AUSTRALIA – A peaceful protest by marriage equality advocates in Adelaide, Australia, to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, ended in violence after members of the Adelaide Christian Street Church disrupted the demonstration.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the scuffle began when a woman was pushed off her wheelchair by a Christian protester.
“A small number of right-wing Christians came out and started waving their flags and getting in people’s faces, yelling quite loudly. Some of them got in a bit of a fight,” rally organizer Jason Virgo said.
He said that the religious protesters were carrying signs with anti-gay messages like “God hates sinners.”
“It’s an International Day Against Homophobia and for them to come to us and come to our rally and say things which we find homophobic, it’s disrespectful. We would never go to their church and disrupt things the way they did today,” Virgo said.
The Street Church’s Damien Gloury said the preachers were mobbed and hit for proclaiming their Christian message. “We’re just preaching the Bible, we’re quoting the Bible and it says that homosexuality is a sin,” he told ABC Adelaide.
