wfn.org | 81 demonstrators arrested

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Note #5970 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

GA00025
June 25, 2000 

81 demonstrators arrested during Soulforce rally

General Assembly opening worship not disrupted

by Evan Silverstein and Jerry L. Van Marter

LONG BEACH, June 25 –On a morning better suited to a picnic in the park,
about 125 supporters of fuller inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgendered persons in the life of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
gathered in a palm-lined plaza outside the Long Beach Convention Center
Arena to press their cause.

	After the 90-minute rally sponsored by Soulforce, an ecumenical gay-rights
group, 81 of the protesters, most of whom were Presbyterian, strolled to
waiting Long Beach Police-chartered buses after symbolically blocking an
access road into the arena and being arrested.

	“I am here because so many people are being hurt by the various churches’
policies on gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgendered issues,” said Rich
Eychaner, a Des Moines, Iowa resident who described himself as a “fallen
away” Methodist. “I think it’s very important that we quit debating it and
just include everyone as God’s people.”

	There were colored balloons, rainbow-hued hats, hymn-singing and T-shirts
proclaiming “Stop the Spiritual Violence” and “This Debate Must End! Include
Us! Ordain Us! Let Us Serve!”

	The peaceful, festive rally took place while worshipers were inside the
arena participating in the opening worship service of the 212th General
Assembly. The rally and arrests were carefully choreographed so as not to
disrupt the worship service. The event outside was over before the
benediction inside was pronounced.

	About 25 yards from the rally 10 people staged a counter-demonstration,
calling homosexuality “an abomination” and saying that the Soulforce members
were destined for hell.  They waved placards bearing such slogans as “GOD
HATES FAGS,” “GOT AIDS YET?” and “THANK GOD FOR AIDS” and frequently
bellowed insults at participants in the Soulforce rally.  But worshipers
arriving for the opening service in the arena mostly ignored them.

	About 10 others counter-demonstrators, representatives of an independent
congregation in West Long Beach, showed up as the last of the protesters was
arrested.

	“I wouldn’t worry about being arrested,” one anti-homosexual protester
yelled as police led Soulforce participants to buses that transported them
to a central processing area where they were to be charged with
misdemeanors. “I would be worried about my eternity in hell at the hands of
God.”

	A number of speakers at the Soulforce demonstration proclaimed that gay
members are valuable to the church and demanded that they be treated as
normal people rather than “sexual suspects.” The speakers included the Rev.
Jane Spahr, a lesbian minister with “That All May Freely Serve,” and William
P. Thompson, a former moderator and stated clerk of the United Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A.

	“We are here to invite our church to become the hospitable, welcoming
church we know it could dare to be,” said Spahr. “We are here ... as
life-affirming, God-affirming people. To demand the church to think of us as
whole people, rather than sexual acts.”

	Those who were arrested included many leaders and members of the More Light
Presbyterians organization, which works for fuller gay and lesbian inclusion
in the church – some avowed lesbian ministers, such as Spahr, Lisa Bove,
Bear Ride and Katie Morrison, and Thompson; Virginia Davidson, the founder
of “That All May Freely Serve”; “Shower of Stoles” project founder Martha
Jullierat; and Cincinnati pastor Harold Porter.

	“I can’t help but believe that most Presbyterians are appreciative and
grateful for the silent witness of the Soulforce people,” said the Rev.
Douglas Oldenburg, a former PC(USA) moderator who served during the protest
as media liaison for the denomination. “And are turned off by the more
strident and arrogant witness of those who oppose them.”

	Before worship, church officials including the PC(USA)’s stated clerk, the
Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, and the Rev. Syngman Rhee, the denomination’s
newly elected moderator, chatted with Soulforce members outside.

	Rhee said people of different opinions may “grow together in mutual
understanding.”

	Whether events of this sort are healthy for the church “depends on how the
lifting up of the issue is handled. I hope we will find a constructive way.
We are all part of the Body of Christ,” he said.

	This was the third and smallest Soulforce event of this summer. The group –
founded by Mel White, a former Jerry Falwell speechwriter who is now a
minister in the Metropolitan Community Church – makes the rounds of
denominational meetings seeking “spiritual rights” in mainline churches.
Nearly 200 were arrested during a Soulforce protest during the United
Methodist Church’s General Conference in Cleveland last month. The group was
greeted with stony silence when it demonstrated outside the Southern Baptist
Convention in Orlando earlier this month.

Information for this story was also gathered by reporters John Filiatreau
and Alexa Smith.

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