There are 2 linked articles below. The first, from yesterday, is a report of what happened at Pride, while the 2nd is an earlier report about what the anti-gay crowd was hoping to achieve. I’m posting it for a few reasons. When I first read the boxturtlebulliten article last week, I wanted to write about it then, but also wanted more information before posting. I spoke to Clay at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center to see what more I could learn.  The boxturtlebulletin story portrays Charlotte gays as feeling afraid, and I wondered how people come to Pride anticipating that confrontation. Clay told me this happens every year, and for several years, the GLBTQ community there has been using a process called Partners in Peace (not entirely sure I have that correct) as a way to non-violently deal with the confrontation. He took my contact info to pass along to one of their volunteers who was in charge of this, but I didn’t hear back from her. Probably not surprising, given the amount of work there is to do the week before a Pride!

I wanted to hear from here to learn more about their non-violent process, and to see what steps they were taking to deal with an increased presence of anti-gay protestors who were hoping for a “flashpoint.” I’ll try and get a hold of her again this week, but it looks as if the anti-gay extremists failed in their attempt. They were unable to increase their numbers and follow through with their plans.

Here is my favorite quote from yesterday’s article:

“It’s about having fun,” said Pride committee member Su Cummings. “It’s not political. It’s about family and friends.”

This story, raises questions for me about just what do you believe based upon what you read. Burroway, writing in the BTB says this:

So as we can see, there is a direct line of theological and ministerial development from the Kansas City Prophets and Lou Engle, to the Toronto Blessing, and from there to the Brownsville Revival and Michael Brown. That line has become a complete circle, with Engle and Brown uniting for a showdown in Charlotte.

Yet, in Haight, writing yesterday for the Charlotte Observer, quotes Brown as saying:

“We are not here to have a confrontation…,” Michael Brown, director of the Charlotte-based Coalition of Conscience, told protesters who gathered at First Baptist Church before marching to the festival. “We are here to send the message that God has a better way.”

Did Brown’s message change because they couldn’t mass the numbers needed? He had predicted 1000 protestors and the estimate is that 500 were present?

One reason why blogs are critical to our GLBTQ movement for equality, is so that multiple voices enter the dialogue and add information for others to see the whole picture. On the other hand, if bloggers merely add to the hype and spin of various stories, then readers still lack a credible source of information.

Without knowing more, I tend to think that the protestors wanted a “flash Point and hoped to create a protest that had the same effect that Prop 8 had- it would allow anti-gay haters to feel they had won a victory, yet they didn’t have the numbers. Even with bringing in Lou Engle, they couldn’t mobilize enough hate. And, as Su Cummings put it, it is about family and friends.

10,000 celebrate gay pride uptown

Box Turtle Bulletin » Anti-Gay Extremists Predict “Flash Point” for Charlotte Pride.