False Ministers, Two Mommies, and a Rainbow Umbrella

I live in a small, mostly Christian town, that's generally pegged as being conservative. It's not an area that's know for being open-minded, so the first local Pride Festival created a stir. My church, being Open and Affirming (a label that refers specifically to churches that are open and affirming towards people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, or trans-gendered [GLBT]), had a table at the Pride Festival. Many congregation members came to represent the church, and/or explore the festival. My pastor and a few other congregation members were even trained by Silent Witness, a group that acts as a barrier between pride events and protesters.

Participants in Silent Witness are trained not to react to protesters. They stand holding rainbow striped umbrellas near entrances and other areas of pride events where protesters gather. The umbrellas both identify them as Silent Witnesses, and serve as a shield to block protesters from view. If needed the Silent Witnesses will actually escort people past protester, but for many people simply seeing them holding their rainbow umbrellas gives a sense of security. Mostly the Silent Witnesses say they're there to keep the peace.

Prior to attending this event I didn't know much about Silent Witness, but in between exploring the vendors, eating, and hanging out at my church's table, I found myself talking with the Silent Witnesses I knew and watching them work. I've never had much patience for protesters, especially those of the religious variety, and when I've encountered them I've usually hurried past saying under my breath that God doesn't want you to judge, but visiting with the Silent Witnesses and being curious about what they were doing gave me a reason to be near the protesters.

I knew without being told that I couldn't visibly react or respond to the protesters if I was going to hang out with the Silent Witnesses, as that would be counter productive to their mission. Most of what the protesters said I could let roll off of me, though it made me sick to listen to it. It wasn't even what they were saying or the hate they were spewing that made me sick, as much as it was knowing they believed what they were saying and believed they were speaking for God. If I let myself listen to them it was like a depressing weight was filling my stomach with, mostly pity. I was slightly surprised to find myself pitying them more then feeling anything else towards them, but for the most part that's really what I felt.

Late in the afternoon I was talking with my pastor while she was on duty as a Silent Witness. She was right inside the main entrance acting as a back-up while waiting to be assigned somewhere. We talked about how sickening it was to know the protesters believed what they were saying, and occasionally laughed to ourselves about the lack of logic in what the protesters were saying. As we were talking one of the Silent Witness directors was radioed a request to send back up to another gate. My pastor was asked to go to that gate, and after she got directions I said I would walk over with her, since I didn't know anybody else where we were. We quickly crossed the festival and had no trouble finding the gate she had been assigned. It wasn't surprising that protesters had taken up residence at that gate as well, but I wasn't prepared for the greeting we received.

Thus far, the only thing the protesters had been saying that really got to me was when they started commenting to families about two mommies, or two daddies not being right. The generic rants telling people to read their Bibles and turn to God, and all the comments about "sinful" life styles I could handle, and mostly brought on feelings of pity mixed with frustration towards the protesters. When they started verbally attacking families and little children the only people I felt pity for were the families they were targeting. It took nearly everything in my power to contain the anger I felt towards the protesters when they brought innocent children into their hate retoric. If you want to pick fights with adults that's one thing, but kids shouldn't have to listen to anyone saying their parents are going to hell.

We arrived at the other gate just as a family was entering the festival. Sure enough the protester there was verbally attacking them for exposing their young son to the supposed evils of homosexuality. My pastor quietly stepped between the family and the protester, using her umbrella to shield the children from the protester. When he saw my pastor, who was wearing her clerical collar, he started making comments about false ministers. I was literally wringing my fists around the straps on my bag while he ranted, obviously talking about my pastor as he questioned "minister of what?" and indicated his neck while making comments about wearing a thing at your neck not making you a real minister. The only thing that kept me from snapping back at him with every bit of the anger I was feeling was knowing that would only make things worse. I stayed close to my pastor, trying not to let anyone, least of all the protesters, see how much I was seething with anger, but there's no way I looked as calm as she did.

A little later my pastor asked me if I would mind going and getting her a water. While I knew I was free to leave whenever I needed or wanted to, I was relieved to be given a reason to get away that actually felt helpful, rather then feeling like I was giving into the scare tactics and hate that the protester there was using in particularly infuriating ways. Walking away, as the music in the festival over powered the ranting of the protester, I felt the relief of being able to breathe again, and realized how tense I'd gotten. Having a little time to breathe and think while walking, I prepared myself to face the protesters again. By the time I returned with water, there were several more Silent Witnesses surrounding that gate, and the protester had obviously lost some of his enthusiasm.

I'm still processing everything I heard and saw at the gates, and it's clear other people in my church are still processing as well. One thing I do know is that next year I plan to be there holding a rainbow umbrella. It may not be much, and it may not protect everyone from the hate of the protesters, but I'll do what I can to help.