April 19, 2012
Boston Tea Party Speaker: 'We Will Not Be Silenced by Faggots'
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.
During a Tea Party Tax Day protest that took place in Boston last weekend, a speaker told LGBT protestors that supporters of the conservative movement would "not be silenced by faggots," Daily Kos reported.
"Reports from attendees were that in response to disturbances by protestors, one of the speakers said from the podium, broadcast across the loud speakers at the Commons, 'We will not be silenced by faggots,'" the news site says.
The Tea Partier allegedly made the comment while local authorities were attempting to break up a group of people who were protesting the conservative demonstration. One of the reasons why the LGBT community protested the event was because the anti-gay activist Scott Lively was being honored.
Lively has been involved in the "ex-gay" movement and has pushed for a law that could sentence Ugandan homosexuals to death. Recently, a gay rights group from the African nation has filed a suit in federal court in Massachusetts for violating international law. The lawsuit claims that in 2002 Lively worked with Ugandan religious and political leaders to create anti-gay hysteria. Lively said that gays would "sodomize African children and corrupt their culture."
One of the protesters wrote to Back2StoneWall to recount the incident.
"Two of our protesters were arrested, and I moved away from the crowd to show solidarity with them and follow as they were arrested. After that, I moved back into the crowd, and a Tea Partier knocked the wig off my head. I picked it up said to him 'Why do you think it's okay to knock my wig off my head?' He replied 'Oh, my hand slipped.'
I was going to continue talking to him but then the officer in the picture approached me and said 'okay, take your shit and get out of here,' shoving me back. I said to him 'Don't shove me.' He then said 'Don't shove you!?' and then choked me, for a short period of time. My comrades reacted pretty quick, taking those pictures, getting his badge number, etc. He was rough with several other people, grabbing one of my comrades' phone out of his hand when he tried to take a picture etc."
The Boston Globe is reporting that Boston police are going to review how the actions of the officers at the event after receiving criticism.
"We need to review the totality of the circumstances and get a sense of what occurred before and after" the incident, Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.
Watch footage from the Tea Party event on Boston Common, April 15, 2012: