Philadelphia Eleven Arrested at OutFest 2004

On October 10, 2004, six men and five women with Repent America (RA), who became known as the Philadelphia Eleven, were arrested while ministering the Gospel on the public streets and sidewalks of Philadelphia at a $10,000 tax-payer funded celebration of homosexuality called "OutFest", which was organized by Philly Pride Presents, Inc.

Prior to their arrest, the Christians were confronted by a militant mob of homosexuals known as the "Pink Angels" who blew loud whistles and carried large pink signs in front of them to block their message and access to the event, while others screamed obscenities. The Philadelphia police, under the direction of Chief Inspector James Tiano, the City's "police liaison to the gay and lesbian community," refused to take any action as the Christians were continuously followed, obstructed, and harassed, even though they respectfully cooperated with police, obeying orders to move, short of being directed out of the event.

After spending 21 hours in jail, Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham's office charged them under Pennsylvania's hate crimes law called "Ethnic Intimidation", along with a host of other felony and misdemeanor charges. If convicted, the Philadelphia Eleven could have faced up to 47 years in prison and $90,000 in fines each. These charges were later dismissed by Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe as being without merit. Subsequently, on October 21, 2005, the Philadelphia Eleven filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia and Philly Pride Presents, Inc. for violations of their civil rights.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Repent
• America
• Philadelphia
• 11
• OutFest
• 2004
• hate
• crime
• christian
• gay
• Chief
• Inspector
• James
• Tiano
• unconstitutional
• homose

[MrHaggis03]

Just watched the video all the way through. LOL..........Move on haters, take your message of hate AWAY. Good people should be allowed to celebrate, without hearing hate speeches through a megaphone. Well done Philly cops.

[MrHaggis03]

I realise i`m making a sweeping generalization here but, what the fuck........Gay people seem happy, fundie christians seem happy too, but in a Zombie like, Stepford Wives, creepy kinda way. I know who i would choose to spend my time with.......

[StoogeWatcher]

Fascist Democrats want to make Christianity a hate crime.

[NeuroLyss]

FAA, there are far more than two hypotheses on creation. Every religion has a creation story, none of which are theories. The big bang has passed the standards to be considered an actual THEORY. Educate yourself. Regardless, none if that has anything to do with hatred toward the LGBT community. In fact, if you read the Bible you will find that Jesus was against judgement and hatred. I am a straight atheist who has several gay friends (some of which are Christian. . . Gasp)

[milkwhitedark]

Comment below. Well done that was a nice come back this guy goes on all gay videos and always says horrible things the trick is to bring them forward to the 21st century. It's not their fault it's there parents.

[stasis1988]

@MrSusejtsirhc And your god made you a hateful bigot. I hope you're having fun being mean and angry and putting hateful comments on every gay video you can find. Because I'm sure having fun in my country that has same sex marriage and equal rights, where I have fully supportive family and friends... stew in that for a while.

[ndrthrdr1]

Why not just "pray the gay away"?

Because prayer does nothing. Google

heart patient prayer study

Then notice how you have to start doing mental gymnastics to try to keep thinking that prayer works.

[MrHihowrudoin]

@FAA20TSO pardon my harsh words , i have a home on a street where gay people have one of the largest place that they call a church in all of florida, right next to that is a huge gay bar and it is n a street filled with gay flags and a gay parade route , perhaps you do not see the damage this group is doing to our lives , country and the harm they are forcefully doing to people .

[TrusVruntros]

@MrSusejtsirhc Terrorists? You're still on it aren't you? Terrorist is someone who uses violence and intimidation to gain political conquest. So...basically. Like what you're doing. "If you don't change your ways, you're going to hell. God hates you. You're terrible people." Blah blah blah. You're a terrorist. Did not Lot go to the cities of the planes? Was he not a Judge of these people? God "spared" him. You weren't made heterosexual. You CHOSE that. You were born HUMAN. Stop labeling things.

[brigantty]

@FAA20TSO it makes more sense than god.. the big bang theory has not been proven or disproven either way, but it's the number one contender.. the biblical creation is a myth.. a bedtime story.. to explain the unexplainable to the uneducated masses.. and please don't tell me evolution is not true either... when scientist have so many fossilized remains and made so many inroads into genetics... geologist, seismologist, biologist, anthropologist are all on the same page..