battling the baptists

we went to the padres game downtown tonight with our neighbors and enjoyed a beautiful san diego evening. jay had gotten the tickets a while ago through work, but we found out recently it was to be the night that the local baptists walked off their concession jobs at the stadium, because the padres were acknowledging it was gay pride night at the same game as a padre cap giveaway to kids. they don't like the homo-gay being around the impressionable ones, promoting their sinful "lifestyle" and all. so i whipped together a crappy sign that said "i'm a gay uncle" and headed down to the front entrance after jay and my neighbors went into the game (thanks for the support guys!).

there were about 20-30 people from the ministry, all wearing red shirts with a big "save our kids" phrase on them, handing out pamphlets. also there was [closet|nut]case james hartline. i joined some counter-protesters across the sidewalk from them. it was all actually pretty civil, and i had some funny conversations with the baptists, who feel anybody who's not a christian is going to hell. one guy said that's it's basically chaos wherever there's no christianity, so i asked him, "what about japan? they're not christian". to which he agreed, yeah, they're pretty orderly over there. no shit!

he also asked me if i babysit my nephew - to which i replied, "why, do you think i'm going to molest him"? he said "well yes, or vice-versa". my nephew is 3 - what does that even mean?!

revealingly, these folks actually insist they are not pushing their beliefs onto anybody, but then tell me i need change my sinful lifestyle, and question my (lack of) religious beliefs.

there were plenty of supportive people who said positive things when they walked past, and i chatted with some of them. a tv cameramen and a padre staff member also thanked me. a couple of people took pictures with me. surprisingly, not one person said anything negative, considering i'm basically holding a sign that says i'm a big queen as they walk into a macho sports event.

after a while i folded my sign up, threw it in the trash, and went in to the game. but the protesters wouldn't be enjoying this game, they were too busy making their hateful point. just what god wanted, i'm sure.