On October 10, 2004, 11 individuals identifying themselves as "Repent America" were arrested by the Philadelphia Police Department and charged with various offenses of the Pennsylvania criminal code for disrupting and harassing the individuals and vendors participating in Outfest 2004, Philadelphia's celebration of National Coming Out Day, the largest such celebration in the nation. Because of the misleading nature of some press reports, and the extremely truncated version of the event put forth by "Repent America" in their releases and on selected television and radio appearances, the Philadelphia Gay Pride organization would like to correct the record and put forth the unadulterated version of what happened at Outfest 2004, and of our prior experience with these individuals on June 13, 2004 [PrideDay 2004] and October 12, 2003 [Outfest 2003]. Much like the false prophets we are warned about in Matthew's Gospel, these individuals come dressed as sheep but are as ravenous as wolves.

Previous History of Demonstrations  
Fifteen years of June "PrideDay" celebrations and October "Outfest" celebrations were without incident until demonstrators appeared at Outfest 2003, October 12, 2003. With highly inflammatory signs such as "God Abhors You" and "AIDS: Judgment or Cure?" and equally repulsive rhetoric, this group of protestors remained at the Outfest celebration for over 2 ½ hours. The efforts of the Philadelphia Police Department and our own security and administrative personnel were the only things that kept the scene from degenerating into a riot. On     several occasions, this group got                      Outfest 2003     

into verbal altercations with onlookers,

calling them "fags" and telling them they were "going to hell."

Marcavage Enters Gay Pride Parade.

Two of the individuals arrested on October 10, 2004, illegally entered the Gay Pride Parade on June 13, 2004, and taunted both the onlookers and parade participants until they were forced out of the parade by the Philadelphia Police Department. We use the term "illegally" advisedly as the United States Supreme Court has ruled                     Outfest 2003                   that the First Amendment does not guarantee participation in a privately run and produced parade. Michael Marcavage, who has attended more gay events than any member of our community, and Mark Diener, appeared in the parade and disrupted the proceedings at the reviewing stage. After they were removed from the parade, they proceeded to harass onlookers from the northwest corner Broad and Washington Streets.

Plans for 2004 Outfest  
Fears of civil liability for any injuries that might result from yet another demonstration compelled Outfest organizers to take a two-prong approach to future interruptions in our events:

1.      Police Meetings: We met with officials of the Police Department with our complaints of the October 2003 and June 2004 events. Obviously, not all speech is protected by the First Amendment: both "fighting words" which could lead to a riot, 18 Pa.C.S.A. §5501, and "ethnic intimidation," 18 Pa.C.S.A. §2710, are crimes pursuant to the Pennsylvania Crimes Code. The police department, which had first hand experience with the potential violence and incendiary nature of the protests from our October 2003 event, were urged to enforce the law and arrest for any criminal violations.

2.      Counter-demonstrations: The First Amendment guarantees the right to speak without governmental interference. The First Amendment does not guarantee an audience to a speaker, nor does it prevent opposing speech. We made plans to counter any protestor signage with our own [pink insulation sheets carved as angels] and to counter any bullhorn or loud speaker with whistles.

October 10, 2004 Arrests  
Outfest 2004 drew approximately 32,000 participants and over 150 vendors and community groups who pay to defray the costs involved with the event. Once again, 11 demonstrators approached from behind the main stage at 13th and Locust Street with bullhorns and 10-12 foot high signs. Pride volunteers formed a human chain to prevent their entrance. After some delay, and following a direct from the police to permit them to enter, the human chain was dismantled. The demonstrators interrupted the activities at the main stage, and, after an angry crowd had developed, the police asked the group to move                  Outfest 2004

north on 13th Street.

At this point the "pink angels" were formed around the demonstrators and whistles were sounded every time they attempted to speak on their bullhorns, both to protect the demonstrators from the angry crowd reaction and to prevent their angry and disruptive rhetoric from inciting the crowd. Contrary to their portrayal to the press that they were merely quoting the Gospel and singing religious songs, on three [3] separate occasions, a transgender female was berated on the bullhorn and told "your mirror lied to you this morning . . . you have a 5 o'clock shadow."

                                          Outfest 2004

The demonstrators were clearly perplexed by our exercise of First Amendment rights and started to block two vendors on the east side of 13th Street. After protests were made to the police that the vendors had paid for their spaces and were prevented from conducting any activity by the presence of the demonstrators, the police asked the demonstrators to move north on 13th Street. The protestors stated that they wanted to move, but would only move south on 13th in the direction of the main stage. The police then gave the protestors a direct order to move, and, unlike the Pride volunteers who had obeyed the police directive given them, the demonstrators refused to move.

They were arrested and charged with a variety of civil disobedience crimes such as disorderly conduct, failure to disperse, and obstructing a highway. Michael Marcavage, the leader of the group, was additionally charged with riot and ethnic intimidation. All in all, the confrontation lasted less than 30 minutes.

Press Accounts  
"Repent America" has now begun a well-orchestrated publicity campaign alleging that they were arrested for "preaching the word of God on Philadelphia streets." They have appeared on selected shows where only their point of view is presented. After their only appearance with a Pride representative on "The O'Reilly Factor," the group cancelled a joint appearance on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." The group has gone so far as to allege, via "World Net Daily," that an anonymous source said unnamed gay employees of the Justice Department had attended Outfest and had given instructions to the police on how to arrest the protestors. . . . .amazing that unnamed individuals from an anonymous source could be taken seriously by anyone, even advocates for one particular side!

Let there be no mistake about it: these individuals came to interrupt Outfest 2004 as they did the previous year by casting epithets at the gay attendees, condemning them to hell unless they repented of their homosexuality, poking fun at transgenders, and inciting the audience to the point of riot. When offered the opportunity to preach the word of God in a quieter manner [Philadelphia police asked them to put down their signs and the pink                  Outfest 2004                angels would be lowered as well] they simply refused Demeaning signs and bullhorned insults are now considered to be preaching the Good News. When met by members of the gay community asserting their First Amendment rights, they complained. So much for the First Amendment!

Civil disobedience, incitement to riot, and hate speech are crimes notwithstanding the fact that the criminal perpetrators consider themselves to be doing the work of God. The gay community and the gay pride organization of the City of Philadelphia respect the First Amendment and welcome any and all members of the Christian community who wish to celebrate with us. However, the wolves in sheep's clothing need go elsewhere if they are trying to force us back into the closet. We have come too far and have suffered too much to do so without a fight.