BY NEAL PUTNAM
Anti-gay protests at the LGBT Pride Parade are almost a tradition that most people dislike but others find either amusing or prove the point that Pride events are needed because of folks with attitudes like theirs.
In recent years, members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church have picketed the parade with hateful signs, such as “God Hates Fags.” The members who are brainwashed by Rev. Fred Phelps may be here this year.
But crowds at the 1980s parades were greeted with many more anti-gay protesters closer to home – Santee, actually. Members of the now defunct Bible Missionary Fellowship and its leader, Rev. Dorman Owens, regularly picketed the parades.
In 1985, a pilot from Owens’ church towed a banner above the Hillcrest parade that said “Homos Deserve AIDS.” More than 100 people from that church and others also held signs, such as “Fags Make Me Gag – God.”
July 27, 1987, that same pilot was arrested by San Diego Police for placing a bomb outside of an abortion clinic on Alvarado Road. The bomb didn’t explode, thankfully, but the pilot was dressed as a woman to disguise himself.
A courageous person from Owens’ church told authorities she was opposed to abortion, but was also opposed to bombing a clinic in which firefighters or people could be killed. She told police when and where a bomb would be placed.
The pilot spent four months in the Metropolitan Correctional Center and was surprised to learn that Owens’ church refused to help his pregnant wife and children. He decided to testify against Owens and the ones who participated in the bombing attempt and cover-up.
(The pilot’s name is public record, but this occurred 26 years ago. He has served his sentence and his name is not mentioned here in hopes he has changed and regrets his past actions. The names of the others are also not named with the same hope they are better people now.)
Owens eventually went to visit the pilot in jail and talked with the pilot about the names of people involved in the bombing and the cover-up.
The conversation was recorded and his list of people was seized.
Owens and six others were indicted by a federal grand jury in 1988 on charges of attempted bombing of an abortion facility, conspiracy, and witness tampering. All but one pleaded guilty and they stopped protesting at the LGBT Pride Parade, particularly after some went to federal prison.
Owens pleaded guilty to witness tampering and was sentenced to two years. He served 21 months before he was paroled. His parole restrictions forbade him from protesting at LGBT parades or at abortion clinics. He disappeared back into his church.
Owens is now 80 years old and is retired. His son is the pastor of a renamed church that contains some members from the old church. Owens has videotaped some of his past sermons which are available on You Tube.
One member got five years in federal prison, but that was due to having a prior record of assaulting a man with a stun gun outside an abortion clinic. That victim was walking with his pregnant wife down a sidewalk and the church member assaulted him with the assumption they were going to the clinic, although they were just walking down a sidewalk.
The church organist received 15 months in prison. The wife of the man who got five years got probation so she could take care of their children. Another woman got three years.
Another anti-gay pastor from East County noticed the lack of protesters due to the indictments and decided to step up. The pastor of the Lighthouse Baptist Temple encouraged his members to protest.
This didn’t last very long as that pastor was arrested for rape of the church pianist and molestation of young girls. The rape charge was dropped, but he pleaded guilty to molesting girls and he was sentenced to eight years in prison by San Diego Superior Court Judge Fred Link in 1989.
The church relocated, changed its name, and did not send any more protesters to LGBT Pride parades. Some might call it karma.
