Woke up this morning to read this news. It is so sad that we have a church in Australia that just has to do this… 🙁

LIVE News: Watch it now

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2011/05/15/Gays_Christians_clash_at_Adelaide_rally_612967.html

A gay and lesbian rally against homophobia in Adelaide has ended in violence after it was crashed by Christian protesters, with one person being removed by police.

About 200 people gathered outside parliament on Saturday to rally in support of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia when members of the Adelaide Street Church showed up.

Rally organiser Jason Virgo said one woman was pushed out of her wheelchair and police had to be called.

‘A small number of right-wing Christians came out and started waving their flags and getting in people’s faces, yelling quite loudly, some of them got in a bit of a fight,’ Mr Virgo told AAP.

‘(They had) signs saying God hates sinners’ … no sign should say God hates’.

‘It’s an International Day Against Homophobia and for them to come to us and come to our rally and say things which we find homophobic, it’s disrespectful.

‘We would never go to their church and disrupt things the way they did today.’

Street Church spokesman Forbes Morrison said preachers were pushed and threatened.

‘The homosexuals and lesbians had organised a march to strut their sin down King William Street, and the Christians of Street Church went out to appeal in love to them to repent of their sins and put their trust and surrender in Jesus Christ,’ Mr Morrison said.

‘A large portion of the sitting crowd of gays aggressively began to push, harangue, curse and threaten the Christian preachers.

‘As the march began, the Christian preachers led the way in protest, denouncing homosexuality and lesbianism as a crime against God for which those who practice will be damned and go to hell.

‘The motivation of the Christian preachers was one of love for God and their neighbour, and equal marriage rights will not be tolerated by rational Australians.’

A spokeswoman for South Australia Police said one person had to be removed by police for breach of peace, but no arrests were made.

And as the spokesperson for the L & G people said, they would never visit that particular church and disrupt their services and yet this is the disrespect Christians showed them at their rally. Shame on them.

Hi Ann Maree,

Yes I think the following paragraph in the story says it all;

‘It’s an International Day Against Homophobia and for them to come to us and come to our rally and say things which we find homophobic, it’s disrespectful.”

It was a shame that the protestors chose direct confrontation instead of intelligent dialogue.

Hi Steven Ogden

Welcome! 🙂

And yes I agree that the church is very misogynistic, and not just the fundamentalist part, but in many denominations where the bible is literally applied. I believe it’s because the bible has been interpreted by the patriarchy including misogynists, and the sacred feminine therefore snuffed out as much as possible. It saddens me to say that Jesus is STILL ahead of his time in the way he treated women, much to the disgust of many of his male peers who either abused, dismissed, overlooked or tolerated women at best. The latter attitude and various inequalities continue to pervade the church and wider society.

I’m glad to hear that your Christian standing is different to that. 🙂

Blessings,

Ann Maree

I tracked down the website for this group. They have Sunday services BUT the only way you can find out when & where is to register. Sound somewhat cultish (as in “we know the truth”). Seems to be an ex-pentecostal pastor who is very critical of large (i.e., sucessful) pentecostal churches. All very sad. Still, it’s God who judges; we just have to love them.