Jun 29, 2007  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

In an interview broadcast last week over a Christian radio station in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 70-year-old Linda Beckman described how she was handcuffed and arrested in Philadelphia in October 2004 for “sharing the gospel” at a gay rights event.

Beckman, who identified herself as a grandmother of 10, said she and 10 other Christian activists were sent to jail and faced as much 47 years in prison after being charged with violating Pennsylvania’s hate crimes law for merely quoting biblical messages to gays.

“I was arrested on a public sidewalk in Philadelphia for sharing the gospel,” Linda Beckman said in an audio message on Repent’s web site. “Sending grandmothers to jail goes too far. Stop hate crimes now.”

Arlene Elshinnaway, another Repent member, recorded a similar remark for the site.

“On October 10, 2004, I attended a homosexual event in Philadelphia,” Elshinnaway said. “We went there to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. But instead, I was arrested, jailed and charged under Pennsylvania’s hate crimes law. If you care about freedom, stop the hate crimes bill before they throw you in jail for sharing the gospel.”

A Philadelphia judge later dismissed the charges against the defendants, members of an anti-gay Christian group called Repent America. Gay activists acknowledged that a prosecutor appears to have overreacted by invoking a state hate crimes law that targets hate-related violence rather than speech.

But organizers of Philadelphia’s annual Outfest, a Gay Pride festival associated with National Coming Out Day each October, say the hate crimes charge came as an afterthought by one of the prosecutors after the 11 Repent members had been charged by police with disorderly conduct and several other offenses associated with alleged disruptive behavior.

The group had attended other Pride events earlier that year and in previous years, saying they were promoting their religious beliefs. Gay activists said the group’s actions amounted to heckling and a disruption of the gay events through the use of bullhorns and the unfurling of large signs.

Court records show that in addition to the hate crimes charge, the Repent America members were charged with disorderly conduct, failure to disperse in response to a police order, riot, obstruction of a highway and criminal conspiracy.

To the dismay of national gay rights groups and their allies, several national conservative religious groups, including the anti-gay American Family Association, have seized on the Philadelphia incident to build opposition to a federal hate crimes bill pending in Congress.

The anti-gay groups argue that the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which the House of Representatives passed earlier this year, would lead to the arrest and prosecution of clergy members and others who preach that homosexuality is a sin.

The anti-gay groups have referred to the arrested Repent America members as the “Philadelphia 11,” saying each was charged under Pennsylvania’s hate crimes law for promoting the gospel, while omitting any mention of the other charges filed against them.

The federal hate crimes bill includes language giving the federal government authority to prosecute violent hate crimes against gays and transgender persons. Supporters of the legislation, including Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), the lead Senate sponsors, point out that the bill includes explicit language preventing its use against speech.

The Human Rights Campaign, the national gay group leading lobbying efforts on behalf of the bill, has said it agrees with a provision in the bill that would allow anti-gay groups to denounce gays and homosexuality through verbal messages.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on an identical version of the bill in August, which it renamed the Matthew Shepard Act in honor of the University of Wyoming student who was slain in an anti-gay hate crime in 1998.

National conservative religious groups have enlisted Repent America’s help in a nationwide campaign to link the hate crimes bill to free-speech restrictions aimed at Christians.

Accounts by police, gay activists and a federal court ruling against Repent America — which brought a civil suit against the City of Philadelphia and the Philly Pride group over their arrests at the 2004 event — provide a picture of what happened that differs considerably from the accounts by Repent America.

Fran Price, executive director of Philly Pride, and Charles Volz, the group’s senior adviser, have said the 11 members of Repent America who were charged during the Oct. 10, 2004 festival came to the event with bullhorns and signs to promote anti-gay messages.

The Outfest event takes place in the heart of Philadelphia’s Center City gay neighborhood and attracts thousands of participants. Philly Pride, a non-profit corporation that organizes several Gay Pride-related ...