Day 5 at the Fair (Thursday 30 July 2009)

Here is a note from Kim and Tony who worked in the morning together:

at noon: An Asian woman, walking hand-in-hand with her aging mother, told use about her gay cousin who had tried more than once to commit suicide. She was amazed by the suicide statistics on the signs. They are from Holmes County and said they know about being different. Then the mother stepped up and said haltingly, "I have Alzheimer's and people look at me sometimes they stare and that hurts." We had a good talk about how it feels to be different and how it hurts when others don't accept us.

I joined Kim and Tony at 3:00 and was soon joined by Larry. Here are the notes from our interactions during the afternoon:

3:15 pm A lady passed by, read one of Larry's signs, and had a strange, disapproving look on her face. Tony said, "It's terrible how hate can hurt people" and she just looked disapprovingly and walked away.

3:25 pm A man named Ted Ryan from the booth across the way ("The Wordless Book") came by and introduced himself to Tony. He said "Jesus forgives sin but have to stop sinning." He and Tony talked for a bit and the man eventually wandered back to his tent.

3:52 pm Three teenage girls stared at us from maybe 15 feet away. One said "that's disgusting" and then they laughed at us.

During a lull in the four o-clock hour, Larry copied down a list of things that had been said to him by some cantankerous religious men on Tuesday (this was when I had heard too much, lost it and left the booth just to come back 40 minutes later to hear it STILL going on):

1. "Sex between a man and woman is for procreation only."
2. "Sex between 2 men or 2 women is an act of lust."
3. "Allowing marriage between 2 men or 2 women will lead to individuals marrying animals."
4. "Gays choose their orientation and need to pray for change. If change does not happen, a family member must take charge and prevent the individual from committing sexual sin."
5. When asked what he would do if his child was to gay, he said, "First of all, a child of his would not be born gay, as God would not permit such--however if that would happen, prayer would change him."
6. "All men and women can have children--and if that does not happen, the would-be parents are not praying correctly."
7. "Children who are born unwanted will be taken care of by God just like the birds of the field. I take care of my own family [and not other people's children] and that is what counts."
8. "Abomination applies only to gay people--especially those involved in sexual relations."
9. "Some Bibles are wrong. My bible is right. God wrote it."
10. While this confrontation was going on, a lady came by and told these men to get away from our booth as we are "vile people."
11. We also received some sneers and looks of objection!

Thank goodness we did not encounter this same level of hate on Thursday, but we did have some interesting discussions with more religious folk (this time, more civil and polite conversations) later in the evening. I was very happy to work with Kate when she arrived for the evening shift (we have not seen much of each other this week!). Larry worked with us as well and even treated us to smoothies near the end of the night, which were a treat! Here are some notes from the rest of the evening:

4:30 pm A young man (perhaps in his 20s?)--an adamant agnostic (my kind of person)--stopped by, asked us about our organization, signed up for the email list, and took literature. We had a fairly long conversation with him. What an interesting, articulate, and smart fellow! He asked specifically about the "Bible thumpers" and we told him about some of our experiences. He also said, "Four years ago I would have been one of them." It is nice to know that people have the ability to change and become more open-minded as they experience life.

4:45 pm A lesbian stopped by and said she had seen our fliers for the Pride event and the April Gay Jeopardy Game in Kroger (nice to know our publicity system works!). She took some literature and signed up for our email list. She said her friends in Columbus couldn't believe that there was a GSA in Knox County.

4:56 pm A group of young kids (12-14) walked past, and a boy read the sign, "Knox County Gay-Straight Alliance . . . I'm very straight. I am not gay."

5:18 pm A lady stopped by with her kids, took some literature, and signed up for our email list.

5:20 pm The Mullendores stopped by :). We got to meet their son, Seth.

5:25 pm Ted Ryan (the man from the Wordless Book booth) came back to our booth, and a 25-minute conversation ensued. He said he didn't want to argue but took issue with Larry's sign that read, "We are all children of God." He showed Larry a verse in the Bible that he construed to mean that you are not a child of god unless you are Christian and accept Jesus as your savior. He did eventually admit that God created us all and said, "but we aren't living the way we should." Larry agreed that none of us are perfect.

Then he told us a story about how he and his religious friends wet to protest a strip club in Mansfield, and how the strip club people kept quoting "Judge not lest ye be judged." He did not appreciate their quoting that passage and dismissed them. (But why were the passages that Mr. Ryan quoted somehow more valid than that one? I did not ask him that, but I wish I had.)

Kate asked him where he was from, what church he was from, and what the Wordless book was all about, to which he said it was an enterprise of "child evangelism." (And people talk about how WE want to convert CHILDREN!) Kate engaged him in another conversation on how he felt about Jewish people. He said, "I feel for them the same way I feel about you--I want to share my message about Jesus with you."

Throughout the entire conversation, he was very calm and polite, never mean, but steadfast in his convictions. I give him credit for remaining polite.

He did go on to talk about how he believed homosexuality is a sin and that people are born as sinners, attracted to sin. He gave examples of people raping people, beating their children, all because they are attracted to sin. That was when I realized that our fundamental disagreement is simple: He believes that being gay is a sin on par with other things I certainly detest--rape, murder, violence--and I believe that being gay is not a sin. I wish I had realized our simple disagreement then and said something. We could have agreed to disagree at that point and been done with it.

Larry shared his story with this man about being born gay, and Kate shared her feelings about being gay, too. I said to him that no one in their right mind would choose this.

6:23 pm Another person passing by asked us the now classic question, "Are you for gays?" Kate: "Yes." Smiling, the lady replied, "Just wanted to know, passed by earlier this week and we weren't sure." Kate: "Thanks for asking."

Soon after, teenage boys made the rock concert devil horns and gave us a whoop. Good stuff!

6:42 pm A man with his son said he gets our newsletter and is supportive. He also commented on Larry's signs, and told us a story about when he was in the military: There was a gay man named Ray who everyone called "Gay Ray" and nobody messed with him. So nice to have straight allies stop by and share their stories with us, too!

7:00 pm The Wargas stopped by the booth. Great to have such great friends! :)

7:08 A young lady stopped by and asked, "Do you have the blue and yellow [HRC] stickers? I had one on my old care but need one for my new one." She did take an EO bumper sticker, but we did not have any HRC ones.

A little later, A man asked if Dawn was here, and then told us that he was setting up a policy on sexual orientation at his church and took literature. What a nice, supportive guy!

7:35 pm My friend, the owner of Action Waste, stopped by and enthusiastically introduced me to his son, Jared. Nice folks! I highly recommend Action Waste. This company was the one who helped sponsor the Mount Vernon street clean-up project that the GSA participated in a few months ago.

7:38 pm A mysterious kid rushed by the booth and said to Larry, "I was told by the carnies to give you this" and gave hima poster of a naked woman on a beach. Hmmm. . .

7:51 pm Larry is so popular! I met more of his friends, Art and Shelly, from Faith Lutheran.

7:58 pm The mom & a friend of a friend of the GSA stopped by and gave us a donation.

8:25 pm A teenage girl named Brooklyn came by and said she had a few questions for us. She asked us what we belived regarding the Bible and Jesus, to which Kate replied: "I'm not a Christian." Larry told his story about it not being a choice. She said that the Bible shows that God says marriage is between a man and a woman. She asked, "Do you believe that God is all powerful? Then you should believe that be can change you." The conversation moved on to a discussion of biblical passages. When she was done, she politely shook Larry's hand, and she did take a Soulforce book. Hopefully she will read it.

As it got really close to closing time, two ladies we met last year stopped by to show their support, as did another small group of people. What a nice way to end the night!

I did not work Friday (today, the day I am posting this), but I heard that Larry and Kate got lambasted by two separate groups of teens. Wish I could have been there to help, but I tend to clam up anyhow and don't think of what to say until after they all leave. So stay posted, I am sure Kate will type her latest experiences soon.

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