The second day at the fair (Monday, July 27, 2009)

I got to the booth at 11:00. Tony was already almost done setting up and said he already had a positive interaction this morning. That is great! It is always good to start the day off with a positive experience. Scott joined us shortly after I arrived.

In our first hour we two notable interactions:

11:40 am A woman we met last year at the fair came by, said hello and that she still had some of the literature she picked up last year at the fair. She said, “My lesbian friends are in town and they have a son who has been having a bit trouble lately. . . . His friends ask him if he is going to homosexual but he says, ‘it doen’t matter; my parents will love me no matter who I love.”

11:44 am A man came by and took some literature (one of each), and told Scott he was a youth pastor.

And we had more experiences after noon:

12:30 pm A young man (junior high or high school age) stopped by, read our signs after approaching the table, and asked, “what is this all about?” Tony explained and we offered him literature. He took Tony’s “God vs. Gays” booklet and a piece of candy and thanked us.

2:20 pm A lady passed by, smiled and nodded in approval.

3:12 pm Mary Dye stopped by and asked how the vigil went last week. I told her it was a success, and she seemed pleased.

3:25 pm A lady with her daughter and grandson (I assume) read our signs and said, “I agree completely. We need more acceptance especially right now.” Good stuff!

3:45 pm A blonde boy threw a stink bomb into our tent. I tried to pick it up and throw it in the trash before it went off, but only got as far as the middle of the path in front of us. It went off, and I gave up, but Larry picked up the trash leftover from it. I wish I could say that was the only stink bomb we got, but I would be lying if I did.

3:51 pm A young women working as staff at the fair said, “This is the first time I’ve seen something in support . . . I’m from Georgia. I’m supportive. I am not gay, but I’m bisexual and I’m supportive.”

4:10 pm The Riskos stopped by. It is always nice to see friends! :)

4:35 pm Two young people came by and asked what our booth was about. Tony explained. The firl seemed appreciative, gave a donation, and took some literature.

My shift ended at 5:00 so I went home. Kate recorded the events from the rest of the evening:

5:33 pm Three girls stood at the Wordless Book booth across from us and just stared at our booth, reading the signs.

5:35 pm A lady walked by, saw the booth, and said, “Oh—Awesome. That is so cool!”

7:23 pm Two young men in their 30s stopped by and were very excited to see us. One of the men said he had just come out to everyone. “I didn’t know we had one of there I town!” They took a bunch of literature and thanked us as they left.

7:43 pm Passerby: “It’s okay for me to disagree with all this, right?”
Tony: “Sure, but do you agree that God loves all people?”
“Yeah, but I just feel that it’s a choice. How can you say you are godly when it says it’s wrong right there in the bible? . . . I had these two gay friends and if anyone said anything bad about them I would have bashed them. . . . What about Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve? . . . You guys are cool so, bye!”

8:20 pm A group of four teenagers, one of whom was pregnant, stopped by to take some literature. One said, “I’m going to show this to my mom! She has issues.” Another: “My mom doesn’t have issue ‘cause she loves Kelly.” Kelly: “Yeah, I just try to be lovable.”

I also heard another story of a man coming by the booth who refused to believe that being gay is not a choice. Larry asked him, “When did you choose to be heterosexual?” to which the man replied, “Well, I was just born that way.” Larry and the others tried to explain to him it is the same for gay people, that we are just born this way, but the man would not concede. He asked if we believed in the power of prayer, and if so, why wouldn’t we pray for God to change us. Eventually he asked, “So you actually think it is okay to be gay?” (Well, yes.) The conversation remained civil, which is good, but it ended with the man saying, “Well I am going to pray for you.” Larry responded, “Well I am going to pray for you, too.” (I can think of worse ways for a conversation to end.)