The Revolution will not be Webcast
The official word on the sensored streaming video is that it was unintentional-- although it was exactly as long as the protest and kicked back in after the protest. "We thought they were going to take a recess." Right. During recesses, they put up the logo slide, not the standby slide. That's only shown before and after the day's broadcast, in short, when there is no streaming signal.
So they uploaded the coverage of the protest here. You have to click the MPEG below "Homosexuality Witness." For those who don't watch the video, it shows maybe 200 people, dressed in black, lining the aisles of the convention space. They sing, "Were You There?" and drape the communion table in black fabric to signify the brokenness of the Body. A young woman speaks at the mic for a few minutes, declaring the the glbt community are the church and they are not going away. A Bishop speaks as well, comparing sexuality and gender identity-based exclusion to the racial exclusion not so long ago. Several other Bishops stand in prayer. Now what was so threatening about that? Except that the protesters were threatened with up to a year jail time if they didn't leave the floor after their (literal) fifteen minutes.
My seminary colleague Will Green posted about his experience on the floor yesterday and being a brave, brave man (he came out to a thousand delegates and an untold number of internet viewers) over on the Cambridge Welcoming Ministries Blog. More conservative voices immediately jumped all over him. For shame.
Here's Will, on his birthday, outing himself to the UM world, and taking the mic to implore that the United Methodist Church not use the glbt community as lambs sacrificed on the altar of false unity. Which of course we did. Bless you, my brother.
So they uploaded the coverage of the protest here. You have to click the MPEG below "Homosexuality Witness." For those who don't watch the video, it shows maybe 200 people, dressed in black, lining the aisles of the convention space. They sing, "Were You There?" and drape the communion table in black fabric to signify the brokenness of the Body. A young woman speaks at the mic for a few minutes, declaring the the glbt community are the church and they are not going away. A Bishop speaks as well, comparing sexuality and gender identity-based exclusion to the racial exclusion not so long ago. Several other Bishops stand in prayer. Now what was so threatening about that? Except that the protesters were threatened with up to a year jail time if they didn't leave the floor after their (literal) fifteen minutes.
My seminary colleague Will Green posted about his experience on the floor yesterday and being a brave, brave man (he came out to a thousand delegates and an untold number of internet viewers) over on the Cambridge Welcoming Ministries Blog. More conservative voices immediately jumped all over him. For shame.
Here's Will, on his birthday, outing himself to the UM world, and taking the mic to implore that the United Methodist Church not use the glbt community as lambs sacrificed on the altar of false unity. Which of course we did. Bless you, my brother.