Amarillo Pridefest Is Marred By Bigotry

Since the early nineties the organization OUTstanding Amarillo has been holding a Pridefest celebration. This year's Pridefest was held at Southeast Park in Amarillo on July 3rd and the hopes were that it would be a friendly and trouble-free get-together as it has been in past years. OUTstanding Amarillo chairwoman Cyndy Walton said the Pridefest was a "celebration of diversity. It's an opportunity for everyone who wants to express themselves however they want to express themselves to come together and have a party and have a good time."

And there was a good turnout as gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered individuals and their friends got together. But it was not to be trouble-free. That's because security guard and self-appointed preacher David Grisham (pictured) showed up with his notoriously bigoted organization called Repent Amarillo. These people have picketed and harrassed other organizations in the past and this year they decided to pick on Pridefest. Repent Amarillo is a vile group that thinks everyone must abide by their own narrow view of how life should be lived. They call themselves christian but certainly don't act like it.

Repent Amarillo rented the space in the park near Pridefest and began trying to disrupt it. They tried to drown out Pridefest with extremely loud christian music, and they began to circle Pridefest reading from their Bibles in loud voices. They continued their disruptive activities even after Amarillo Police made them move to the parking lot.

The group seemed to know their actions were not appropriate because they refused to talk to the local media covering the event. Now Amarillo is a very red area politically and it may surprise some to learn it is a fairly open and diverse community. There is usually not a lot of overt homophobia. But this group called Repent Amarillo is giving Amarillo an undeserved black mark and are embarrassing all decent folks in this Panhandle city. They need to start acting like the christians they claim to be.

The best response to this ridiculous group was written in the city's best newspaper, The Amarillo Independent, by it's intrepid editor George Schwarz. Here is what he wrote in his excellent newspaper (he titles it "Repent Amarillo Needs To Repent"):

Repent Amarillo and its allies, Raven Ministries and a group called Impact, have protested yet another group in Amarillo — this time the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
The protest was at Southeast Park where OUTstanding Amarillo set up Pridefest after several years at Thompson Memorial Park.
Why the move?
One reason floating around was that a maintenance issue at Thompson prompted the move, but the other is that Repent Amarillo had rented the space next to the one Pridefest uses.
Seeking to avoid the hassle of homophobia, OUTstanding shifted sites.
That did them little good.
The same person who reserved the Thompson Park space also reserved space at Southeast Park south of Pridefest for a birthday party at the last minute, June 21.
They didn’t use the Repent Amarillo or Raven Ministries names.
But they, or someone, told a reporter for the Amarillo Globe-News that the blaring music down the way from Pridefest was a “Jesus Fest.”
Did Repent/Raven reserve space at Southeast Park under false pretenses?
Sooner or later Amarillo needs to face the fact that this is Repent Amarillo’s modus operandi — spouting selective quotes from the Bible while bearing false witness.
As City Attorney Marcus Norris rightly pointed out, the city government takes no sides in First Amendment fights.
There was no reason from the city’s perspective for anyone to be deceptive.
Sooner or later Amarillo needs to face the facts about Repent Amarillo’s modus operandi: They are dangerous crackpots who will stop at nothing to impose their view of behavior on the people of this city.
Other publications and The Amarillo Independent have documented Repent/Raven’s getting names from license plates, despite Repent’s denials.
We have also documented attacks on people by contacting employers in order to besmirch their targets’ reputations.
Where does the line exist in Amarillo between free speech and illegal intimidating behavior?
Sooner or later, Amarillo must decide.