Protesting pastors jailed – signs wider than torsos

Protesting pastors jailed – signs wider than torsos
Police at homosex-fest use girth to enforce free-speech limitations
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By Jay Baggett
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

St. Petersburg, Fla., officials made good on their plan to limit free speech at the city's homosexual festival this weekend by arresting five Christians for carrying signs "wider than their torsos" outside the officially designated protest area.

Pastor Billy Ball, Assistant Pastor Doug Pitts, Frankie Primavera and Josh Pettigrew, all of Faith Baptist Church in Primrose, Ga., were arrested today after leaving the area set aside by city officials for protest activities. Bill Holt, of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Jefferson, Ga., was also taken into custody.

According to Lighthouse Pastor Kevin Whitman, the five men were told by police their signs were not allowed outside the protest area because they were wider than their torsos. When the men refused to put them away, they were arrested for violating a controversial city ordinance that governs permitted events.

"We had police officers tell us bigger people could carry bigger signs than smaller people – it all depended on how big your torso was," said Whitman, who, with several others, returned to the officially designated protest area rather than face arrest.

"Our signs were just standard foam-poster board," he said. "Nothing big – maybe six inches wider than our torsos. If we had just rotated them, the police would have been OK with them. But then, you couldn't read the message."

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