| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| SF City Council Condemns Christian Youth Rally |
| 2006-03-26 |
| SAN FRANCISCO - A Christian youth rally that drew more than 25,000 people to AT&T Park this weekend met resistance from city leaders and some residents, who questioned the rally's agenda in this largely The two-day rally, called "Battle Cry for a Generation," was intended to guide young people away from a popular culture that organizers say glamorizes drugs, violence and sex. Except those and flowers in the hair are the things that attract young people to San Francisco. Ron Luce, whose Texas-based Teen Mania organization put on the event, said it hopefully would inspire a "reverse rebellion" against corrupting influences such as MTV and the online meeting hub, MySpace.com. The rally, which also will visit Detroit and Philadelphia, featured religious rockers, speakers and the debut of what Luce called a Christian alternative to MySpace.com - at advance ticket prices of $55 and walk-up prices of $199. How's they miss Seattle and Boston? "This is more than a spiritual war," said Luce, 44, a Concord native and a President Bush appointee to a federal anti-drug abuse commission. "It's a culture war." I wonder if Luce posts here. City leaders prepared for the battle earlier this week, when the Luce said it was the first time one of his events has been officially condemned. Both sides clashed Friday outside City Hall, where Luce led a pre-Battle Cry gathering of teenagers waving triangular red flags flown from long, medieval-looking poles that went with the event's military metaphors. I hope they had sharp pointy tips. "Are you ready to go to battle for your generation?" he asked, to which the crowd roared "yes!" A Battle Cry invitation had made plain the symbolism of gathering at "the very City Hall steps where several months ago, gay marriages were celebrated for all the world to see." Besides which it's a great open plaza with easy access for media trucks and cameras. Barricades separated Luce's crowd with counterprotesters about 6 feet away who said the Friday and Saturday event amounted to a "fascist mega-pep rally." Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, told counterprotesters that while The resistance didn't discourage Luce, who said he plans to return to San Francisco next year to chart the progress of his youth movement. Best free advertising I ever got. |
| Posted by:Nimble Spemble |
| #10 Does anyone still watch MTV since they stopped playing music videos? I certainly hope that the VH1 Classic still does that, because VH1 is now the "I Love the '80s" channel. I guess I'm looking forward to "ala carte" cable, at least if I can get more channels that I want. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-03-26 16:09 |
| #9 I wonder if these city leaders realize that they live in a city by the name of San Francisco, in a state whose capital is Sacramento, with other cities such as San Diego, Los Angeles, and also Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, and look, there's even San Rafael. Notice a pattern? Hint: Franciscans. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2006-03-26 15:41 |
| #8 Free Speech for me! But not for Thee! -- New SF Motto |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-03-26 15:20 |
| #7 This could as well have been a silent rally. The SF loons have given us a very good understanding of how screwed up they are. My last visit to the Mission District is unforgettable. Streets where curbs are filled with passed out drunks, empty bottles in brown paper bags everywhere. One particular drunk was passed out underneath a store sign. The store's name is Decadence. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-03-26 14:49 |
| #6 Lots of sexual predators hang out in MySpace.com. We've had a couple young girls in our area be enticed into meeting up with a few of them in real life after chatting online via that site. What Luce wants in place of it I don't know, although I could guess: an online place to meet up that is monitored sufficiently to keep things a bit more wholesome. |
| Posted by: anon 2006-03-26 13:35 |
| #5 The rally, which also will visit Detroit and Philadelphia, featured religious rockers, speakers and the debut of what Luce called a Christian alternative to MySpace.com - at advance ticket prices of $55 and walk-up prices of $199. What the **** is Luce talking about? |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2006-03-26 13:20 |
| #4 "negatively influence the politics of America's most tolerant and progressive city." Hmmmmmmmm. Might wanna reword that. Maybe put in the exclusions to the "tolerance and progressive" thing. Just so everybody knows where you stand... Next time bring Big Giant Puppets instead of long, medieval-looking poles. That'll confuse them. Long, midieval poles have another conotation there... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-03-26 12:08 |
| #3 So, 25K people is "small," eh? |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2006-03-26 12:05 |
| #2 long, medieval-looking poles WTF? What makes a pole "medieval-looking"? (It's all the in the way he dresses...?) Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, told counterprotesters that while the Gay Pride Parade such fundamentalists may be small in number, "they're loud, they're obnoxious, they're disgusting and they should get out of San Francisco." NB: If one of us said that about ActUP, Stonewall, or other gay identity groups, we'd be committing a "hate crime". |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-03-26 11:58 |
| #1 Perhaps President Karzai might be called on to intervene. |
| Posted by: Perfessor 2006-03-26 09:19 |