Christian group protests gay night at ballpark

On the night the Phillies recognized the gay and lesbian community of Philadelphia, there was a voice of dissent.

Again.

Last night was the third annual Gay Community Night at the Phillies. After the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus sang the national anthem, and Outsports.com co-founder Cyd Ziegler threw out the first pitch, members of the Christian group Repent America held up a banner in the high rightfield stands that read:

“Homosexuality Is Sin. Christ Can Set You Free.”

A few patrons blocked the sign for a few minutes, but the sign holders simply moved higher, and were surrounded by civil-affairs police and Phillies security assigned to oversee just such an eventuality.

It was the third straight year Repent America came to Gay Community Night, Phillies operations vice president Mike Stiles said.

The first year, Stiles said, the Phillies took the sign down, which began a discourse between their legal counsel and that of Repent America, which had claimed free-speech impingement. Last year, the banner stayed up but fights broke out, resulting in ejections.

This year, the Phillies protected members of the organization. The sign stayed up, unblocked, through the top of the seventh inning.

“No matter how personally objectionable the sign might be, Repent America, on Gay Community Night, have a constitutional right to display that banner,” Stiles said. “I’m personally sorry if some people are understandably distressed by that message, but that doesn’t trump our obligation under the First Amendment.”

Eleven members of Repent America, including a juvenile, were arrested after protesting at a gay-pride event in Center City last October. The case against six adults was dismissed in December, and charges against the other four adults were thrown out in February. The juvenile’s case was to be handled separately.

Philadelphia Daily News | 08/19/2005 | Christian group protests gay night at ballpark