OK, I'm confused. I've read earlier where the charges against the "Philly Five" were dropped. So I went to see whether this was really a new news story. The filename in the URL seems to say it was reported 2/10/05. But the story is copyright 2004.
I could honestly imagine the Philly Five reasonably being charged with disturbance or disorderly conduct. Whether you agree with their message or not, the homos got a valid license to demonstrate. The reason you need a license, rather than simply exercise your first amendment rights, is that the street belongs to the public, but you are staking out a claim to it for a particular purpose.
The Philly Five were interrupting that purpose. If ACT-UP showed up to an outdoor mass chanting to the bishop, "We're here, we're queer, get over it," I would certainly want them arrested. Heck, if they demonstrated in front of a St. Patrick's Day parade, I'd want the police to have the authority to clear the route. Same goes for the national conventions.
But contrast the treatment of the convention disruptors with that of the Philly Five. The convention disurptors got a night in jail, and every one in the press is screaming how unfair that was. The Philly Five get charged with felonies, and threatened with PRISON TIME??? Not jail time, but PRISON TIME???
I actually hope they bring this to trial. No jury in America is going to convict these people and the idiot DA that brings the charges will look like an ass.
The charges have not been dropped.
The Philly Five get charged with felonies, and threatened with PRISON TIME??? Not jail time, but PRISON TIME???
Pennsylvania has passed hate crime legislation,in legal terms homosexuals are now a "minority ethnic group" and the Bible is "hate speech".
The charges were not dropped altogether. The issuance of a ruling that they not be anywhere near a homosexual event was dropped.