THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502170540
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Cold rain and a chilly reception dampened an effort Thursday to protest televangelist Pat Robertson's position on homosexuality.
About a dozen protesters huddled for several hours in the rain in front of the Christian Broadcasting Network, then left, witnesses said.
While the protest was going on, Mel White, leader of a Christian denomination for gays and lesbians, was arraigned on a charge of trespassing at CBN.
His bail was reduced from $2,500 to $1,000, but he declined to pay and was returned to the city jail.
White, who was arrested Wednesday when he refused to leave the CBN grounds, is Robertson's former ghostwriter. His association with Robertson ended when White publicly acknowledged his homosexuality in 1991.
His appearance this weekend at the Gay Pride Festival at Old Dominion University was the catalyst for the protest by gay religious groups and other supporters.
These groups say they want Robertson to acknowledge that his views have inflamed violence against gays, said Dawn Rankin-Phelps, a member of a Hampton Roads congregation of the Metropolitan Community Church, White's denomination.
A prepared statement from CBN on Tuesday said Robertson ``condemns violence of any kind, and his remarks have never advocated violence.''
Rankin-Phelps said the statement doesn't go far enough.
White, 54, looked pale Thursday as he was led, shackled, into traffic court for arraignment, but he flashed a quick half-smile to his partner, Gary Nixon, who has flown in from Texas. Friends say White is continuing a hunger strike he began Tuesday.
Fay F. Spence, the lawyer representing White on the trespassing charge, says her client is being kept in a private cell in the Virginia Beach jail.
The protesters say they plan to return today. Patty Richardson, spokeswoman for CBN, said the company hasn't decided how to respond if the protests continue. On Thursday, CBN officials locked the doors of their headquarters building, and all approved visitors were escorted by security guards, she said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
PAUL AIKEN/Staff
A group gathers at the main Christian Broadcasting Network studio
Thursday. While the protest continued, Mel White, head of a
Christian group for gays, was arraigned on a charge of trespassing
at CBN.
by CNB