Philly Court Orders Four Christians to Trial; Emergency Appeal Likely
by Allie Martin
December 15, 2004
(AgapePress) - An attorney with a pro-family ministry says a judge's decision on Tuesday, ordering four Christians in Philadelphia to stand trial for witnessing at a homosexual pride event, is comparable to the atmosphere of the civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s.
In October, 11 Christians were arrested as they were praying and reading scripture during the annual "gay pride" event known as "Outfest" in Philadelphia. Those in the group were charged with three felonies (criminal conspiracy, ethnic intimidation, and riot) and five misdemeanors. On Tuesday, charges were dropped against seven of the individuals; but Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan ordered the other four to stand trial on the charges. They were also banned from doing any type of evangelism within 100 yards of any "gay and lesbian event."
Brian Fahling is the senior trial attorney for the American Family Association (AFA) Center for Law & Policy, which represented the group in the Philadelphia court. Fahling says the Christian activists are being persecuted simply for exercising their constitutional rights.
Brian Fahling
"They were exercising their First Amendment rights in a public forum, and we have videotape that demonstrates that," Fahling says. "And we had a prosecutor [Charles Ehrlich] engage in the most venomous attack on defendants that I have heretofore ever seen -- calling them names, calling them 'hateful.'" In addition, says Fahling, Ehrlich referred to the Bible as "hate speech."
The AFA attorney is highly critical of judicial operations in the City of Brotherly Love. "This is like being in the South in the 1950s up here in this court system. It is absolutely incredible," Fahling says. "Of course, we're going to seek relief [for our clients] -- but we don't expect to get justice in Philadelphia."
An emergency appeal may be the next step because the four, if convicted, could face up to 47 years in prison. Fahling explains that option.
"We sought emergency relief earlier from the federal courts," he says, "[and] I'm sure the federal courts thought that justice would be done here and didn't intervene. So we have one more route, and that would be to appeal to [Supreme Court] Justice [David] Souter, who presides over this particular territory with respect to these issues. So we may take an emergency appeal there."
Fahling reiterates his contention that justice for his clients will need to found elsewhere. "If we can get somebody to actually look at this videotape, we'll get justice done," he says. "But again, it's not coming out of Philadelphia."
The attorney says the charges were dropped against the remaining seven because they were not seen quoting scripture on the videotape. Fahling says in Philadelphia, it appears the public reading of scripture will land a person in jail.
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