Three protesters were arrested at a Tea Party rally Sunday after the demonstration drew supporters and protesters alike, police officials said.
The activists at the Massachusetts Tea Party Coalition’s annual Patriots’ Day rally at Boston Common who were arrested were from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer groups, as well as feminist groups.
Protesters focused their efforts on Mass Tea Party Coalition speakers Reverend Scott Lively, known for his anti-gay rhetoric, and Director of MassResistance Brian Camenker, said LGBTQ group Impact Massachusetts clerk Don Gorton.
“We’re not necessarily opposing everything that’s being advocated here. We’re calling attention to the extreme homophobia of a couple of the speakers,” Gorton said. “It’s a very focused response to people who, even many in the Tea Party, don’t consider respectable. [The Mass Tea Party] is an extremist fringe.”
A statement from the Greater Boston Tea Party indicated as such.
“The Mass Tea Party Coalition has a radically different view on tea party activism,” the statement posted on the organization’s website Wednesday said. “Their unprofessional behavior and unwillingness to communicate with other established tea party organizations are distressing but to be expected as part of political activism.”
Protesters arrived at the bandstand in Boston Common about an hour after the rally started, playing music and carrying signs with such messages as “Jesus has two dads, why can’t I?” Within minutes, they drowned out the Tea Party speakers with shouts.
Police arrested two protesters for disturbing a public assembly and displaying disorderly conduct, officials said. As protesters claimed ground behind the Tea Party members, they began chanting, and when Lively took the stage, police officers arrested another protester.
As different Massachusetts Tea Party Coalition speakers took the stage, Tea Party members and protesters broke into individual discussions about their deviating standpoints.
“My idea is that two people can have two opposing rallies and they don’t have to go to each other and try to mess each other up,” said Tea Party supporter Josh, who asked to keep his last name anonymous. “They can talk to each other nicely – speak what’s on their minds.”
Although she knew protesters would not sway Tea Party members from their beliefs, their presence at the rally was important nonetheless, said protester Ariel, who asked to keep her last name anonymous.
“You can’t change people’s beliefs, but I think that it’s important that people watching this, in their own situation, know that not everyone is this insane,” she said.
Members of both groups said the hostility between the two groups was frightening.
“There’s a lot of hate and that scares me,” said Tea Party Bostonian Bill Lewis. “I hate the system. I am protesting against the system, not individuals.”
Vin, a protester who asked to keep his last name anonymous, said he too was disturbed by the shared animosity.
“There’s just so much hatred on both sides,” he said. “It makes me really sad. I just came here straight from church and I’m like, we need more love and there’s not.”
The Tea Party focuses on more issues than just gay rights, said Tea Party member Rita, adding that the rally was meant to focus on the wider theme summed up as “Patriot Courage” by the Mass Tea Party Coalition.
“We want to get back to the basics, what our founding fathers believed in and following the Constitution, basically self-responsibility, taking care of ourselves,” said one protester, who asked to remain anonymous. “Our government should just be securing our borders, basically, and nothing more than that. We should be able to go out and fend for ourselves.”
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