GRAND RAPIDS, MI – An apparent clash with protesters at last weekend’s inaugural Gay Day
at Cherry Park has led a local human-rights group to call for Grand
Rapids police protection of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
people.
The non-profit Tolerance, Equality and Awareness Movement, or TEAM, has posted a letter to its Web site
urging police to prosecute unidentified protesters who allegedly made
rape and death threats at the event organized by the East Hills Council
of Neighbors to celebrate the community’s diversity.
“It is our position that these actions should not be tolerated in
this community, and that the perpetrators of such actions be brought to
justice,” TEAM founder and president Chris Surfus wrote in the letter.
“(Hate speech that incites violence) infringes on the human rights of
others and leaves a bad mark on the vitality and beauty of the diversity
of our community.”
TEAM posted to its Web site a YouTube video of what appears to be a
protester using an ancient Bible prophecy about Babylon to justify
raping a Gay Day participant.
Grand Rapids police were called to the scene and both Gay Day
participants and protesters dressed in Bible costumes and reciting Bible
verses dispersed as it started to rain, Lt. Mark Ostapowicz said.
Nobody came forward with a specific complaint, no charges were filed and
the report has been closed, he said.
“The Gay Day celebration group was upset that the Bible group was
able to protest, but in their protest they weren’t doing anything wrong,
according to the (responding police officer’s) report,” Ostapowicz
said. “When the officers got there they were not threatening each other.
As long as they’re not breaking any of the protest rules, there’s
nothing we can do.
“As of right now, we just have two groups in disagreement with each other. Nothing happened that led the officers to do more.”
Nothing that is, accept for this little morsel recorded by one of the TEAM participants...sounds fairly threatening to me, just full of Christian love:
No comments:
Post a Comment