The D.C.-based group Faith and Action has launched a petition drive to protest "Love without Borders: WorldPride 2006," a gay and lesbian rally to be held in Jerusalem next week. The group claims it is seeking to "preserve the sanctity of Jerusalem" from the "abomination" of "the same atrocious scenes we have viewed out of San Francisco, New York and Boston!" According to Rev. Rob Schenck, president of Faith and Action's National Clergy Council,
The WorldPride agenda includes pornographic movie festivals, the recruitment of Israeli young people to the gay lifestyle and other immoral demonstrations offensive to Jews, Christians and even Muslims. ... Jews are restricted from visiting the Temple Mount in Jerusalem because it might inflame Arab Muslims, but homosexual activists are allowed to do whatever they want no matter who they offend. When it comes to militant homosexual activists, there are always two rules: one for them, the other for the rest of us. If anything is going to inflame anyone, it's this kind of public decadence.
Schenck can already claim a partial victory: Jerusalem police recently denied a permit for the WorldPride march, citing security concerns and the war with Hezbollah.
