San Francisco, USA - It is the type of event that cities usually salivate over: more than 20,000 teenagers, all with a keen interest in pop culture, plenty of chaperones, and, of course, pockets full of disposable income.
But when the group in question is a Christian ministry from Texas that condemns homosexuality, and the place is San Francisco, often referred to as “the gayest city in America,” the civic welcome wagon collapses pretty quickly.
A two-day event called BattleCry starts Friday at AT&T Park, the downtown baseball stadium. Organizers say the gathering, which includes performances by Christian rock bands and inspirational speakers, is a way for young Christians to speak out against what they view as destructive cultural elements, including sex on television, obscene music and violent video games.
“This culture is really hammering this generation,” said Ron Luce, the founder of Teen Mania, the Texas-based ministry that sponsors and promotes BattleCry. “Whether it’s being accosted with horrible sexually suggestive messages or the garbage in the video game world, corporate America is raping and pillaging American teenagers. And everyone is just walking by.”
But several prominent San Francisco political leaders say Mr. Luce’s group is the one doing the damage, using its young members as a conduit for a message of intolerance.
“They are being fed, spoon-fed, hate,” said Tom Ammiano, a member of the city’s Board of Supervisors, who is gay. “And it is incumbent on any group receiving that hate, particularly gay people, to speak out.”
Aaron Peskin, the board’s president, called BattleCry “reckless and irresponsible.”
“We need to increase understanding of our human differences, not teach our kids to be suspicious and hateful towards people unlike them,” Mr. Peskin said in a statement.
It is not the first time that BattleCry has gotten the cold shoulder from San Franciscans. The group held a concert here last year, an event that was greeted by a resolution from the Board of Supervisors calling BattleCry a “right-wing Christian fundamentalist group” trying “to negatively influence the politics of America’s most tolerant and progressive city.”
BattleCry officials complain that the city has made their lives difficult by imposing noise restrictions on a planned Saturday-morning celebration. City officials said the restrictions came after numerous complaints about last year’s event.
The dispute may come to a head on Friday afternoon when hundreds of Christian teenagers are expected to congregate on the steps of City Hall to pray and “raise their voices on behalf of their generation,” organizers said. A group opposing BattleCry plans to protest alongside.
Opponents have said that the rhetoric used onstage during these events is overtly antigay and subtly militaristic. Ben Rosen, a San Francisco organizer with World Can’t Wait, which is leading the protests, said his group was trying to repudiate what it sees as the deeper goals of BattleCry, including “imposing their biblical fundamentalist worldview on the country.”
That said, Mr. Rosen said protesters recognized that they were dealing with a delicate balance of expressing their opinions without appearing to be intolerant themselves.
“We’re not out to yell at kids that believe in Jesus; that’s awful,” he said. “It would be great,” he said of BattleCry, “if it didn’t have this very serious, very pernicious backbone to it.”
Tasha White, 18, attended the event last year and said it had opened her eyes to “a culture leading us into brokenness.”
“You look at Britney Spears, and what she did and that leads to divorce and rehab and drugs, and that’s a negative influence,” said Ms. White, who lives in nearby San Bruno and said she had had problems with under-age drinking herself. “And that’s not something I believe our generation should be looking forward to.”
Ms. White added that she did not think there was anything antigay about the event, though she believes gay people are “misguided.”
Mr. Luce echoed that sentiment, saying his group loves gay people, but does firmly believe their sexuality is sinful.
“We see homosexuality like a lot of other things that do harm to us, like lying, or cheating, or stealing,” he said, adding that he said he had seen studies suggesting that many gay people are depressed or unhappy. “And it’s not very loving to leave them in that state and not show them another way.”
With high-profile evangelical supporters like the Rev. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, BattleCry is just one part of Mr. Luce’s campaign to energize young Christians, who many leaders worry are leaving the church. In addition to San Francisco, BattleCry events are planned this spring in Baltimore and Detroit, with dozens of smaller “Acquire the Fire” events in other cities featuring Christian music and speakers.
Mr. Luce said he had never had this kind of reaction in other cities, and said his group, which is a nonprofit organization, had decided to hold the event in San Francisco because that city could handle an event with an estimated 25,000 attendees. Admission is $45 to $99, which Mr. Luce says helps deflect costs.
Joe D’Alessandro, the president of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, a private nonprofit group, said the two-day event was too small to have a significant impact on the local economy, but he said its organizers should be allowed to hold BattleCry nonetheless.
“I think we have to practice tolerance, whether or not they practice tolerance,” Mr. D’Alessandro said. “I’m gay myself, and I find their beliefs very offensive. But they have a right to come to our city.”