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| Anti-gay demonstrator Zachary Baxter, who identified himself as ‘Apostle Zachary,’ held a sign that read “God Is Angry With the Wicked Every Day,” across the street from Piedmont Park. He said that Doyle Garland poured beer on him and knocked a fellow anti-gay demonstrator’s sign on him. |
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: STEVE KOVAL
COMMENTS |
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A man attending Atlanta Pride activities was arrested June 24 across the street from Piedmont Park and charged with disorderly conduct under the influence of alcohol. Atlanta police arrested Doyle Garland at the intersection of Piedmont Avenue and 14th Street shortly before the Dyke March.
Garland acknowledged in an interview June 28 that he poured beer on anti-gay street preachers and attempted to knock down and take their signs. He said had mixed feelings about the incident.
"I regret having let it go that far," Garland said. "I think it's going to take more people speaking up for our rights to curtail this behavior and this type of action against the community."
Garland said he felt provoked. "What I did was prompted by the megaphones and verbal abuse they were hurling at us. In the state of Georgia, that falls under fighting words, and that's what instigated my behavior," he said.
Garland also broke the sign of Clay McClure, a gay man who along with some friends was trying to block the anti-gay signs with pro-gay signs. McClure's sign read: "Hate is not a family value." Garland said he mistakenly thought McClure was with the anti-gay protesters.
McClure said he doesn't hold a grudge.
"I don't hold anything against him. The difference between us was that he was drunk and I wasn't," McClure said.
Garland said he had been drinking, "but not to the extent it was reported."
Zachary Baxter of Marietta, who identified himself as "Apostle Zachary" Saturday to Southern Voice, said that Garland pulled down a sign being held by a fellow demonstrator standing next to him, and that the sign struck Garland in the head. He said he asked the police to press charges against Garland and was upset by how he thought the police treated his group.
"I feel like our rights have been raped by the Atlanta police," Baxter said.
Another anti-gay demonstrator who identified himself as Steven Bishop also said that Garland had grabbed his sign and damaged it. He said he had been kicked in the scuffle.
Baxter said that the police ordered him and other members of his group, which he called the Everlasting Gospel Mission, to move from the sidewalk in front of Piedmont Park on Piedmont Avenue to the other side of the road.
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