Once in a while, the opposition is honest. There's surprising coverage by "gay" reporter Ethan Jacobs in today's Bay Windows on the near-riot -- or was it a riot? -- that never happened (according to the mainstream media). The rage by the queer extremists (and their anti-war allies) against the Love Won Out conference frightened even Mr. Jacobs. Here are some excerpts from "My Day with the Ex-Gays":
Christians and the lions
The anti-war protest threw a bit of a monkey wrench into the plans for Love Won Out. The march was expected to wind its way down Tremont Street at around noon, just when conference attendees were due to go on their lunch break. To shelter the attendees from the protestors Focus on the Family decided to bring in boxed lunches for everyone so no one would have to leave the building. The impression given by conference organizers was that the church would be under siege from rabid LGBT activists and their allies. And they were right.
The anti-war march arrived late, but at 2 p.m., just as the day's freak snow storm was picking up, the marchers could be seen, and heard, in the distance. Before they arrived the street was filled with cops, some on bikes, some on foot, who moved the 30 or so protestors from that morning out of the street to make way for the march. The nearly 2000 marchers began to pour down the street, and towards the front was a small flat-bed truck. In the back of that truck stood Mark Snyder, founder of the activist group QueerToday.com, which arranged for the anti-war march to join the ex-gay protest. Snyder shouted into a megaphone, "Focus on the Family! Shut it down! James Dobson! Shut it down! Homophobia! Shut it down! Karl Rove! Shut it down!" Many in the crowd joined the chant, and the sound was nearly deafening.
When the truck had positioned itself squarely in front of the church, the entire 2000-person march stopped in place. The chanting continued, and up near the church entrance another group of marchers began chanting, "Get the f*** out of Boston!" The protestors got louder and louder with every passing second.
A phalanx of cops lined up in front of the door, and others worked to keep the marchers in the streets. From my own perspective, sandwiched between the thousands of protestors and the police in riot gear, I was more than a little scared, and these were supposedly my people protesting. Most of the conference attendees were inside listening to Fryrear's personal testimony, but the few who were at the door looked on in horror. The prevailing mood of the protest was hatred, and whether that hatred was mostly aimed at Love Won Out or the war in Iraq made little difference. To the evangelical Christians watching the fiasco, the protestors looked an awful lot like lions, and it was feeding time.
After a couple minutes the march resumed, and things went back to normal. But for the rest of the day several speakers made reference to the protest, and it helped feed into the persecution complex that has been one of the fixtures of the ex-gay movement. Ex-gays have long argued that the gay community has been intolerant of Christians, and the march only helped them buttress their argument.
