On the first weekend of Pride month, a group waved rainbow signs to protest San Jose’s Calvary Chapel and its guest speaker of the day: Tony Perkins, a notorious anti-gay activist.
The peaceful protest, which drew about 30 people Sunday morning, along with a small counterprotest, was deemed a success by co-organizer Ryan Stollar, a Los Gatos resident. He said protesters spoke to many congregants with the goal of highlighting Calvary’s promotion of extremist views.
“I think we surprised them and showed them we were willing to dialogue,” he said. “We were not there to hate on Christianity or hate on God.”
Tony Perkins is an ordained pastor, politician and current head of the national Family Research Council, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has named an anti-LGBT hate group. The organization fights gay rights like same-sex marriage and wants to bring back the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
More protests are likely to come in the future. Stollar and fellow organizers Taylor Storey and Carly Fox recently formed the Calvary Chapel Watch, with plans to hold demonstrations outside the other roughly dozen Bay Area Calvary Chapel locations on days when other far-right speakers appear in the coming months.
While people held signs with slogans like “Love is not a sin” and “Honk for gays” outside, Christian rock songs and sermons continued inside the San Jose church. Pastor Mike McClure’s introduced Perkins, by describing him as a man who “loves controversy.”
“The truth is we’re actually the protesters,” McClure said. “We’re protestants. We’re protesting for the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that’s what we’re here to do.”
In his opening remarks, Perkins said he would be speaking on God and not politics — but he did speak against face masks in the cotext of the coronavirus pandemic. The San Jose church has made headlines recently for violating public health orders by hosting large indoor gatherings during the pandemic.
Outside, Stollar and the protesters denounced the words of the Family Research Center: false claims that queer people are more likely to sexually abuse people or that gay men are more likely to be pedophiles.
“That sort of message is what creates harassment and abuse against queer people,” Stoller said. “We’re not trying to say Christianity is wrong. We’re trying to highlight that these far right organizations are spreading misinformation and lies about queer people.”
Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker
