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queerVOICE
Standing Up For Ourselves
James Duggan©2007
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Next month, the region's queers will have an opportunity to celebrate our community with OutFest 07 in Philadelphia on Sunday, October 7.
We'll gather to party with our friends, family and strangers. We'll hold hands and kiss, dance and sing, explore and discover, and be free to enjoy who we are. This annual ritual-like gathering can be found worldwide but Philadelphia is really the city that loves you back.
Marking National Coming-out Day, OutFest 07 will also attract those who oppose us--to protest not just our gathering but our very being itself. Traveling from as far away as California and as close as New Jersey, these protesters will come disguised as Christians. They'll proclaim that they are not here to protest, but to spread the word of God.
God save the queers who are hell-bound, evil and might even need to be executed. As at past events like this, the protesters will be escorted by our police department and they will be allowed to march against us with their banners, bullhorns and lies to disrupt our city's gathering. What are our options? One, we could wait until the Third Circuit Court issues a ruling on an appeal ( No. 07-1461) by a group of protesters and hope that the ruling of the U.S. District Court is not overturned. Some tell us that if the ruling stands then we will be free of the protesters. But this ruling is not expected to come before OutFest and nothing will ensure that it will not be appealed to a higher court.
Second, we could get a group of queer lawyers to seek a temporary restraining order against these groups from entering the festival grounds and remaining 50 feet away. This is not unprecedented. In July, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Terry McNally, owner of the London Grill restaurant on Fairmount Avenue, Philadel |
