|
||||
|
||||
|
Wednesday, Jul 09, 2008
|
||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|||||
Anti-Gay group set to host convention of 700 in Lynnwood |
||
 |
||
| Anti-Gay group set to host convention of 700 in Lynnwood | ||
| Rev. Ken Hutcherson cited as key organizer by Liz Meyer - SGN Staff Writer An anti-Gay group called the Watchmen on the Walls plans to host a large convention at the Lynn-?wood Convention Center later this month. According to the Lynn-wood Convention Center's website, 700 attendees are expected for the event, set to take place October 19-21. Casey Sanchez of the Southern Poverty Law Center posted news about the conference on its website earlier this week. Sanchez draws connections between a growing West Coast Anti-Gay Movement and the Emerald City's own Rev. Kenneth Hutcherson. In the article, Sanchez writes about Satender Singh, a 26-year-old Sacramento Gay man killed earlier this year as a result of a Gay-bashing incident, and states that Gay activists there viewed his death as the tragic result of "the growing threat of large numbers of Slavic anti-Gay extremists, most of them first-or second-generation immigrants from Russia, the Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union, in their city and others in the western United States." Sanchez writes that Rev. Hutcherson and Scott Lively, author of The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, formed an alliance with the Latvian pastor Aleksey Ledyaev. The resultant group is the Watchmen on the Walls. UK Gay news reports that Rev. Hutcherson may have joined Lively and other anti-Gay protesters earlier this summer in efforts to disrupt Gay pride observances in Riga, the capitol of the Republic of Latvia. Lively and Rev. Hutcherson also went to Riga in March of 2007 at the invitation of Ledyaev's New Generation Church. It was on this visit that Hutcherson said that he was an "envoy of the White House," a claim later denied by the White House. On Thursday, Eddie Tadlock, general manager of the Lynnwood Convention Center, rebuked statements that the LGBT community was up in arms about the Watchmen's meeting. "Since we've booked the event, this is my second call." Calls to the Seattle LGBT Center and Equal Rights Washington revealed that, as of press time, there are no set plans by either of those organizations to stage any official protests in response to the convention. However, Tadlock did say that the Convention Center has contacted the Lynnwood Police Department to let them know that the Watchmen are coming. "We work very closely with the Lynnwood Police Department, and they have been informed they are meeting. We do have designated protest areas in case they want to protest and there is space to do that." Padlock defended the Convention Center's decision to host the event. "You know, because we are a publicly owned facility, and groups do have the right to assemble, if they can clearly pay the rent and get the certificate of insurance-they've had meetings before, and they've paid their bills-we can't really get into what they represent," said Tadlock. "And just for the sake of example, no matter what type of group we book here, more than likely there will be someone unhappy. "We can't preclude them from getting together and talking amongst themselves. It's unfortunate this type of group is out there, but we're not in a position where we can say we can't let you rent the facility because we don't like your religious or political beliefs or what have you." He also pointed to a Muslim prayer service the Center hosted earlier in the year as evidence of its neutrality, and said, "We get opposition from any type of event we have." Dotti Berry, a Bellingham-area LGBT activist who, along with her partner, has attempted to have dialogue sessions with the virulently anti-Gay Fred Phelps, was not familiar with the Watchmen. However, she urged caution in organizing a counter-protest of the group. "This is the first time I've heard of this particular one," said Berry. "We've attempted to make contact with Hutcherson before, because after spending a year on the road, we found that you can't hate someone that you know. My initial reaction is one of disappointment that Ken is taking this route. As a person of professed faith, I don't find anywhere in Biblical scripture any foundation for what he's doing." "I think it's very dangerous sometimes when people get all riled up and just go and protest, per se. In our approach, you make every attempt to contact the group and dialogue. You only go in that manner as a last resort. We don't know him personally. And he doesn't know us personally. And sometimes that can be a dangerous situation." |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 post your own information on the Seattle Gay Blog |
copyright Seattle Gay News - DigitalTeamWorks 2007