Gay Pride March In Spartanburg Ends Peacefully
Gay Pride Parade
Gay Pride ParadePublished: June 20, 2009
It is a controversial issue that had supporters and protestors out in full force Saturday in Spartanburg.
The first ever gay pride parade made its way through the streets of downtown Spartanburg as supporters marched and protestors demonstrated peacefully. And for those marching it was a day of history.
“This is an important day in history for gays and lesbians,“ said Harriet Hancock. “It’s one of the first steps in achieving full civil rights for the gay community and i’m proud to be apart of it.“
Hancock, who is heterosexual, joined several other homosexuals from the upstate and beyond to march on downtown Spartanburg for the first time ever. While Hancock and other supporters for gay rights were marching, so were protestors, who had made their way from across the upstate and beyond.
“We’re hoping for a little more tolerance,“ said Jay Ault, a supporter of gay rights. “We know that’s easier said than done. That a lot of people are set in their views and these don’t change easily.“
Joshua Spencer was one of the protestors who took to the street to express his views and opposition to the march.
“They want to bring their agenda to the people of Spartanburg and we want to oppose that agenda,“ said Spencer. Protestors like Spencer lined the streets with signs and words that let the supporters know how they felt about the parade.
One sign read, “Let Jesus save your life,“ and protestors walked alongside the supporters marching as they were urged to bring the signs. “Let’s go ya’ll, bring the signs,“ one protestor said. “Bring the signs.“
Despite the opposition and disagreement on the issue, the controversial march went off without any problems and ended peacefully. However, few people changed their thoughts on the subject and continued to voice their opinion.
“I believe it’s un-scriptual,“ said one protestor. “I believe it’s unholy, and I believe it’s an abomination of what the bible says.“
“They have nothing else to do all day but come out here and watch us,“ said one supporter. “That’s okay. They don’t bother us.“
But for supporters like Ault, they feel they have accomplished something.
“The time for pride is now,“ he said. “You’ve got to have pride in yourself and you’ve got to be true to yourself.“
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
Henderson—-you say that “God made adam and eve not adam and steve. How do you know this and do you know for a fact that the first humans were named Adam and Eve and not some name someone made up in their mythic tales of the past? Obviously you know almost nothing about the Bible and apparently nothing about Biology. David and Johanathan were a gay couple who you read about in the Bible. In the KJ it says that David love Johanathan more than he loved any woman. Jesus says that we should love our neighbors as ourselves which you obviously do not with your passive-aggressive behavior.
You need to develop critical thinking skills and very badly need to do so.
FYI most of the tales in the bible can not be absolutely true and if you read Genesis with a critical inquiry then you will soon find this out. The same is true of Christ’s birth and Crucifixion—-the apostles do not agree with each other and scientifically the event IF it happened never happened the way it is described in the Bible. There was no eclipse in 30 AD that caused total darkness over Jerusalem. Yes there was an eclipse but it was only partial—-not like night time which the Bible says it was. Also there was NO earthquake in Jerusalem as the NT implies.
Stop hating and judging others and accept those who God (if you are religious) made. The truth is people blame God for everything that they do not know or can not figure out. So how do we know that God really exists—-or is he or she just an excuse for human ignorance?
You are a perfect example of why Karl Marx said that Religion is the opiate of the people. That means that people who are otherwise intelligent allow themselves to be duped by fairy tales and other myths. Just because you in good faith loan money to someone is no sign that they will pay it back—-as the Housing and credit card folks recently learned. Religion is likewise—-you believe something that may or may not be true on faith that it is or is not. Religion, unlike science, is tenured to beliefs even when it is proven not true. It is like being at the Race track betting on a Horse simply because in good faith you believe it will win the race and net you a million or so—-well in most cases it did not happen. Lightning seldom or rarely strikes in the precise same spot. If you believe that snakes can talk; I would like to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.
Stop being ignorant and learn about gay people from reputable folks—-gay people themselves and attend a PFLAG meeting. You will see that gay people are not the abombination that you claim the OT says.
Obviously you do not read, speak or understand Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic or ancient Greek or ancient Coptic. If you did you would see that what you believe the English text says is not necessarily so—-like a Bible that was issued in the 1970s which has the Psalms of David having people praise God with Saxophones that did not even exist during the time of King David.
Incidentally the first know human like creature that was bi-pedal (walks on two feet and not feet and knuckles) was name Lucy, not Eve, when she was found in Africa during the 1960-1970. period. She got her name because the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was playing when she was discovered. The real Lucy for whom the song was named recently died.
so if GA has a stand your ground law then why dont all the gays move to GA and then they wont have anything to worry about.
The NRA .(.National Riffle Association) welcomes all gays and lesbians. Learn to shot well and carry because you never know when one of those religious fanatics are going to completely nut up on you.
All Gay men and lesbians need to get gun permits and carry. If anyone physically threatens you ...blow them away. GA has stand your own ground law…Does SC have the same gun law?
Sorry think2009, that last comment I made should have been directed towards deathangel.
I don’t believe that what God has called evil you should call good either. But if you believe that being heterosexual makes you any further ahead than being homosexual when it comes to judgement, you may be in for a surprise. The sin that condemned man was made when man was first created. No matter how good a life you live, the die has already been cast. It is only through grace, which by the way can never be earned by any lifestyle choice. It bothers me that you (think2009) would have people believe that being any sexual orientation would save them from judgement.
think2009,
I answered your question. I guess you are too stupid to understand the english language or you wouldn’t still be asking the question. Have someone read this to you.
No, you are NOT a Christian. You deny what the Bible says. You mock it. You detest it. You defend things that God has condemned. YOu call good that which God has called evil, and you call evil that which God calls good. You are a mentally constipated, spiritually dead puke. And that’s the nicest thing I can think to say about you.
(henderson)
You would pray and leave it in Gods hands. THAT is your answer! LOL LOL LOL.
I will tell you what I would do, love them as I did before, because they are the SAME person, NOTHING has changed about them. Sexual preference is ONLY mentioned in Leviticus. If you take all of Leviticus out, there is NO other mention of it.
You are still avoiding answering the question. To break down your answer, what do you expect God will do? Strike them down? Shed their blood? He will do NOTHING, He will let them be as they were. Those of you like that babbling food (al) on here that keep going back that it has been “proven” that you are not born that way. Really?? PROVEN? Beyond ANY reasonable doubt? Proven by scientists, the same ones who believe in Darwinism. PLEASE!
You and the rest who think like you cannot come up with a straight answer. Hence, your response. There are people in your church that are gay, you may be standing next to them, been to their home, but they are afraid to say it. Does that make them less worthy than you?
As I said all of you backward Leviticus lovers move to the middle east with your Islamic brethren. You have EXACTLY the same ideologies they do about subjects. If that is the case, then you should all become vigilantes and shed the blood of all gays. After all, “it is written”.
You see, I ANSWERED THE QUESTION! I did not use the religion, “ill pray for you” card. I am NOT afraid to read into Gods word.
As for (al)..NO HOPE. He keeps coming up with when God accepts them etc. Since when did God deny ANY of His children?? You are saying God made a mistake. Hhhhhmmm. Ok.
Yes I have the answers, its called “love your fellow man”... How are they hurting anyone, are they murderers, drug dealers? HOW? Because you are afraid they MAY corrupt you? LOL. You can walk through European beaches and countries, topless women etc. NOONE cares. Here? LOL. They see a woman breastfeeding, its pornography.
You are WRONG! You still have NOT answered the question from your heart.
Talking to brick walls with no logic.
I wish to thank the protestors for their peaceful assembly and the fact that most if not did not physically assault any of the Pride folks or commit other criminal acts as happened in Greenville and at least on one occaision in Asheville. June is officially Gay Pride Month Nationally as it always has been since 1966. The White House finally recognized it as such recently although previous adminstrations gave lip service to it.
Thes clerics and other homophobes were the uninvited guests crahsing at this party. If the LGBT community showed up at their churchs—-I am sure the cops would be called and they would be arrested and if someone who was a member of their church was gay they would kick them out—-that is not a sign of love—-and any one straight or gay who was sick with HIV would be kicked out—that is not loving one’s neighbor as ones self——but the lgbt community did not call the cops on them—-that is what Jesus would have done for he commanded us to all love one another. The Preachers on TV do not love their neighbor as themselve—-particularly if they are gay. Most are very ignorant and that is what this event was about—-to let everyone know that Gay people are no different than from themselves. They had the delusional X-gay folks out also—-these people have been harmed by these preachers and religion into believing that they are what they are not. One cannot change the stripes upon a zebra (although they can be hidden) and neither can one change one’s true sexual orientation (but one can hide it). The founder of the X-Gay movement left his wife and kids at home and was found commiting adultery against them by cruising gay bars and picking up men to have sex with in Washington, D.C. a number of years ago. Today he has apologized and many of his followers now have backed down on their claims.
In this country we have the right to be religious or not religius at all. These people have no right to impose their religion upon others. They may claim to be Christian but if you dig down deep enough they are not. IF it were left up to these people—-the South would still have slavery—-a very immoral thing because it robs others of their humanity and their right to be paid a fair wage.
Contary to what the ignorant preachers are preaching (are they orthodox Jews?—no they are not( and they are so that would deny any connections with Judahism—-even though Christ was a Jew) ignornant and unqualified to be Clergy people that they do not know that Christians are not beholden to Ancient Jewish Law and the laws of purity.—-even modern Jews (except the extreame orthodox ones)—-especially those who went through the Holocaust—-no longer observe most of the laws of Levicticus). If you obeyed all the stone and bronze age laws of the Old Testament—-you would be executed today in a modern world. One can be exceptional and extreamly right and be at the same time extreamly wrong—-and that is the sin of these clergy. They would commit murder in the name of religion—-because their beliefs do not coincide with the factual truth. History is full of incidents like this—-for instance (and to Napoleon we should all be grateful) the Catholic Church had boiled alive and burned at the stake many people during the Inquisition in their auto da fes their only ‘sin’ is that they proclaimed that the earth is round and not flat and they proclaimed that the sun in the center of the Earth’s plantary system. Strange these same preachers have no problems accepting this as they do to accept that we are all members of the animal families. Gay people are some of the most talented people around and History owes a great debt to them for their improvements in civilization.
Stone age and Bronze age men knew nothing about science or Biology—let alone much about sex. There is no sin in being gay—that is the way the good Lord made us all. If he did not and being gay is a ‘lifestyle” (an insulting term)then why are are other creatures also gay—-from the lowest one cell animals all the way up to the Ape family of which Humans are apart of.
We are currently being punished by nature for over populating the earth and obeying the commands of Genesis without considering that these commands were not meant to be forever. As the result we have starvation, diseases that kill new to science every year, and global warming. The other animals did not do this—-man especially the man of Europe and the inheritors of the Spanish Inquistion thinking did this. Is it not time for you to change your way of thinking and live with the earth and not against it?. Is it not time to be more tolerant of others who are different from you instead of Judging them to be “sinners” and yet these same folks have the audacity to critize Islam for being a ‘barbaric religion of hatreds”.
The bad thing about religion which uses faith as its basis—is that it makes fools of otherwise intelligent folks who throw their critical thinking skills out the window. Is it not also time to put back on your critical thinking skill hats and see what evil that religion is doing to you and keeping you from being the good Christian that Christ would like you to be?
This nation was not found upon the Christian religion but a rejection in age of reason and as evidence by Tom Paine’s “Common Sense” which George Washington and the founding fathers commanded everyone to read and just about know by heart.
Finally the Bible is not as applicable today as it was in the past when men falsely claimed that they spoke for God. We know for instance the earth can not stand still and that no one can walk on water and wine can not be created directly from water. At the time of Christ, anyone could claim to be a God and many did. Mentally ill folks were thought to speak for the gods. Augustus Caesar was proclaimed a God and freedom of religion only existed in Roman time only if you also worshipped Caesar. I rest my case.
ok think2009 since we are all the ignorant ones here and you seem to have all the answers i will ask you WHAT WOULD YOU DO, ANSWER THE QUESTION!! I know what i would do,PRAY AND LEAVE IT IN GODS HANDS.




Advertisement