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‘Philadelphia
11’ charged with 3 felonies, 5 misdemeanors.
A
group of Christians who were arrested on October 10 at
a Philadelphia homosexual celebration will be arraigned
at 9 a.m. on Monday in the Criminal Justice Center on
charges that could bring 47-year prison sentences.
None
of the charges has been dropped or reduced since the arrests
of 11 people ranging in age from 17 to 72 were made around
1 p.m. during the Coming Out Day “Outfest,”
a spokeswoman from the District Attorney’s office
told Concerned Women for America’s Culture &
Family Institute.
Michael
Marcavage, founder of Repent America and the leader of
the group, said that mainstream media, including Philadelphia’s
major newspapers, have ignored the arrests.
“We
let the Associated Press know, but they didn’t have
any interest in it,” Marcavage said. “I mean,
if they want to have a ‘hate crime’ law, well,
here it is.”
Marcavage
has done several Christian radio interviews, but none
with secular-oriented stations.
Police
made the arrests after some homosexual activists calling
themselves the “Pink Angels” confronted the
Christian group near an entrance to the event. A videotape
of the arrests shows “that it’s clearly the
'Pink Angels' who are disrupting things, not us,”
Marcavage said. None of the “Pink Angels” was
arrested.
The
counts against the Christian group include:
1)
“ethnic intimidation” (2nd-degree felony “hate
crime”).
2)
“criminal conspiracy” (1st-degree felony).
3)
“possession of instruments of crime” (1st-degree
misdemeanor).
4)
“reckless endangerment of another person” (2nd-degree
felony).
5)
“riot” (3rd-degree felony).
6)
“failure to disperse” (2nd-degree misdemeanor).
7)
“disorderly conduct” (2nd-degree misdemeanor).
8)
“obstructing a highway” (3rd-degree misdemeanor).
The
“ethnic intimidation” charge was made under
Pennsylvania’s Ethnic Intimidation and Institutional
Vandalism Act, the state’s “hate crimes”
law, to which “sexual orientation” was recently
added as a victim category.
Law
Center had Filed Suit Against City
Two
days before the arrests, the American Family Association
Center for Law and Policy (AFACLP) filed a lawsuit against
the city of Philadelphia alleging that Marcavage and his
group have been denied their constitutionally protected
rights of free speech and free exercise of religion, stemming
from other incidents. "The City of Philadelphia constantly
threatened, intimidated, and, as evidenced by Sunday’s
actions, arrested him merely for proclaiming the Gospel
of Jesus Christ on the public byways,” an AFACLP
press release said.
“It’s
time that the City of Brotherly Love learned that the
Liberty Bell rings for Christians, too,” said Joseph
Murray, an AFACLP staff attorney.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/6542/CFI/nation/index.htm
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