Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id DAA05568 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 30 Mar 2001 03:43:55 +0100 From: <joedees@bellsouth.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 20:46:11 -0600 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: [paganwebpcola] Creative response to Phelps' hatred... Message-ID: <3AC39F13.22479.9D2FFD@localhost> In-reply-to: <39.12b89597.27f53370@aol.com> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 29 Mar 2001, at 19:55, trybonun@aol.com wrote:
>
> I got this from another list and thought I would share, it sounds like
> a wonderful way to conteract any hateful protest.....
>
> ----Original Message-----
> For those of you who don't know who Fred Phelps is, or the name rings
> a bell, but that's all: he's the pastor in Wichita, Kansas who appears
> at gay pride parades and funerals and mostly-gay churches with signs
> that say "God hates f*gs" and so on. He's known in Wichita as the
> person who floods the fax machines of any city official who dares
> speak against him, and has in other ways made himself "loved..."
>
> -----Original Message-----
> ANN ARBOR, MI - When the Reverend Fred Phelps came to town, the gay
> community here decided not to get mad. They decided to get rich.
>
> Among the Ann Arbor locales the Kansas-based Phelps and his band
> elected to picket was the /aut/ BAR, a gay-owned restaurant, bar and
> community gathering place. When co-owner Keith Orr heard that his
> establishment was being targeted, he wanted to respond constructively.
> He and his partner, Martin Contreras, did not want to promote a
> counter-demonstration, feeling that Phelps gains the most attention -
> and hence is most effective - when he provokes anger and outrage from
> his opponents. Rather, Orr decided to use this Phelps visit to the
> community1s advantage.
>
> Phelps's plans to picket the bar came to light only two days prior to
> his scheduled February 17, 2001 demonstration. With little time, Orr
> used the Internet to organize a unique fund-raising scheme. In an
> email message to customers, supporters, and friends, he proposed that
> people pledge money to the Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project (WRAP), a
> local gay advocacy group and community center, for every minute that
> Phelps picketed the bar. In this way, Orr explained, the longer Phelps
> stayed to spew hate, the more money he would raise for WRAP. He and
> Contreras kicked off the drive by pledging $1 per minute. Contreras
> explained why he felt it was important to organize a response to
> Phelps. "When I was first coming out fifteen years ago people told me,
> "You've got to watch out for this so-called reverend from Kansas named
> Phelps. He's out to wage war against the gay community." He had been
> showing up at funerals of people who had died of AIDS with signs
> claiming that gay people would burn in hell. At the time he was just a
> blip on the radar screen. But when he protested at Matthew Shepherd's
> funeral he became a national menace."
>
> At the same time, Orr continued, "I didn't want to give Phelps what he
> wanted," meaning a counter-demonstration. "But just ignoring him
> seemed wrong." Only two minutes after Orr sent out his email message
> pledges began to pour in, not only from Ann Arbor, but from as far
> away as New Hampshire, Texas and California. The pledge drive gained
> such momentum that by the day of Phelps's demonstration - only 48
> hours after Orr and Contreras kicked off the drive - friends and
> supporters of Ann Arbor's gay community had promised to contribute a
> total of $107 for every minute Phelps picketed bar.
>
> "When I began the pledge drive I wasn't necessarily expecting anything
> big," Orr said. "I just wanted to give people an opportunity to turn
> Phelps's message of hate into something positive for our community."
> Even so, the size and speed of the response surprised him. "Normally a
> fund-raising event of this magnitude takes months of planning and a
> lot of up-front costs. In 48 hours we raised over $6000 without
> spending a dime. I was astonished."
>
> Pledges arrived in diverse amounts and from a wide range of sources.
> They varied in amount from as little as 10 cents per minute to as much
> as 5 dollars per minute. "The great thing about this kind of
> fund-raiser is that no one is excluded. People can participate at any
> economic level," said Orr.
>
> The range of contributors included neighboring business owners, a high
> school Gay/Straight Alliance and individual members of the Ann Arbor
> police force.
>
> On February 17, the day of the protest, Phelps's band numbered only
> four adults and two small children. Instead of confronting the
> hate-mongerers and giving them the attention they craved, over one
> hundred community members and supporters gathered in the bar on a
> Saturday afternoon, celebrating while they counted the minutes that
> Phelps's cronies stood outside raising money for Ann Arbor1s gay
> community.
>
> That afternoon WRAP Board member Linda Lombardini received one notable
> pledge. "A father and his young son were driving past the bar and saw
> the protestors out front," she explained. "The son asked his father
> who they were and what they were doing there. The father stopped the
> car and brought his son into the restaurant to demonstrate to him that
> gay people are no different from anyone else. When he realized that we
> were holding a fundraiser he handed his son a ten-dollar bill to give
> to me."
>
> "We view this as a form of economic containment," Orr said. "Phelps is
> free to spread his message, however perverse we find it, wherever he
> wants. The First Amendment protects his right to do that. But we
> turned what could have been a negative into a positive. This has been
> an incredible community-building experience for us. "We hope that
> cities and towns across the country will do this everywhere he goes. I
> get a charge thinking that every time he hits the road he will help us
> build our communities and fund our organizations."
>
> For more information, contact Keith Orr, 734-994-3677, 734-994-0558.
>
>
> *~~Meredith~~*
> Mother to...
> Morgan 6
> Ian 22 months
> Owyn 17 days old
> & Ethan....
> ICQ# 107819679
>
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