Absurd Christian Account of Castro Altercation
Yesterday I reported on the scuffle that took place between gays and a group of Christians that were trying to convert gays in the Castro on Friday night. Late last night Marcus French over at Voice of Revolution commented on my blog post. He said I had posted inaccurately. That the Christians were there to merely pray and worship publicly and were then physically, psychologically, and sexually assaulted. His account in all of its absurdity is here.
Here’s a little taste of what you’ll read in his account:
…One victim said that when one of the homosexuals was confronted by a young woman for stealing her Bible, “he responded by hitting her on the head with the Bible, shoving her to the ground, and kicking her.” When asked by the police if she wanted to press charges, she declined, choosing to extend forgiveness to her attacker instead.
Violence and verbal abuse weren’t the only things they had to endure however, as perverse acts of molestation also took place. According to one of the victims, individuals in the crowd touched and grabbed them, tried to remove their pants, and even made attempts to penetrate them anally with foreign objects. Following this, the police had to surround the outreach team to protect them from the mob, and confront a man who threatened the team leader with death. The police asked the outreach group to leave for their protection due to the violence of the crowd, despite the police presence.
I laughed out loud when I read Marcus’ account. Talk about inflammatory and imaginative! Wooee, I have seen fiction that innovative and imaginary since the first Harry Potter book hit the shelves. Oh, and never mind the factual news reporting by KTVU. Why would a news station report the story accurately? No, instead we should take the word of a gay-hating religious wing-nut who runs an incendiary blog. Okaaaayyy.
If you want to email your thoughts or challenge Mr. French’s account, the email address I have is: editor@voiceofrevolution.com
Hey there. My name is Matt Comer. I live in Charlotte, NC, where I am the editor of an LGBT newspaper.
On the side, I run my own blog and I’ve also been hounding Marcus on this story. I’ve met Marcus and ate lunch with him recently. I also know his minister, Dr. Michael Brown. Brown’s organization and ministry are among the most anti-gay in the Charlotte, NC, area.
I’ve been going back and forth with Marcus on this story at my blog (http://www.interstateq.com/archives/2905/) and at his.
While I can believe the protest might have gotten out of hand (as many of them have), I’ve found ZERO evidence from any reputable source to back up his unverified report of “molestation” by gay protesters.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:23 amThanks Matt. Glad to see I’m not the only blog Marcus is selling his untruths on.
I spoke to the Castro district City Supervisor, and he also had no reports of the violence that Marcus claims took place.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:27 amJust added this note to the post:
Believe the account given from the JHOP people or don’t believe it, but I know it is from someone that was there at the scene.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:53 pmMatt,
Thanks for “hounding” me concerning this. I’ll be more thorough about publicizing my sources in the future.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:26 pmLogan,
Reading the YouTube account again, I see that it leaves out a few things that our email source contained. I’ve written a followup to the article that contains further details on our sources here: http://voiceofrevolution.askdrbrown.org/2008/11/19/kingdoms-in-conflict-followup/
November 18th, 2008 at 9:26 pmI love the part where the fundie says that “maybe” she was urinated on. I guess she heard somewhere that the filthy fags are into that sort of thing, so “maybe” that’s what happened.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:21 am[...] follow-up with personal testimony of the night’s events, and while I’ve already admitted several times that I believe the conflict got out-of-hand, this molestation claim remains one of the most outrageous claims I’ve ever heard. Public [...]
November 19th, 2008 at 5:05 amLogan, I posted a somewhat lengthy response/analysis of this conflict:
November 19th, 2008 at 5:26 amhttp://www.interstateq.com/archives/2907/
Official statement just released from the JHOP team: http://voiceofrevolution.askdrbrown.org/2008/11/19/kingdoms-in-conflict-official-statement-from-jhop/
November 19th, 2008 at 9:06 amLogan,
Have television stations ever gotten a story wrong? Especially when they neglect to interview both sides?
Now that you’ve seen the official story from the people that actually were involved in this situation, do you still believe my account is “absurd”? If so, what would make you draw this conclusion? Were the police escorting the JHOP people out of there just to have a good time? Or were they in serious danger?
November 19th, 2008 at 11:59 amMarcus, I still see no verifiable “proof.” It’s all hearsay at this point, on both sides. (To be clear, I’m not believing anything I hear from the gay Castro residents at this point either.)
If your claims stopped at the coffee and whistles, I’d probably believe it pretty easily. But the claims that the people were knocked to the ground, and sexually molested are hard to believe.
I am currently contacting the SFPD through various channels to get an official statement or report from them. My research on the JHOP has led me to believe that they intentionally may try to stir up trouble, all the while putting on a facade of peaceful worshipers.
I came across this today which makes me question the true intentions of this group in the Castro that night:
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2008/11/elijah-jezebel-showdown.html
I will report back when I have the SFPD incident report…
November 19th, 2008 at 12:09 pmHmm…. Looks like I forgot to put blockquote tags in that last comment, the first paragraph is obviously a quote from you post.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:12 pmLogan,
Whether or not you would agree with their theology or beliefs, I know the group to be truthful and honest, which is why we ran with their story.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:19 pmLogan,
I debunk the Joe.My.God. post you mentioned here: http://voiceofrevolution.askdrbrown.org/2008/11/19/kingdoms-in-conflict-update-and-debunking-rumors/
November 19th, 2008 at 8:14 pmRight-wing Christians do have a habit of lying whenever it suits them to do so (see various stuff put about by James Dobson or any creationist you may come across), which does make it difficult to take them seriously.
TRiG.
November 29th, 2008 at 8:14 am