happiness. Don't like gay people, don't go to Pride parades. To bad they got arrested instead of just being escorted away. Now they have way to much press.
- rocknog, on 06/29/2009, -1/+84They were charged with trespassing. Did you read the article?
- BFIrrera, on 06/29/2009, -9/+90I realize they don't understand what is wrong with their behavior, but I don't think they'd appreciate homosexuals showing up at their tent revivals giving out copies of "Tales of the City" by Armistead Maupin or other similar gay literature...
- kmb1794, on 06/29/2009, -13/+90I'm a homophobe-ophobe.
- Hetman, on 06/29/2009, -11/+83This is just stupdi. Gay people do not come to your church on sunday and start handing out pamphlets, why go to there festivals and try to hand out bibles?
- inactive, on 06/29/2009, -10/+57Christians think they're saving everyone else from hell by disseminating their stupid ideas. What I don't understand is why they act so vicious in the process.
- christoast, on 06/29/2009, -9/+54The article title makes it sound like cops just arrested some innocent family randomly selling bibles and it makes the cops seem anti-free speech.
They were trespassing. They were told to leave. ***** em. - bombula, on 06/29/2009, -2/+46The real question is, why aren't they handing out Bibles at the NY stock exchange?
There's a funny pamphlet called "what Jesus said about homosexuals" that sometimes gets handed out - the joke is that when you open it, it's blank.
But Jesus was absolutely unequivocal about the sinfulness of greed and that the rich were going to burn in Hell. There are hundreds of quotes about the wickedness of the wealthy and the persecution of the poor in the new Testament - Christ was really a prophet for the poor. The most famous quote is probably this one:
"it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
It's a little funny because the 'camel' part is almost certainly a mistranslation of 'gimel', which also meant 'rope' in Aramaic, but it helps drive home the point all the more.
What's clear is that these idiot Bible thumping gay-bashers have probably never read the book that they're handing out... - tomz17, on 06/29/2009, -2/+46Big difference here is that this was event held by a private organization. The organizers rented the ENTIRE venue, and therefore can choose who to let in. These individuals were not welcome, and were therefore arrested for trespassing.
This has NOTHING to do with the first amendment! - Arramol, on 06/29/2009, -1/+44As a Christian (but not of the vicious type), I think I can try to explain what's going on in their heads. Most of these people have grown up in the church, and are accustomed to thinking of Christian beliefs as ingrained and natural, because that's how they were raised. The really vicious ones generally aren't critical thinkers, so they don't realize that what feels like second to nature doesn't feel that way to other people. They think the other people, deep down, "know" that they're not supposed to be violating the religious commands but are doing it anyway out of evilness, and so they react with outrage. Yes, it's stupid, and yes, it's counter-productive, but I think that's why they do it - they truly don't grasp that the people they're railing against are coming from a completely different mindset.
- kingofinternet, on 06/29/2009, -15/+56christians with martyr complexes looking to be oppressed.
attention whores. - BaphClass, on 06/29/2009, -6/+47A post that puts it all in perspective? And DOESN'T DEMONIZE ALL CHRISTIANS?! ON DIGG?!
WHAT THE *****?! - rocknog, on 06/29/2009, -2/+42I think, though, that group has the right to determine who can and can't be on that property. The family was charged with trespassing.
- Zippo, on 06/29/2009, -10/+46I saw a gay pride parade in Toronto back in 2003... it was a pretty peaceful and lively event. But there was this one loudmouth preacher standing on a sidewalk shouting out in protest... he eventually left after a couple people with SuperSoakers decided to greet him.
Honestly, going to a gay pride parade to try and convince people it's wrong? Talk about preaching to the wrong crowd. - Shawn4168, on 06/29/2009, -4/+37I'm proud to say that I'm a Christian, but people like that piss me off. Singling out a group of people for their particular "sin" is not something that Christ would have done. You never see Christians going around and handing out Bibles specifically to lazy people, or to greedy people, or to gluttons, but the Bible puts these behaviors in the same boat as homosexuality. Do I believe that homosexuality is immoral? Yes (and I expect to be buried for saying that). But I'm not about to go around, singling out those people for the particular lifestyle that they've chosen, when I have so many shortcomings and sins in my own life that I need to resolve first.
Spoken by Jesus:
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." - Matthew 7:1-5 - felipe41194, on 06/29/2009, -20/+52no, instead they would probably get the crap beat out of them for being gay and "sinful"
- 8batsy8, on 06/29/2009, -1/+32They would be arrested if they did not have the permission to have a booth. From what I can glean from the article, this isn't about free speech, but about trespassing.
- Coven, on 06/29/2009, -6/+35Because when people push back against their persistence they're suddenly being "persecuted" for their beliefs and have to fight back. .
- bobburn1, on 06/29/2009, -4/+33No, they just refuse to tolerate the ones that choose to preach their hate-filled rhetoric on private property.
- goettel, on 06/29/2009, -3/+31They rented a lot so as not to be distubed by people with opposing views making a scene. But they still came and made a scene, then got arrested. If you came into my backyard preaching and wouldn't leave at my request, I'd put the dogs on you tbh.
- relaxeder, on 06/29/2009, -3/+30Their event, their rules. Its really that simple.
- eir574, on 06/29/2009, -6/+32"What I don't understand is why they act so vicious in the process."
Perhaps because they've lost the ability to understand what viciousness means. It's all love to them, even if it's clearly recognizable as hatred, self righteousness, and narcissism to others. I have a newfound respect for Christians who don't behave that way given how many of their brethren set that kind of example.
I mean, if I know that you're an awful person, is it not an act of love to berate you until I succeed in molding you in my own image? - zjbird, on 06/29/2009, -1/+25Yes. Unless you're a self-hating hater. But we don't take kindly to those.
- inactive, on 06/29/2009, -0/+24Why don't you RTFA
- SpazAttack5000, on 06/29/2009, -8/+32Gotta love the $50 bail. Looks like they might have to start charging for bibles to pay for that.
- mikbunn, on 06/29/2009, -1/+24Imagine you were renting an apartment and had some friends over for dinner. Then a homeless person came in and started yelling at you. Is it a free speech issue?
- KenSPT, on 06/29/2009, -3/+26Upon seeing the title of this article, I thought my post would be something along the lines of, "Whether or not you agree with their viewpoint, they have a right to preach their beliefs.", but upon hearing that the entire park was rented out and they still attempted to get in, they deserve what they got.
- Taiyoryu, on 06/29/2009, -3/+24There is no double standard. The organizers of the event rented the entire park. They then have the right to admit whoever they want on their time-limited, private property. These bible thumpers barged into a private event and were arrested for trespassing. They were the ones infringing rights, not the festival organizers.
- mei0023, on 06/29/2009, -0/+21No, but they could legally prevent them from handing things out. These people were giving away material; that qualifies them as vendors, and makes them bannable.
- GamerXR72, on 06/29/2009, -1/+20FYI freedom of speech is not some infinite right. It is to protect the people from the government, not from other people, and especially not from other people who land you are on.
This happened on private (albeit rented) property, get a ***** clue. - CanadianCheese, on 06/29/2009, -6/+25It's wrong to hate haters?
- mikbunn, on 06/29/2009, -0/+18*HEAD ASPLODE*
The gay group rented it. It was THEIR property for the day, and they had a party. The Bible losers weren't invited to the party, but came anyways and bothered everyone. The article is ***** and doesn't say if they were asked to leave first, though I'm sure they were, or they wouldn't have been arrested.
What would happen if a guy walked into a church during services and started yelling "there's no God"? How about if someone walked into a McDonalds and started handing out Burger King french fries?
Freedom of speech doesn't override freedom of property. - vurdillac, on 06/29/2009, -3/+21Ok, let the gay groups or atheists or whoever set up booths in the lobby of your churches since you apparently think this is all about the right to dissent from an officially promoted message. Oh, right. Your space to do what you see fit. Sort of like if you had rented a park and didn't want outside groups pushing an agenda to set up shop there so you ask them to leave. And they refuse. So you have the cops remove them. And they cry foul based on some lame free speech argument.
- SpinningHead, on 06/29/2009, -4/+21Homophobia comes from a fear of something within one's self. Christianity is just an excuse.
- zjbird, on 06/29/2009, -2/+19Country music concerts. But that's really debatable.
- bobburn1, on 06/29/2009, -1/+18Incorrect. Your sentence only makes sense if you replace homosexuals with Christians. Homosexuals don't go out and recruit and try to "convert" people to being gay. Christians, on the other hand, do. They also preach hate, attack those they don't agree with, and generally violate property rights (they were trespassing).
- johnhummel, on 06/29/2009, -3/+19@JinxCrow: No, you're not playing "devil's advocate", you're failing basic reading comprehension.
"This year, they were not allowed to have a booth. Pride paid to rent the whole park and that gave them the right to choose which vendors they allowed in."
Sounds pretty cut and dried - they were trespassing. They want to be there, they can be there on public access days when no one else is renting out the park, they can go to some other public area, they can stand in their front yard. This is no different than if the Penny Arcade Expo expelled Jack Thompson after they rent out the entire Seattle Convention center - at that point, it's their party, they're guests.
So sorry, this isn't the Johnson's civil rights being violated. They crashed a private party, at an event legally rented to be private for a time period. They were trespassing, and as trespassers, they are now being punished by the law. - Hetman, on 06/29/2009, -0/+16I dunno how about you ask the three trespassers from the article.
- carbonetc, on 06/29/2009, -4/+19They can use these arrests to fuel their persecution complex despite representing the vast majority of the US population. This event couldn't have gone better for them.
- caramba421, on 06/29/2009, -4/+19They were arrested for not reading the article. It turns out that's illegal these days. You ought to be careful...
- Zaxcomp, on 06/29/2009, -0/+15You see a lot of that in the more "evangelical" churches. There ain't a penthouse christian that wants the pain of the scab, but they all want the scar.
- DJRobX, on 06/29/2009, -1/+16The patricipants are proud to be standing up for their rights.
- EnderWiggin, on 06/29/2009, -3/+18Gay people don't choose to be gay. I've known several gay people who struggled trying to be heterosexual but eventually failed. One who I lived with came from a conservative Christian household. His parents considered his "choice" immoral as you do and the years following his coming out were hell for him. I really hope you don't have any gay kids although it does sound like you'd handle it better than my friend's.
- jaaames, on 06/29/2009, -1/+15Don't forget, a majority of those preaching the sinfulness of homosexuality are just pulling the religion card to spout their own hatred.
To believe homosexuality is a sin, one must also believe that tattoos, haircuts, the eating of pork, and a whole plethora of other things are equally sinful, while accepting that it is okay to beat and stone your wife to death for offenses as menial as having her period on the wrong day.
Religion is the scourge of a humane society. It is the single accepted justification for most of the hate that is tolerated in today's world. - Cannonballkid, on 06/29/2009, -11/+25For the record I'm a Catholic but thats my own thing. I'll never bring it up becasue no one cares. Its like having a boring hobby no one wants to hear about your stamp collection. Except if you go to a stamp collection convention than you can talk about it all you want (ie church). Other than that keep it to yourself and shut the ***** up. Let gay people have their pride and their parade for that matter.
- Obermeister, on 06/29/2009, -2/+16It's simple really. They believe that if they don't do something, then God will strike the US with a meteor or something and kill us all.
- tgjerusalem, on 06/29/2009, -0/+14The event didn't ban straight people, or Christians. It kicked out a group of people who were there for the sole purpose of insulting and harassing the people who'd come to have a good time.
And for the record, yes, if a private group wants to rent a space and hold an event there, they can restrict who comes to their party however they like. If a public space is up for rent, and it is rented in its entirety for a day, it is closed to the public for that day. - 8batsy8, on 06/29/2009, -5/+19The point of a pride parade is to raise awareness and acceptance, not simply to show "pride". The fact that a group of people needs to have things like parades just to show the rest of the world that they exist and deserve equal treatment is the real issue. Not that people are ignoring your so-called "straight pride".
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