➤ FIRST AMENDMENT, from p.5
‘essential.’”
The mayor’s press offi ce cited
Cuomo’s Executive Order 202.10 of
March 7 that says, “Non-essential
gatherings of individuals of any
size for any reason (e.g. parties,
celebrations or other social events)
are canceled or postponed at this
time.”
Mayoral Executive Order 103,
Sec. § 3. B from March 25 reads,
“In order to avoid the mass congregation
of people in public places
and to reduce the opportunity for
the spread of COVID-19 any nonessential
gathering of individuals
of any size for any reason shall be
canceled or postponed.”
That order was issued in response
to large, crowded groups of
people without masks or distancing
gathering for events such as
funerals, weddings, sports competitions,
and religious services.
Now it would seem to apply to
two people standing on the street
with signs.
Asked to respond to criticism
that de Blasio is not treating First
Amendment activity as “essential”
and questions about how the Reclaim
Pride press conference was
different from any other distanced
group of people or how it could
harm anyone in any way, the
mayor’s offi ce wrote, “These are
not choices the City makes lightly,
especially considering the Mayor’s
well documented commitment to
the struggle for equal rights for
LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers. But, this
is an unprecedented situation and
we are taking unprecedented steps
pursuant to the Governor’s Executive
Order to protect the health and
safety of all New Yorkers.”
Speaker Johnson took a different
view of the matter.
“Protesting is one of America’s
most deeply held rights and I believe
it can be done in a way that
adheres to social distancing guidelines
by keeping protestors six feet
apart and wearing cloth masks,”
he said in response to a Gay City
News query.
The press offi ce of Comptroller
Scott Stringer, who like Johnson
hopes to replace de Blasio in 2021,
did not respond by press time to
the question of whether the city
should accommodate safe, distanced,
outdoor First Amendment
expression.
A line outside Home Depot on 23rd Street, which was acceptable to authorities.
Ann Northrop with her criminal summons.
About 51 citations for failing to
observe physical distancing guidelines
were issued by the police
across town on May 4. None was
issued to distanced people waiting
to get into stores — arrayed in
the same formation as the Reclaim
Pride folks. Police in Madison Park
told people on the grass that they
could not sit closely together unless
they were from the same family
group. A few got up and left as
a result, but most remained and
none was cited.
Outside Beth Israel, about eight
speakers spoke of their fi erce objections
to the hospital working with
the virulent homophobe Graham.
Calling Graham “a hate monger,”
Jay W. Walker of Reclaim Pride
said, “Now the NYPD is blocking
freedom of the press and freedom of
speech while stopping us from telling
the truth to the people of New
ANDY HUMM
DONNA ACETO
York. We have gotten Samaritan’s
Purse out of New York — it will be
gone within two weeks — but we
want to maintain accountability
that Mount Sinai will never again
partner with bigots to bring them
into our city in a time of crisis. The
police have rudely injured the LGBTQ
community many times over
the last 50 years since Stonewall
and they are trying to do it again
by silencing us. We will not stand
for anti-LGBTQ, anti-Islam, antichoice
bigots being brought into
this city in any future time of crisis.”
Walker mentioned the many
Mount Sinai employees who
reached out to Reclaim Pride at
“great risk to their jobs” to voice
their objections to Samaritan’s
Purse and “to give us the go-ahead
to tell the world that they feel
threatened by Samaritan’s Purse
presence.”
The Reverend Pat Bumgardner
of the Metropolitan Community
Church was concerned about
the “deals with the devil” that the
mayor, governor, and Mount Sinai
made with Franklin Graham
and said there is no guarantee
that they wouldn’t be made again.
Mount Sinai has never condemned
the bigotry of Graham, but terms
it “a difference of opinion.” Bumgardner
demanded “openness and
transparency so that bigots will
not run public health care,” and
recalled the harm religious bigots
infl icted on people with AIDS on
their death beds.
Asked about Samaritan’s Purse
nurses proselytizing the patients,
she said, “I think there is nothing
more immoral than scaring somebody
on their death beds about
what the future may or may not
hold, but telling them, ‘If you do
what I’ve done you can be spared
Hell.’ It’s the most immoral thing
I’ve ever heard.”
Northrop argued that it was no
coincidence that the Reclaim Pride
event was where the city chose to
take a stand against First Amendment
gatherings.
“The police are trying to shut
down this message to New York
City that the mayor, the governor,
and Mount Sinai hospital have
brought a huge, dangerous bigot
into our midst and we want to
hold them accountable,” she said.
“They don’t want that to happen so
they’re trying to shut us down. It is
completely inappropriate. We want
the people of New York to know
that they have been sold down the
river by their leaders who have not
cared about them in bringing bigotry
into the city.”
The Reverend Billy Talen — who
got arrested planting a Rainbow
Flag next to the Samaritan’s Purse
fi eld hospital in Central Park on
April 5 and spent the night in jail
and 14 days in quarantine as a result
— said it needed to be made
clear to LGBTQ young people everywhere
who have “been threatened
with Hell by Franklin Graham”
that these “bigots are not
here to hurt you any more. You
are safe here.” At Indypendent.org,
Reverend Billy wrote a refl ection
on his arrest and imprisonment,
which he titled “Good Riddance to
Samaritan’s Purse: The Hateful Virus
that Infected Central Park.”
GayCityNews.com | May 7 - May 20, 2020 5
/Indypendent.org
/GayCityNews.com
