Right Wing Lies About the “Bash Back” Event

By now, you should have heard about the incident which took place at a Lansing, Michigan anti-gay church, which has the right wing media screaming mad. Now, even your mother knows there are two sides to every story.

According to an article in the Lansing edition of “City Pulse“, the events that took place at Mt. Hope Church in Lansing, Michigan two weeks ago were not as the right-wing media would have you believe…imagine that!

According to the article, which reported on both sides;

The inside group infiltrated the church, and in the middle of the service hung a pro-gay banner and tossed an estimated 1,000 fliers around.

Reports that Bash Back pulled a fire alarm and tossed glitter and condoms at churchgoers are false, say Mykall and Stewart. Mykall doesn’t recall hearing a fire alarm and never saw any fire trucks show up — Elieff said that no one saw a member of Bash Back pull a fire alarm, but that two alarms near an entrance had been pulled.

As a reporter for City Pulse who covered the protest, I was standing outside the main entrance and did not hear a fire alarm. Nor did I see any fire trucks respond to an alarm.

Mykall said that church leaders have not requested to speak with Bash Back members, but to them, such a conversation would not be desirable.

“The reason we have chosen not to sit down with the leadership of Mount Hope Church is, let’s face it, we’re not going to change their minds,” Mykall said. The tactics of two Sundays ago served the intended purpose, Stewart said. “Sometimes the only way we can get that point across is by appearing angry or violent,” Stewart said. The pair both underscored that the intention of the “action” was to reach out to youth.

The Rev. Elieff does agree on one point with Bash Back: The church believes that homosexuality is morally wrong. “We believe what the bible says: it’s an abomination.” Elieff said. “People are entitled to their opinion, we don’t contest that. They are entitled to their own interpretation of the bible too.” To Elieff, and the larger church, homosexuality is a temptation to resist like any other.

“To me, homosexuality is about lust, attraction, not about the way you were born, not about a disease,” Elieff said. Elieff says that he has witnessed homosexuals reform and go on to live “happy” heterosexual lives. He is unaware of any specific church program targeting the gay community. Various programs at the church, he says, encompass gays and lesbians, like the sex addiction support group.

“We’ve had people lead lives free of homosexuality,” he said. The church, Elieff said, is focusing its attention on protecting other churches from suffering a similar “action.” The coverage of the incident, he said, has been grossly underrepresented in the media and contended that a similar action against gays would garner huge attention.

Now, you tell me who the REAL terrorist are. In the editor’s opinion (James Hipps) the terrorist are those who lead and attend Mt. Hope Church. I grew up in Lansing and I am absolutely aware of the horrors of that church. Many gay youth who have been subject to this cults false beliefs and so called principles have been the victims. I do not condone violence, and want to make it clear that I would never support acts of violence, however, knowing how this church operates, and knowing absolutely no violence took place during the demonstration, I applaud Bash Backs efforts, as it sometimes takes extreme actions to gain the attention of the world. I am glad this church has been “outed” for their violently anti-gay stance, and I am glad the truth has been revealed. Let’s not allow these very rich, tax exempt groups of bigots and haters continue to cause harm to peoples lives. What this church says, and does, to and about gay people IS a hate crime!

It’s Getting Crazy Out There Folks!

The Mount Hope Church is a deplorable, anti-queer mega-church in Lansing, Michigan. The church works to institutionalize transphobia and homophobia through several repulsive projects including organized “ex-gay” conferences and so-called “hell houses”, which depict queers, trannies and
womyn who seek abortions as the horrors. Mt. Hope is complicit in the repression of queers in Michigan and beyond.

Bash Back! ain’t down with that. And so on Sunday November 9th, about thirty radical queers from Lansing, Chicago, Memphis and Milwaukee disrupted the church’s most well-attended sermon.

At noon, a small group of folks dressed in pink and black, equipped with a megaphone, black flags, picket signs and an upside-down pink cross began demonstrating outside the church. The group was extremely loud and wildly offensive.

The demonstration drew a majority of Mount Hope’s security staff outside to watch them.

Meanwhile, with the guards pre-occupied by the distraction, over a dozen queers had put on their Sunday-best and infiltrated the church’s congregation. At the signal that the guards had been lured outside, the infiltrators sprung into action.

A group stood up, declared themselves fags, and began screaming loudly. Upon hearing the loud interruption, other affinity groups went into action. A team that had been hiding under the pews in the closed-off balcony dropped a banner and pulled back the curtains to reveal “IT’S OKAY
TO BE GAY! BASH BACK!”. Another group threw over a thousand fliers to the entirety of the congregation. The fire alarm was pulled. Queers began making out in front of the pastor. And within a matter of minutes, everyone had evaded the guards and made their escapes.

Read more about this wild drama by clicking here.

Lansing Michigan: 23rd Women in the Arts Festival

Circe Productions is preparing for the 23rd Annual Women in the Arts Festival and this year promises to be an outstanding weekend of entertainment. This two-day festival features music, art, food, workshops, and showcases many talented women of the Greater Lansing Area and beyond. The event will be held at Edgewood United Church in East Lansing on Friday, November 7th and Saturday, November 8th.

The event will open at 6 pm Friday with Arts/Crafts and food. The concert begins at 7:30 featuring emma’s revolution (Pat Humphries and Sandy O) and is being co-produced by The Ten Pound Fiddle. Carmea - Alma Muxlow, Catherine Ellis, & Rachel Alexander - will open the evening concert.

Saturday the doors open at 11 am with Arts/Crafts and food sold until 7:30 p.m. During the day 30+ women crafters and artists will be showing and selling their wares, just in time for holiday shopping! The Day Stage runs from 1-5 pm on Saturday and will include a variety of music and spoken word artists.

Saturday evening features performances by both Linda Abar and Stolen Moments. Opening will be comedic readings directed by Maria Casanelli.
The concert begins at 7:30.

This is a festival that truly nourishes the body and soul, and the “Sistrum Café” will be featuring a menu of nourishing delicious foods for purchase during the event, including Friday night before the concert.

Tickets are available online at www.witafestival.com and at the door. Prices are: $25 for the weekend. $15 for Friday or Saturday evening only. $3 for Saturday Day Stage, arts/crafts and workshops.