Homosexuals plan an "invasion" of Jerusalem
Clerics urge Jerusalem to ban gay parade

By Amiram Barkat and Daphna Berman
http://www.haaretz.com/
Thu., March 31, 2005 Adar2 20, 5765

"Please do not upset our lord" was the joint appeal from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim clerics at a news conference in Jerusalem yesterday to protest plans to host the WorldPride gay festival in August.

The clerics warned that the 10-day festival would seriously disrupt the peace, and called on the Israeli authorities to prevent it.

Chief rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yonah Metzger joined Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, Chief Executive of the Greek Orthodox Church Archbishop Aristarchos, the spokesman for the Armenian Church Bishop Aris Shirvanian, Sufi sheikhs Abdul Aziz Bukhari and Abdul Salaam Manasra, and Rabbi Menachem Froman of Tekoa. The news conference was organized by the Chief Rabbinate in cooperation with a campaign launched a month ago by Pastor Leo Giovinetti, an evangelical leader from California, and a group of conservative Orthodox rabbis from Israel and the United States.

The WorldPride event, last held in Rome in 2000, is to include street parties, workshops and a gay film festival. Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski has said he has no say on the matter, as public events are licensed by the police and not City Hall. Amar and Metzger pleaded with festival organizers to take it elsewhere.

"There is enough tension in our city these days because of the disengagement," Amar said.

Metzger called the festival "a bad idea, both in terms of location and timing," and requested: "Please do not damage the holiness of Jerusalem. Preserve its character, preserve its peace."

Christian clerics emphasized their respect for homosexuals' rights, but said organizers must show similar consideration for believers' feelings.

Muslim clerics took a harsher line, warning the festival will provoke divine retribution on the city.
- posted by Izak @ 5:36 PM