Video of Castro District Neighborhood protest in San Francisco on Friday November 14, 2008.
NOV 14 2008 — Anti-gay Christian demonstrators have made Friday nights their habitual time to appear in the Castro, attempting to sell so-called “conversion” to heterosexuality to the neighborhood’s gay denizens.
Incidents reported by the Christian group known as The Justice House of Prayer San Francisco (JHOPSF).
A man approached the group (a team of thirteen people about 18-22 years-old) and began yelling “You are haters! Get out of here!” A girl on JHOPSF team simply told him “We are only here to worship God. We love you.” This man became angrier and was screaming at her using profanity and obscene language. When he noticed that the JHOPSF were standing in front of a memorial near Castro and 18th Street that had been dedicated to an AIDS/HIV activist, he became even more enraged.
The neighborhood group claimed that the JHOPSF were marching regarding Proposition 8.
Later, another man wearing a headdress, which led the JHOPSF to believe that he was affiliated with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. This man in the headdress began to surround the JHOPSF with a cloth and encircling the JHOPSF fully with the cloth.
Next a man picked up one of the JHOPSF Bibles and started to walk away with it. A girl from JHOPSF out of the circle following him and asked, “Excuse me that is our Bible. Could I have that back please?” He turned to her and said “no” then hit her on the head with the Bible knocking her to the ground, and began kicking her legs. A man from the crowd pulled him off of her. A police officer then arrived and detained the man who hit her. One officer asked the girl if she would like to press charges. She said “No. Tell him I forgive him.”
The group was also hit with hot coffee during their walk and several girls of JHOPSF were hit in the face when crowds lunged forward at their group.
The neighborhood crowd increased in size and started blowing whistles with spit form the whistles hitting the JHOPSF members’ faces. The neighborhood group began chanting “bigots out of the Castro” and “Shame on you! Shame on you!” One male yelled that he would kill the apparent leader of the JHOPSF. A police officer overheard the comment and questioned the man. The neighborhood group was also pushing the members’ of the JHOPSF group. The police eventually asked the JHOPSF group to leave because they felt the JHOPSF members’ lives were endangered.
The JHOPSF complied with the San Franscisco Police request and began to leave about 8:30 p.m. Some yelled we will “follow you all the way home!”
The full account of the incident was reported on the JHOPSF official website — jhopsf.org
An earlier protest of Proposition Eight is shown below …
Video showing crowd chanting “What do we want? Equal rights. When do we want it? Now!”