THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502160391
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
Mel White, Pat Robertson's former ghostwriter-turned-gay activist minister, was arrested Wednesday for trespassing outside the Christian Broadcasting Network on his second attempt to meet with Robertson.
The police officer who handcuffed him was Lt. Wray Boswell, the brother of an award-winning historian on gay issues who died from complications of AIDS in December.
Boswell, an officer in the precinct where CBN is located, said he did not feel any personal conflict in making the arrest.
``I greatly admire Mel White for what he is doing,'' Boswell said in an interview before Tuesday's confrontation. ``I hope that he can make people see that homosexuals are not the perverts and child molesters that some people say.''
Robertson spokesman Gene Kapp said in a statement: ``Sadly, Mel White has resorted to what can only be described as a publicity stunt designed to use the news media to generate publicity for himself. ``CBN will not permit Mel White to conduct a staged media event on our premises.''
White, 54, was charged with trespassing after he refused to leave the CBN grounds. He said he would spend the night in the city jail and continue a hunger strike he began Tuesday morning. Magistrate Alan W. Fulmer set bail at $2,500, and White asked his supporters not to pay the money to set him free.
Fulmer said he would release White if he promised to return for a court hearing today and to stay away from the CBN complex, which is private property. But White - a leader in the Metropolitan Community Church, a 32,000-member Christian denomination for gays and lesbians - told Fulmer that he intended to keep trying to meet with Robertson.
White has said he wants Robertson to acknowledge the existence of hate crimes against homosexuals and to repudiate such violence. Robertson, who views homosexuality as a sin, opposes violence, but ``will not take responsibility for the actions of extremists,'' Kapp said in a statement.
``I just want Pat to understand how serious I am,'' White said, as he and eight supporters linked arms, raised umbrellas and crossed the street to the CBN center at noon.
Security guards were waiting on the sidewalk. They barred the news media from entering the property but let White's group through. The group, which included local clergy and gay activists, was allowed to walk to the main studio building where Robertson tapes ``The 700 Club.''
Kapp met the group outside. He told them Robertson had not changed his opposition to a meeting, and they would be considered trespassers if they did not leave. On Tuesday, they had allowed White to remain in the building's lobby all day without arresting him.
Michael Barber, a Hampton real estate agent who was in the group, said White told Kapp: ``As an act of civil disobedience, in the name of Christ, I choose to stay.''
As Boswell snapped on the handcuffs, the group sang two verses of ``We Shall Overcome.'' Then they left to avoid arrest, while White rode with Boswell to the magistrate's office.
White and Boswell met face-to-face for the first time on Monday, to discuss what steps police would take if White disrupted activity at CBN.
But they had already corresponded - as strangers - on a nationwide computer bulletin board during an online discussion of Boswell's brother.
John Boswell, who was a history professor at Yale University until his death at 47, once wrote that the goal of his work was ``to rebut the common idea that religious belief - Christian or other - has been the cause of intolerance to gay people.''
Boswell, in writing that was acclaimed as brilliant even by scholars who disagreed, theorized that same-sex marriages were officially recognized in Medieval Europe.
It was only after his brother's death that Wray Boswell understood how many people had been inspired by his writing. ``I was awestruck to realize how far his influence had stretched,'' he said. ``I thought he was mainly known by academics. I didn't realize how much average gay people knew about him.''
One of the people who wrote to the computer bulletin board was a ``Rev. Mel,'' who wrote about John Boswell: ``He was awake and in his way, he awakened us all.''
When the two men met on Monday, the police officer didn't mention his brother until White asked him directly whether he was a relative of the historian. When Boswell said, ``I am his brother,'' White began to cry.
It is unclear how long the standoff between White and Robertson will last. White's visit, planned as an appearance at last weekend's gay pride festival, may turn into something much longer. Local clergy and activists are inventing strategy as they go along.
The New Life Metropolitan Community Church in Virginia Beach has collected $1,100 toward White's legal expenses. Kit Cherry, spokeswoman for Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches in Los Angeles, said church leaders across the country will be asking congregants to send money to the fund.
WNIS radio broadcast live from the Virginia Beach jail on Wednesday afternoon, interviewing White and taking callers' questions. White's longtime partner, Gary Nixon, flew in from Dallas Tuesday night.
Local clergy and gay activists say White's visit has already started cooperation between groups that rarely met or acted in unity before.
``It's interesting that Pat Robertson has brought us together,'' said Loen Arrington, who just stepped down as interim pastor of New Life in Virginia Beach. ``We thank him for that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by KATHLEEN VICKERY, Our Own Inc.
Lt. Wray Boswell escorts Mel White after handcuffing and arresting
him for trespassing on CBN property. White has been trying to get
meet with Pat Robertson to discuss his views on gays and lesbians.
Courtesy of Kathleen Vickery, Our Own Inc.
In an ironic twist, Mel White was handcuffed and arrested at CBN by
the brother of acclaimed gay religious theoretician John Boswell.
Lt. Wray Boswell said he did not feel any personal conflict in
making the arrest.
by CNB