| abstract | - According to Pastor David Innes, Senior Pastor of Hamilton Square Baptist church, the protesters denied people entrance to the church and in some cases did it by physical contact. When people entered the church demonstrators gave out phony flyers said to be church flyers. In addition, the phony flyers were also put on automobile windshields in the surrounding area. By 6:00 PM that evening a riotous conditions were under way and the rioters had control of the outside church property. The church asked the officer in charge several times to remove the protesters but the officer stated that things were completely under control and that police regulations and procedures prevented him from removing the rioters. Near the start of the church service a usher who placed himself to assist members to enter the church. The church usher saw church property being destroyed and told an officer who turned away and ignored him. The rioters recognized the usher as a member of the church and surrounded him so he could not move. Below is a news release which describes the rioters denying people access to the church: The news release also describes the following: A mother and her six year old daughter were told they could not enter the building. A rioter grabbed the six year old's arm while she was clinging to her mother and the rioter began interrogating the six year old girl. The mother and daughter finally gained entry into the church by passing through the rioters. The child was terrified and began crying. The mother also had invited an elderly friend to the church who was refused entry by the group of rioters. Twenty minutes passed by before the mother was able to get her elderly friend into the church service. Many other elderly and children were terrorized by the rioters. One couple who regularly attended the church were hindered from entering the church by the rioters who had been moved to the sidewalk. When the woman of the couple entered the church she was so distressed that one of our other ladies at the church had to help her calm down. Another member stood across the street from the church and did not enter the church because of fear of being subject to physical violence. Some of the details of the September 19, 1993 event are disputed. Noah Griffin, a spokesperson for the San Francisco mayor's office, stated that "No police officer in San Francisco would stand by while someone trying to enter a church is assaulted." However, Pastor Innes told Christianity Today that "We stand by everything in the news release. We put nothing in it that cannot be verified with video, eyewitnesses, and pictures." In addition, the following was reported in the October 28, 1993 edition of The San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Police Captain Rich Cairnes stated said he was dismayed when he saw the videotape and stated the following: The church believes that the police department acted poorly during the riot. According to the church, "In spite of all this malicious disruption, not a single arrest was made by police outside of one citizen's arrest. The church's property was not secured, and the fundamental rights of the worshippers were not protected because, we were told, "The Board of Supervisors would never support the measures necessary to do so."" The day of the riot was the day Reverend Louis Sheldon, of the Traditional Values Coalition, was a guest speaker. Only the church's membership and regular attenders were notified of the service, through the church's bulletin. No public notice or invitation was made in regards to the guest speaker. However, the September 16, 1993 edition of the Bay Area Reporter, the meeting was made public in a front page article using inflammatory language. In addition, two homosexual newspapers called for a protest. The church received telephone calls prior to the Reverend Sheldon's arrival demanding that he should not come and threatening to disrupt the service. In addition, two people visited the church and told a church employee that the church could not have Reverend Sheldon as a guest speaker at the church and that they were going to stop it from happening. Pastor Innes told Christianity Today that he does not blame the San Francisco police but those in political power especially the board of supervisors. Innes stated, "You really can't compare San Francisco with any other city. Homosexual advocates infiltrate and dominate the political structures here. Police are in straitjackets. They can't do their job. They've been instructed not to arrest homosexuals." Griffin responded by saying that "The gist of the phone calls we've been receiving is that police do not do anything because of the gay voting bloc in this city. That simply is not true." Pastor Innes countered though by citing a letter written by a 25 year veteran of the San Francisco police force which was published in a September 30, 1993 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. In police officers letter, the officer describes a recent assignment regarding keeping things under control at the San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair. According to the letter the officer described, the fair included food and craft booths, but "appeared to have as its main theme a public display of the private sexual practices and preferences of consenting adults." The officer described seeing totally naked male couples publicly engaging in lewd sex. The officer in his letter stated that he was "highly embarrassed" when people asked him he was not making any arrests. The officer stated that "At least a dozen times I had to painstakingly explain that we were to take a position of 'high tolerance' and not to create an incident." Christianity Today also reported the following regarding the incident: Peter LaBarbera adds: "It's ironic that gay activist leaders claim they want more tolerance when, in fact, they are among the most intolerant people this country's got going." LaBarbera further states that the church protest is "an immensely important event because it signals the intolerance they have for people's religious views." Police Inspector Robert O'Sullivan called the riot the worst San Francisco church protest since 1983, when arsonists burned the First Orthodox Presbyterian Church where the minister had preached against homosexuality. A October 28, 1993 San Francisco Chronicle article titled, "S.F. Police to Seek Charges in Sept. 19 Church Protest by Gays" states the following regarding Police Inspector Robert O'Sullivan:
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