Ministry News

Church Raided by Gay Activists Takes Action

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Tuesday, 26 May 2009 09:41

What would you do if a gay activist group stormed into your Sunday morning service dressed in military garb, ran onstage holding "It's OK to be gay" banners and tossing leaflets into the air, shouted crudities at churchgoers, engaged in same-sex kissing and then pulled fire alarms as they left?

That was the scene last November at Mount Hope Church in Lansing, Mich., where several female members of Bash Back!, a Chicago-based radical gay anarchist group, interrupted a worship service for a few minutes and left before police arrived. Now, almost half a year after their swift departure, the Assemblies of God congregation has decided to file a lawsuit.

The church, which is being represented by the nonprofit Christian legal firm Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), names Bash Back!, its Lansing affiliate and several individuals who planned or participated in the protest.

"This is a group that has threatened violence on its Web site against churches," said Dale Schowengerdt, legal counsel for ADF. "Bash Back! is a national anarchist group with a strong local component in Lansing, and they're threatened for themselves and they certainly see the threat to other churches. It's happened in Boston, it's happened in California, and it's happened in Seattle. This is a group that has strong ambitions to intimidate churches, so this church is saying enough is enough."

In a statement posted online after the November incident, Bash Back! leaders said Mount Hope was targeted because it is "complicit in the repression of queers" by working to "institutionalize transphobia and homophobia" through "repulsive" ex-gay conferences and hell house plays, "which depict queers, trannies and womyn [sic] who seek abortions as the horrors."

No criminal charges have been filed against Bash Back!, which has claimed responsibility for church protests in the Boston and Seattle areas. In a statement, ADF said federal law imposes penalties upon anyone who disrupts, by force or threat of force, a church service. The lawsuit asks for an injunction to prevent future protests, as well as statutory and compensatory damages, as well as legal costs. ADF attorneys expect it to take a year for the suit to go to court. [charismamag.com, 5/21/09]