Anti-LGBTQ Christians Plan on Surrounding This Ohio Pride Event Next Month
An organizer of Akron Pride in Ohio has told Hornet of a circulating flier asking Christians to surround Hardesty Park, the location for the city’s Aug. 25 Pride event — or as the flier calls it “a huge festival to celebrate sodomy” — in order to “save the city” from “intrinsically evil acts.” The unknown distributors of this flier also list two radical anti-LGBTQ Christian organizations as reference points to their ideology.
The 2018 Akron Pride event marks the event’s second year.
The letter reads:
Attention All Christians, An Urgent Need of Prayer Warriors ASAP.
We need to save souls, our city and our neighborhood from intrinsically evil acts being pushed upon us…. There will be a huge festival to celebrate sodomy/LGBTQ…. Make a stand with us to let the city of Akron’s Mayor Dan Horrigan know: That we are very much offended …
It has been said that “When Good Men Do Nothing, Evil Triumphs.” With that being said I am asking for all Christians to join my husband and I … to surround the park and flood it with prayers.
Here is the anonymous flier requesting Christians to surround Akron Pride:
The flier also provides links to two anti-LGBTQ Christian groups: Church Militant and Mass Resistance.
Church Militant is a radical Catholic group that considers homosexuality, abortion, contraception, divorce and re-marriage sins worth going to Hell for. Church Militant’s list of “hate groups” includes the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Planned Parenthood, a group that provides inexpensive medical exams, cancer screenings, vaccinations and treatments for diseases of the reproductive system.
Church Militant is run by Michael Voris, a “reborn” Catholic who admits he was basically bisexual for most of his 20s and 30s. He has since become celibate, he says, and has never married.
Voris considers homosexuality as an expression of avoidance and pain caused by past emotional trauma, a view held by supporters of psychologically harmful and ineffective ex-gay conversion therapy. His media organization also considers trans identity a mental illness.
Mass Resistance is a Southern Poverty Law Center-certified hate group that has supported the presidential candidacy of rabidly anti-LGBTQ politician Rick Santorum. They have also said gay people are dangerous to kids and are “trying to get legislation passed to allow sex with animals.”
The flier above has been shared in private Facebook groups and also shared with other Akron Pride organizers in order to create a contingency plan and a response to ensure that the event remains safe, peaceful and welcoming to all LGBTQ people and allies.
