The National Organization for Marriage’s Summer for Marriage Tour passed through Clayton (a suburb of St. Louis), Missouri this evening. From my guestimate, there were over 100 enthusiastic pro-gay marriage supporters protesting the event. They were lined along one street, while about 50 pro-traditional marriage event attendees were gathered in the city square. I would also guess that at least 75 active duty city police and St. Louis County sheriff’s department officers were present.
After I tried passing through the line of protesters, a young policeman forbade nearby my entrance to the actual pro-traditional marriage event, saying, “We’ve had a lot of trouble. . . I can’t let you go in there.” The “trouble” must have occurred before I arrived. I showed the officer my ID and explained who I was. Following that exchange, he allowed me to pass.
There were about three speakers, the names of whom I didn’t catch. The crowd was supportive, but subdued. I don’t think that the mood was due to the balmy weather; St. Louis has cooled off to a “very warm” since a storm passed through yesterday evening. It was, nevertheless, surreal to say the least, on a variety of levels. First, it was my first experience to be in the “minority” at a public event with so many protesters nearby. Second, every time a motorist passed by and honked, the protesters would raise up a loud cheer, which sometimes made it difficult to hear the speaker.
I picked up a “One man, one woman” tee-shirt, which I plan to wear to work tomorrow. By the way, before I left I introduced myself to Mr. Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage. This nice young fellow bragged to an acquaintance nearby, “Yeah, we just had number six [children].” The acquaintance replied, “Well, we’re still trying to catch up with five.”
Gotta love Catholics when it comes to kids! Would that orthodox Lutherans would follow suit.
Here is a picture of Mr. Brown and I after the event. Apparently, invoking the name of Todd Wilken is strong kung fu.
