From: SoulForce1@aol.com
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 11:07:01 EST
Subject: Clergy Close Down Fox Family Headquarters to Protest Antigay

A Soulforce Press Release, February 24, 2000

CLERGY CLOSE DOWN FOX FAMILY HEADQUARTERS
DEMAND TV TIME TO RESPOND TO ANTI-GAY RHETORIC

Seen Three Hours Daily on the Fox Family Channel,
Pat Robertson's 700 Club Targeted By Clergy Protest

(Los Angeles, CA.)  Refusing to be intimidated by a rare winter thunderstorm, 
twenty-six Christian ministers and Jewish rabbis waded through the flooded 
streets of West Los Angeles on their cold, wet march to the international 
headquarters of the Fox Family Channel.

"We're seeking justice for God's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered 
children," said a smiling Frank Wulf, the United Methodist Chaplain at UCLA 
who hosted a pre-march luncheon at the University Religious Conference.  "A 
little rain won't stop us."

With police and curious spectators looking on, uniformed security guards 
blocked all entrances to the high rise glass and marble headquarters of 
Rupert Murdoch's Fox Family Channel and its partner, Saban Entertainment at 
10960 Wilshire Boulevard.

"For eighteen months we've tried to get an appointment with Fox Family 
executives to discuss our serious concerns about Pat Robertson's 
anti-homosexual rhetoric on their channel," explained Ed Bacon, the Rector of 
All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena, California.  "Now they would rather close 
down the entire business than meet with us to work out a solution that would 
satisfy everyone including Mr. Robertson."

With guards blocking all entrances to the public lobby there was no way for 
the clergy protestors to access the elevators that would carry them to their 
uninvited meeting with Richard Cronin, the President and CEO of the Fox 
Family Channel, in his offices on the eighth floor.

"If they want to close down their business, then let's help them," said Dr. 
Mel White, a Co-Chair of the Clergy Committee to Bring Truth to Fox and the 
founder of Soulforce, a network of people of faith seeking justice for sexual 
minorities. 

Immediately, the clergy formed two groups, locked arms at both entrances to 
the building, and began to sing "We shall overcome" led by Rabbi Denise Eger 
of Congregation Kol Ami. Security guards, surprised and enraged by the turn 
of events, unlocked the doors and began to shove and curse the clergy.   

"We were stunned by their violent response to our nonviolent protest. They 
were thugs," said the Rev. Nancy Wilson, an elder in the Universal Fellowship 
of Metropolitan Community Churches and pastor of MCCLA.   "We are only asking 
two things of Fox," she explained. "We want a meeting with Mr. Robertson 
(which he refuses) and we want TV time on Fox Family to respond to Mr. 
Robertson's misinformation campaign."

Carrying "Beware the Fox" signs and singing songs of the civil rights 
movement, the clergy closed down the Fox Family headquarters for more than 
one hour.  Police were in place to arrest the demonstrators.  Police vans 
arrived to carry them away.  But Fox Family officials decided to leave the 
building closed rather than suffer the negative publicity that would follow 
the arrest of two dozen respected pastors, priests, and rabbis protesting Pat 
Robertson's anti-family rhetoric on their "family" channel.

"They're hoping that we'll just go away," Mel White said quietly to a 
Canadian reporter.  "But Gandhi and King teach us that our 'soul force' 
search for justice must be relentless.  On Friday, March 24, we shall return 
and we're inviting our friends and allies to join us.  We're going to train 
hundreds of nonviolent  demonstrators to close down the Fox Family Channel 
once a month until they take us seriously. Pat Robertson's anti-homosexual 
misinformation campaign leads to terrible suffering for families all across 
the nation.  We must help cut off that suffering at its source."

For information go to www.soulforce.org.  
Click on "IS FOX FAMILY SAFE FOR YOUR FAMILY?"
To contact:
 Mel White or The Committee Offices  
Phone: (949) 455-0999, Fax: (949) 455-0959 Email: BewareTheFox@soulforce.org
To Contact:
Rev. Frank Wulf (310) 208-6869;  Rev. Nancy Wilson (310) 854-9110;
Rev. Ed Bacon (626) 796-1172;  Rabbi Denise Eger (310) 248-6320

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