Turnout was poor at a Spartanburg City Hall protest against that city's mayor's Gay Pride Festival proclamation yesterday (photos by Mike Bonner, Spartanburg Herald Journal):
A group of about 80 demonstrators gathered on the front lawn of City Hall on Friday afternoon in protest of Spartanburg Mayor Junie White's proclamation last month declaring today LGBT pride day.
Jason Camp, a local preacher and founder of a group he named Christians Opposing Proclamation Signing (COPS), led the crowd in song and prayer in hopes of showing the mayor firsthand the number of people who oppose the proclamation.
White changed seven words in the proclamation to soothe City Council members who were upset about not being consulted, but said he has no plans to reverse his decision and will present the proclamation to Upstate Pride at its march — the second the group has held in Spartanburg.
"I love the homosexual."
“I love the mayor,” Camp said. “I love the homosexual. But I'm opposed to the decision to declare (Saturday) LGBT pride day. We as Bible-believing Christians are opposed to a thing the Bible declared to be a sin.”
Camp was serving as the interim pastor of Christ Community Church in Landrum. He said his involvement in organizing the prayer meeting, as well as some of his other causes, had resulted in his dismissal from the church.
Although 13 pastors from across the Upstate and Western North Carolina showed up for the meeting, Camp said he had hoped for more support from Christian leaders in the community.
Despite less-than-expected participation, Camp said he was pleased with the result and happy to get his message across: “We love you. Jesus loves you and can save you,” he said.
It's the second annual event in Spartanburg today, police estimate the crowd in the march at 1,500-2,000.
Today's parade just across the state line in Augusta was well-received, the local paper's reporting.
Live music, food vendors and the event itself have attracted a diverse crowd.
Augusta resident Robert Saltzman said he was out this afternoon on a trip to the farmer's market when he and his wife decided to "check out" the commotion.
"We actually came here to get something to eat," Saltzman said.
He said that amid all of the flamboyancy, there were some worthy aspects of the festival.
"I thought it was good," he said. "There are some churches out here [and] a HIV testing tent over there which I thought was a good thing."
It's the first Pride Day celebration for that city.
Other annual events in South Carolina include festivals in Columbia and North Charleston. They just keep popping up like weeds, don't they?
Good post. As a former Spartan, I've been following the events.
ReplyDelete(What caught my eye was the picture you use for your blog, which is Crown Point in the Columbia Gorge where I've lived for the past 15 years).