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Reprinted from CNN,
June 6, 1998.
Operation Rescue quietly protests Gay Day at Disney World
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| Outside the Magic Kingdom
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Two members meet their matches
ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- Operation Rescue evangelists in red, white and blue
"Pro-Life" shirts held a sedate protest and mingled with visitors Saturday
during the unofficial Gay Day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom.
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| Banner flown above The Magic
Kingdom |
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More than 100 protesters gathered outside the theme park, holding signs that said
"Choose Jesus over Mickey," as a plane flew overhead with a banner reading:
"Jesus can free you from your lifestyle."
A few Operation Rescue members went into the park with Bibles in hand to evangelize and
film the gays and lesbians with video cameras. They were tailed at all times by a dozen
Disney security officers and sheriff's deputies.
Disney policies forbid handing out literature or talking to patrons against their
wishes, but no one was ejected from the park and no one was arrested.
A group of 20 counter-protesters led by gay activist Bob Kunst met the Operation Rescue
group outside the park.
Operation Rescue has focused on Disney, because the company hires homosexuals and
extends benefits to same-sex partners. Disney defends its policies, saying they are
nondiscriminatory.
"Disney has decided that it will be the platform that endorses
homosexuality," said the Rev. Flip Benham, Operation Rescue's national director.
Non-confrontational manner intentional
But the protests were muted in comparison to the confrontational anti-abortion protests
the group has held outside women's clinics in past years.
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| A few Operation Rescue members
mingle with Gay Day visitors |
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Bill Shanks, an Operation Rescue member from New Orleans, said the 12 members sent into
the park were under strict orders not to be arrested.
"We've lost our lawyers ... and we don't have bail money," he said.
The protest capped a week of Orlando-area demonstrations by Operation Rescue members at
Barnes & Noble bookstores and clinics where abortions are performed. Eight activists
were arrested in those protests.
Disney does not officially endorse or sponsor Gay Day, which began eight years ago.
Gays and lesbians who attend the event wear red shirts to identify themselves.
Disney does not tell guests about Gay Day, but it does allow upset guests to exchange
their passes for other parks.
"Our concept is when you come here, you're kind of escaping the everyday realities
of the world, and you're immersing yourself in a magical experience -- and we want
everybody to enjoy their vacation," Disney spokesman Bill Warren said.
Some of the Operation Rescue members who went inside the park talked to some of the gay
visitors. David Lackey and Shanks began a conversation with David Smith and Robert Pitman
by asking where they were from.
The Austin, Texas, men matched the evangelists point-for-point in a cordial, diplomatic
30-minute talk observed by Disney security officers and a handful of reporters.
"The statistics show that your lifestyle is much shorter than other
people's," Lackey said. "It's not a lifestyle. It's a death-style."
Smith, a 33-year-old Methodist seminary graduate, countered by saying, "My
lifestyle is exactly like yours. I wake up, I pick up my paper, I say 'hi' to my neighbor,
I feed the dogs, I go to work ... The only thing different is that I share a bed with a
man and I love a man."
Correspondent Susan Candiotti, The Associated Press and Reuters
contributed to this report.
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CNN's Susan
Candiotti reports from Orlando, Florida