Brody's Notes... Boston Tea Party Rally Sparks Counter Protest Against Homophobia

Join the Impact MA Board Member Matthew Murphy 

By Brody Levesque | BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- A Tea Party rally Sunday on Boston Common sponsored by the “North Shore Tea Party” that featured anti-gay speakers Scott Lively, head of Abiding Truth Ministries, and Brian Camenker, Executive Director of MassResistance- both of whom lead two Southern Poverty Law Center designated anti-gay hate groups in the Commonwealth- drew a crowd of counter protesters from LGBTQ Equality Rights advocacy group Join the Impact Massachusetts and members of the Occupy movement.

Ian Harris Struthers, a co-chair of Join The Impact MA told LGBTQNation Monday that the group had not attended the rally looking to have a confrontation with the Tea party members present. " We wanted a peaceful and non-violent message to be heard," he said. Struthers said that the Boston Police told the group that signs and chants would be permissible, however, any type of amplified messages ie: bullhorns, would not be allowed.

According to a press release issued Monday by the Join The Impact Group, a crowd of approximately 75 tea party activists gathered round the bandstand on the Common to hear speakers representing various conservative groups.

From the outset about 20 protestors from Join the Impact MA stood along the edge of the surrounding sidewalk quietly holding signs condemning Scott Lively and Brian Camenker for their homophobic advocacy. Just before Lively’s and Camenker’s turns at the podium came, roughly 100 exuberant protestors from the Occupy movement charged onto the scene chanting loudly and waving signs. The din became an uproar as Lively took the microphone.

In his speech, Lively blasted conservatives who would minimize the importance of social issues. Then he denounced LGBT rights activists as “fascists” who were intent on destroying civilization. Camenker met with similar pushback as he criticized the work of GLSEN for allegedly promoting homosexual recruitment of public school students—in reference to the group’s efforts to prevent anti-LGBT bullying. Lively and Camenker were loudly booed, and much of their speech-making was drowned out by Occupy chants and “mic check” counterpoints.

Struthers noted during the phone call with LGBTQNation that a female videographer from MassResistance spent the entire rally filming the LGBTQ advocacy group as well as the Occupiers.

Struthers said that the presence of Lively in particular along with Camenker shifted the focus of the event away from the fiscal issues the “tea party” movement purports to emphasize to the social issues many Republicans would rather avoid. Lively is best known for his role in promoting the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” pending in the Ugandan Parliament, which would impose the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”

Camenker stands out for his strident opposition to safe schools programming designed to reduce bullying and harassment of LGBT youth.

Not far from the podium another person protesting the anti-gay messages was assaulted by a Tea Partier who knocked the person's wig off their head. In the ensuing scuffle, a Boston Police Officer intervened and grabbed at the person's neck while shoving the person backwards.

Photo courtesy of Paul Weiskel

The incident was captured in photo taken by Paul Weiskel, a junior at the University of Massachusetts Boston, who said; "The protester “was not arrested and was not even detained,” Weiskel said. “So, I don’t see what justification there was for the incident." The choked protester wrote on their Facebook page:

"I'm holding was a wig I was wearing that a Tea Partier had just knocked off my head. I was asking the tea partier to explain to my why he thought it was okay to knock my wig off ("My hand slipped", he replied sarcastically) when the officer came up and said something along the lines of "okay, take your shit and get out of here" and shoved me a few feet. I turned to him and said "Don't push me". he replied "Don't push you?!" then did.

Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department told The Boston Globe:

“The aggressive nature of these individuals required officers to call for numerous additional units to respond. The department supports the arrests made by the officers today,” Driscoll said in an e-mail. “As a matter of routine procedure following a day of aggressive protests, the department will review all of the activity that took place during the course of the day.”