Evangelical Christians Team Up with Shas Against Gay Parade
Evangelical Christians Team Up with Shas Against Gay Parade
15 March, 2005
By Daphna Berman
A group of evangelical Christians has teamed up with members of Shas to launch an international petition aimed at canceling the Gay and Lesbian World Pride Parade scheduled for Jerusalem this summer.
Led by California Pastor Leo Giovinetti, the initiative, which will be launched at a news conference in Jerusalem today, is hoping to garner the signatures of an estimated 1 million Jews and Christians worldwide.
"As friends of the state of Israel, we are in a state of heartbreak and shock to hear that you who govern and watch over Israel are planning to allow World Pride 2005, a worldwide gathering of homosexuals, to take place in the holy city of Jerusalem," the petition reads. "You must know that Jerusalem is the Holy City, not only to you but to three of the world’s greatest religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It has been the historic position of each of these faiths that homosexuality is an abomination to the one true God."
Giovinetti, who heads the Mission Valley Christian Fellowship, boasts a following that includes tens of thousands of pro-Israel Bible believers across the U.S.
Together with Shas and a number of other Knesset members, including MK Benny Elon, the group is hoping to pressure the Jerusalem municipality and the Ministry of Tourism to cancel their approval of the summer event.
Giovinetti, who arrived here yesterday from San Diego, is also scheduled to meet MK Yair Peretz during his trip.
"No one has a monopoly on the interpretation of the word of God - and Jerusalem is the essential place to make a global statement for peace, democracy, pluralism and pride," Hagai El-Ad, executive director of the Jerusalem Open House, said in response to the initiative. "The first World Pride in 2000 was strongly opposed by the Vatican, and yet it not only took place in Rome, but also made an even stronger statement about God’s love for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation."
This article appeared on March 15, 2005 in www.haaretz.com