NEW ORLEANS, USA - Gay protesters danced to New Orleans jazz outside the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting on Wednesday while, inside, the country's largest Protestant group urged its members to stay married.
Police arrested 34 gay men and women when they tried to carry a coffin into the Superdome to protest anti-gay positions taken by the Southern Baptists, who have 16 million members nationwide.
As they were led to a nearby police bus, the protesters, their hands bound by plastic restraints, danced to "When the Saints Go Marchin' In" played by an accompanying jazz band. They were arrested for trespassing, but the charges were dropped.
Soulforce, a group of religious gays and supporters, held the protest because it said the Southern Baptist belief that homosexuality is a sin lead to the killing or suicide of gays.
"We're here to say the violence must end," said Jimmy Creech, a former United Methodist Church minister who lost his pastorate for performing same-sex marriages.
Most of the 9,100 Southern Baptists who attended the two-day annual meeting ignored the gays, but a small group staged a counter protest. They carried signs saying "God hates fags" and "AIDS is God's curse."
"We're here to tell people that there is a God in heaven and there's going to be a Judgment Day soon. If they don't repent, they're going to hell," said a member of the anti-gay group.
Inside the Superdome, the Southern Baptists wrapped up their meeting by passing resolutions on matters ranging from marriage to campaign finance reform.
In the past, the convention has fought over resolutions about gays and women, but this year there was little controversy and no dissent.
The key resolution urged support for so-called "covenant marriage" in which couples receive counseling before marriage and are wed under special state laws that make divorce much more difficult to obtain.
The measure was part of a general thrust by the Southern Baptists to shore up traditional family life, which speaker after speaker described as under attack.
"(This is) a troubled world, where racism, pornography and the homosexual agenda are just a few of the issues challenging our faith and assaulting our families," said Richard Land, president of the convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
The group also approved resolutions rejecting legalized euthanasia in The Netherlands, Internet pornography, human cloning and "any campaign finance reform that hinders or abridges free speech."
19:34 06-13-01
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