As Ex-Gay Watch has frequently noted, since late 2004 Exodus has periodically praised antigay activists who are euphemistically labeled the “Philadelphia 11.” The Philadelphia group was the subject of a recent exgay ad campaign.
The group’s real name is Repent America, and it is led by one Michael Marcavage. Exodus and Focus on the Family portray the group as Christian martyrs for illegally disrupting a Philadelphia gay street festival, disobeying police orders, getting arrested, and finally getting hit with trumped-up hate-crime charges that were later dismissed. (The prosecution may have been overzealous because Repent America already had a long criminal record of disrupting public events and government meetings in southeast Pennsylvania.)
A Google search today turned up extensive cooperation between Exodus’ heroes and — lo and behold — the Constitution Party (Recent XGW coverage of the CP.)
Read on for some concrete examples:
- In January 2004, Repent America founder Michael Marcavage joined a pro-life activist in launching a web site to recommend the Constitution Party as a moral alternative to the “anti-Christian” George W. Bush.
- In February 2004, Marcavage explicitly endorsed the Constitution Party’s candidate for U.S. president on a Los Angeles radio station.
- In October 2004, Marcavage “interviewed” Peroutka just before the election. After the election, Peroutka repaid the favor by promoting Repent America on the presidential campaign’s blog and recruiting Marcavage for a speaking engagement before Peroutka’s Institute on the Constitution.
- Constitution Party national official Angela Wittman says Repent America’s tactics exemplify “what we are all called to do.” Wittman endorses Marcavage’s tactic of disrupting a town council meeting by preaching off-topic Bible sermons and refusing to relinquish the public microphone or discuss on-topic issues when requested by the council. (Two related stories: Marcavage goes to trial. Charges dismissed.)
- Repent America has endorsed Larry Kilgore, the Constitution Party’s 2006 candidate for Texas governor.
As previously noted at XGW, both organizations strive for a future fundamentalist federal government with a federal death penalty against homosexuals.
Google indexes more than 100 other pages with links of varying quality to both Repent America and the Constitution Party, but you get the point.
Exodus sure has a strange taste in political allies and an odd way of “engaging the culture for Christ.”
Yep…after they stop being useful idiots, ex gays are SO toast.
There was nothing illegal telling people that God love homosexuals and that they can change. The police totally denied their right to free speech. Your description of the events are quite slanted, but what am I to expect from a forum such as this?
As we’ve discussed many times before, Whatever, the “Philadelphia 11” used megaphones to drown out the festival’s speakers. According to some accounts, they also tried to storm the stage and seize the podium, as they have done at city council meetings in the past.
If you define the shouting-down, seizure and disruption of events as a form of free speech, Whatever, then I challenge you to allow an opposing political group — say, a “pro-choice” group — to shout down and seize control of your church’s next picnic or public outreach event.
I don’t approve of such tactics — but apparently the Philadelphia 11’s supporters do.
Next time you post, Whatever, please use a real name and e-mail address.
Hi there, Whatever
Actually what they did was go into an event that had received proper permitting from the authorities and used bullhorns to try and disrupt the event. That isn’t free speech.
And it’s a far cry from “telling people that God love homosexuals and they can change.” Had you bothered to check, you’d have known that they weren’t proclaiming love.
When they refused to cooperate with the police, the DA over-reacted. However, the original disruption was illegal.
If you carefully examined both, our description of the events holds much more closely to the facts than that of religious news sites (for example, they never seem to mention the bullhorns). But, then again, we hold ourselves to a much higher standard of honesty than does AgapePress or other such venues.
Need I add, Whatever, that a group in favor of killing homosexuals has no love for them?
“I’ve sent him to heaven!!”
–A triumphant Sister Mary Ignatius after shooting her gay former student, upon learning that he’s gone to confession since the last time he committed sodomy and is therefore clean, for now.
Mike,
I tried to follow the link in the post that supposedly shows that Wittman “endorses the commandeering of city council meetings by fundamentalists.” But it’s just the same link to her praise of Repent America’s Outfest actions, and doesn’t mention RA’s other antics (or her opinion on them) at all. So I think it’s not the correct link.
disputed,
Thanks for pointing that out. I have fixed the link and added two more for substantiation.