"Gays hold vigil at Family Forum"

              LOCAL
7-17-94
377-6440 The Idaho Statesman

Gays hold vigil at Family Forum

Gathering outside
offices held in
conjunction with
Colorado fasting

By Traci Carl
The Idaho Statesman

   The religious right should end
its persecution of gays and les-
bians.
   That was the message delivered
Saturday by 3S people who
gathered outside the Idaho Family
Forum offices in Boise.
   The noon event was organized
by the Metropolitan Community
Church, which has a predomi­nantly
gay and lesbian congre­gation.
It coincided with similar
vigils in 21 other cities - from
Key West, Fla., to Los Angeles
- to mark the sixth day of a
seven-day fast by Mel White.
   White, who leads a gay and
lesbian congregation in Dallas,
is fasting in front of the Focus
on the Family headquarters in
Colorado Springs, Colo.
   Idaho Family Forum is the lo­cal
branch of Focus on the Fam­ily.
   Metropolitan Community
Church Pastor Tyrone Sweeting
told the Boise group about "a
secret'' meeting in May by Fo­cus
on the Family. He said the
meeting's purpose was to orga-
nize an attack on gay and lesbi­an
civil rights.
   "They falsely insist that there
is a 'gay agenda' that threatens
American values, that gays and
lesbians are not trustworthy
parents, that they abuse, molest
and recruit children, that they
should not hold responsible po-
sitions in schools and churches,
that they are a threat to disci­pline
in the military, and that
lesbians and gays all lead god-
less, sinful lives,'' he said.
   Sweeting said those comments
promote violence and discrimi-
nation against gays and lesbians
and lead to a higher suicide rate
among homosexuals.
   Gays and lesbians are not a
threat to family values and they
don't want special rights, Sweet-
ing said in quoting White. They
simply want the right to live
without prejudice.
   Judy Cross, a heterosexual
member of the church, said she
come to the vigil in support of
gays and lesbians because she is
concerned about the anti-gay
initiative.
   The initiative will appear on
Idaho's Nov. 8 ballot. If passed,
it would ban state laws providing
civil rights protections to
gays and lesbians.
   The initiative, as part of a
larger discriminatory campaign
against gays and lesbians, is a
threat to everyone's civil rights,
Cross said.
   MaryEvelyn Smith. a Boise
lesbian, said she came to the
vigil for the same reason to
preserve the civil rights of all
Americans, including herself.
   Dennis Mansfield, executive
director of the Idaho Family Fo-
rum, could not be reached for
comment late Saturday.
The vigil ended
crowd leaving
Forum's