As promised, I checked this morning to see if the Hoover Board of Education allows churchgoers to use its parking lot. There were no cars parked in the lot today. Good to know. You'll see why below. First, some background.
Yesterday, people from the community, including representatives from Equality Alabama, PFLAG Birmingham, Central Alabama Pride, and Covenant Community Church, gathered to protest Focus on the Family's last ever Love Won Out conference at Metropolitan Church of God (my coverage and photos here and here). We stood on public right of way in front of and across from the Hoover Board of Education building, which is located just outside the church entrance. I parked elsewhere, but some of our folks had left their cars in the otherwise empty Board of Ed lot. When I arrived just after 7:30 AM, there were several Jefferson County sheriff's deputies on hand to direct traffic. They had, as far as I know, raised no objections to the use of the parking lot.
Shortly after I got there, the Hoover Police Department showed up. The officers threatened to tow the cars of anyone parked in the lot. Some of us questioned that edict, pointing out that the lot was built and maintained with taxpayer dollars, not to mention the complete lack of No Parking signs. The officers replied that it wasn't their call and that the Board of Ed didn't want to "take sides" by allowing either conference-goers or protesters to use its lot. (In what I seriously doubt was a coincidence, around the same time someone from neighboring Lakeside Baptist came by to put orange cones across the entrances to both of its otherwise empty parking lots.)
Call me crazy, but I seriously doubt the Board of Ed member(s) who made this decision thought they'd be causing equal opportunity inconvenience. Metropolitan Church of God has acres of parking. I can't say it any better than Mooncat in comments below:
Memo to the Board of Ed.: I think you just did "take sides." The best way to not take sides was simply to stay out of it, not send the police department down to defend your empty parking spaces.
Bozos.
I wondered yesterday whether the Board of Ed would be so concerned about the neutrality of its parking lot on Sunday mornings, as it's a prime spot for overflow. This morning I took a drive to check it out. As I passed Lakeside Baptist, I noticed that neither of its lots was full for its 10:30 AM service. There was a JeffCo sheriff's car parked on the side of the road between Lakeside and the intersection that leads to Metro Church of God. I drove up to the Board of Ed and, happily, found its lot empty. Then I drove on through the gates of Metro to confirm the size of its parking lot, which is huge and was nowhere near full, even though the 10:15 service was underway. There was more than enough room to accommodate the 600 people who reportedly attended yesterday's conference.
I left and then decided to go back and take some pictures. They're below the fold. You'll see the empty Board of Ed lot and also the acres of parking available at Metro Church of God. In what I sincerely hope was a coincidence, a JeffCo sheriff's car followed me home, peeling off only when I turned into the entrance to my subdivision.
It looks like the Hoover Board of Ed is guilty of gay-cootie-phobia and really bad PR instincts but not the hypocrisy I feared, if only because the neighboring churches can't even fill their own parking lots.
IMPORTANT: We won't be demonstrating at 5 PM. The organizers made the decision that it wouldn't be effective in the dark.
Our midday demonstration went well. Lots of folks who came to the early morning session were back, and there were new faces as well. I got to spend some time chatting with actor Glenn Shadix, who gave a moving account of his experience with "reparative" therapy on Thursday night. Wayne Besen continued to document the event, and I expect we'll see footage soon on the Truth Wins Out website.
We smiled and waved as conference attendees left for lunch, and we got lots of smiles and waves in return -- so many, in fact, that we speculate they were coached to be nice. Not so nice was the guy inside a bus bearing the name Amnesty Baptist Church, with the tag line "The Last Baptist Church". He informed us over the bus loudspeaker that "God doesn't make mistakes. God doesn't make a man queer." Yes, but what about the women? :)
One poor kid drove by us over and over, back and forth (we were on a public street, but it basically served as a long driveway for the church hosting the conference). He was hunched forward, gripping the steering wheel, looking terribly stressed. I thought he might persuade himself to stop and talk to us, but he never did.
Several of the local news stations sent reporters, so there should be some TV coverage this evening. I don't know if we changed any minds today, but if even one family thinks twice about trying to "pray away the gay", that will be a good thing. Thanks so much to everyone who gave their time to organize and participate!
***
The Jefferson County sheriff's deputies who directed traffic today couldn't have been any nicer. The Hoover police department, on the other hand, did not cover itself with glory coming out to clear a taxpayer-funded parking lot because the Hoover Board of Education didn't want to "take sides" by letting us park there. And someone apparently contacted Lakeside Baptist Church, located around the corner from conference host Metropolitan Church of God, because orange cones appeared sometime this morning across the entrances to both of its (otherwise empty) parking lots. Christian hospitality at its finest...
About 50 people gathered outside the gates of Metropolitan Church of God this morning to protest Focus on the Family's Love Won Out "ex-gay" conference. We stood in front of the Hoover Board of Education building (on the right of way) to express our support for the families who are victimized by organizations like Love Won Out, conned into believing their LGBT children can be "changed". We want to show them that there is another way -- they can accept their children and love them as they are.
We'll be back at 11 AM and at 5 PM. Join us if you can at 2800 Metropolitan Way (directions here).
Don't plan on parking in the taxpayer-built-and-maintained school board parking lot, however. The Hoover police showed up this morning and threatened to tow any cars parked in the otherwise empty lot because the Board of Education had decided it didn't want to "take sides". There aren't any "No Parking" signs posted anywhere in the lot, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the church uses the lot for overflow parking on Sunday mornings. I'm curious to know just who brought the school board into the discussion. Perhaps a conference attendee called. Any attorneys out there who can advise me about the legality of this?
We were a peaceful, happy group this morning, especially after the coffee and doughnuts arrived. Pictures below -- I'll post more later.
Kyle Whitmire at the Birmingham Weekly takes issue with Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford's assertion that sexual orientation is a "personal lifestyle choice", one he doesn't condone. The Mayor has refused to sign a proclamation recognizing the annual Central Alabama Pride celebration, and he won't let CAP hang banners in Southside for the parade. He's thrown down the gauntlet to the LGBT community and its allies, and Kyle has kindly picked it up and made a counter-challenge. Go read it.
I won't give anything away here, except to say that a certain exceedingly homophobic staffer will not be happy.
I posted below on the general excellence of last night's health care forum sponsored by Over the Mountain Democrats. It's unfortunate that my strongest negative response was invoked by the Democratic politician on the panel.
I was not terribly surprised to hear Congressman Artur Davis advocating improvements and expansion of our existing system for health care coverage. He quoted polls that show a plurality of people who currently have health coverage are satisfied with it. He pointed out that people want choice and that anything short of abolishing private insurance would result in some percentage of the population opting out of a public plan, likely taking wealthier and healthier people out of the pool. And he said, quite realistically, that providing universal coverage will be expensive and we must incorporate effective cost containment measures. I would have preferred to hear him talk about some more innovative approaches, but I was glad to hear him advocate, forcefully and repeatedly, for universal coverage.
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