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Soulforce
Washington, DC-- A jury trial for three supplicant gay Catholics begins here
tomorrow. They were arrested in November at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol
Hill during the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The three could face up to 6 months in jail and $350 in fines. Kara Speltz (Oakland, California), Ken Einhaus (Arlington, Virginia), and Mike Perez (Seattle, Washington), were charged with the crime of "unlawful entry" a criminal misdemeanor, after allegedly refusing to obey the order by the District of Columbia police to leave the hotel. The three had entered the lobby of the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill at 11:30 a.m. on November 12, 2002 to ask any bishop present to serve them the Eucharist. They had all been denied the Eucharist the night before during the Bishops' Mass at the National Shrine for no apparent reason. All three are lifelong Catholics. While in the lobby filled with priests and bishops, no one came forward to offer the Eucharist and they were handcuffed, led away to jail, and spent all night and the next day in the D.C. Jail. "It still brings tears to my eyes when I recall this rejection," said Kara Speltz, Catholic Co-Chair of Soulforce. "The irony is that I am a Eucharistic minister who serves other people the Eucharist, and yet the church denied me what I hold most dear about my Catholic faith. Even more ironic is that I face more time in jail for asking for what should have been freely given to me - and is indeed required of me - as a faithful Catholic." The three arrestees were all in Washington D.C with Soulforce, a national movement committed to ending spiritual violence committed by religious policies and teachings against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Soulforce was at the Conference of Catholic Bishops for the third year in a row to protest of the churches anti-gay policies and teachings, and exercise their Constitutional rights of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. This trial by jury begins at 9:00 AM (January 24, 2003) at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, (Moultrie Courthouse), at 500 Indiana Avenue, N.W., Courtroom 211. The Honorable Judge Robert Rigsby will preside. |
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