Charges Dropped Against Philadelphia Anti-Gay Demonstrators

February 17, 2005

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia judge Thursday dismissed charges against four evangelicals who disrupted Outfest last fall.

The four members of Repent America were charged with ethnic intimidation, criminal conspiracy and inciting to riot. If convicted they could have been sentenced up to 47 years in jail.

The four, and 6 others who were not charged, marched to the front of a stage at Outfest and began to yell Biblical passages to drown out the events on stage.

Police attempted to get the protestors to move to to an area on the edge of the site. Instead they went deeper into the gay crowd. Using a bullhorn they condemned homosexuality. They then got into an argument with a group of Pink Angels, who screamed back.

It was at that point police intervened. The entire incident occurred as filmmakers were working on a documentary and was recorded on video tape.

Thursday, after reviewing the tape Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe said the charges were unjustified.

We are one of the very few countries that protect unpopular speech, Dembe said.

Last month, Dembe overturned a lower court ruling that kept the activists from picketing gay-themed events in Philadelphia.

Repent America founder Michael Marcavage who led the protestors has a long history of trying to disrupt LGBT events.

He has been arrested, detained or cited by police around the country since founding Repent America in 2002, including at a demonstration against same-sex marriages in San Francisco.

Following the arrests, a bill was been introduced in the Pennsylvania legislature to remove several classifications including gays, lesbians, and the transgendered from the state's hate crimes law.