***
I was flabbergasted when I came across an assertion, in response to my comment that "the difference between Chick and Friends and pro-homosexual groups is that the former seek to infringe upon other people, while the latter seek to protect themselves", that:
that the homosexuals are just about protecting themselves is not totally true. While there are certainly homosexuals who truly want to live a quiet life, a sizeable group does not. We can see this most visibly in the US, where death threats, riots, boycotts etc have all been the weapons of choice of these fascists against "homophobia".
I had never heard of any, and was unable to come across any, examples of death threats, riots and boycotts by 'homo-fascists'.
When I asked for evidence, I was pointed to a 1993 gay riot at the Hamilton Square Baptist Church in San Francisco. I find it significant that the Homosexuality category at Conservapedia lists no other examples of gay 'death threats, riots, boycotts etc'.
One news source mentions a 1989 protest at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York where 100 protestors "lay in the aisle, flung condoms and chained themselves to pews", but the protest was "directed toward the Roman Catholic Archdiocese's public stand against AIDS education and condom distribution in the public elementary schools, as well as its opposition to abortion", and in any case flinging condoms hardly counts as a riot, even if it doesn't quite qualify as non-violent protest. Ditto for gay activists flinging condoms at the parishioners at Village Seven Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs in November 1993.
While it is regrettable that there was a gay riot, the fact that it is notable for its singularity indicates that this is an exception which proves the rule. Very different from "death threats, riots, boycotts etc" being "the weapons of choice... against "homophobia"".
On the other hand, there are many examples of fundamentalist Christians organizing boycotts, making death threats to people working in abortion clinics and bombing abortion clinics.
[Addendum: It is now claimed that gay death threats and riots are so numerous as to outnumber abortion clinic bombings, and that they are the rule rather than the exception.
I have decided that I have better things to do than argue with Christians on a weekend, not least since the fact that a screening of 'The Last Temptation of Christ' got molotov cocktail-ed in France is not enough proof that some Christians want to persecute people who allegedly attack their faith (and that this line of argument instead is "Cum hoc, ergo propter hoc and bare assertion" - maybe the people who threw the molotov cocktail did not like the movie poster).]
Christians threaten to boycott
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 9 November 1993
Fundamentalist Christian groups on Monday threatened to boycott San Francisco to protest what they call lax enforcement against gay activists who allegedly vandalized a church.
"Your city is known worldwide now as a city that is not willing to protect religious freedom," Carl Herbster, Pastor of Tri-City Baptist Church in Kansas City, Miss., said Monday during a San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting.
Herbster commented at a hearing in which the religious conservative groups demanded the city charge protesters who demonstrated Sept. 19 at Hamilton Square Baptist Church where the Rev. Lou Sheldon, founder of the Traditional Values Coalition, was speaking.
"Major corporations are considering canceling their reservations for conventions because of what took place ... Whether you know it or not, you've created a nationwide and a worldwide revolt. You've awakened a sleeping giant," Herbster said.
Between 75 and 100 gay rights activists protesting Sheldon's presence caused $2,000 worth of damage to a concrete bench and a church door and tried to prevent parishioners from entering, said Pastor David Innis of Hamilton Square Church.
One man was arrested at the scene but released later and was never formally charged, San Francisco Police Officer Robert O'Sullivan said. Police have identified several protesters on a videotape and were still investigating the incident, he said.
On Monday, three people were arrested during the hearing at City Hall, Sgt. Joe Currie said. Several shouting matches erupted, prompting Board President Angela Alioto to threaten to bring in more than 50 riot police stationed outside the board chambers.
Through the noise, both sides made their points. The hearing was packed with about 200 people, evenly divided between gay activists and fundamentalist Christians.
"We call upon the board to publicly denounce the violence against the church and demand the arrest and prosecute the people who committed those crimes," said Ted Barkle, a member of the Hamilton Square congregation. He said his children were terrified by the protesters pounding on the door the night of Sheldon's appearance and called their presence "terrorism."
Representatives of the gay community said if anyone is guilty of violence, it's the religious right, who they said foment hate against homosexuals.
