Compelled to set the record straight about UCC protests

I am not a member of the Simi Valley United Church of Christ, I support the right to freedom of speech, and I have no vested interest in the Sanctuary Movement or the anti-immigration protests taking place at the church.

However, I am compelled to set the record straight regarding the letter writers who claimed in the Oct. 26 edition of the Acorn that the Rev. Goudey of the UCC lied in saying that anti-gay slurs were heard at one of the protest rallies.

The only mistake in the reverend's statement about antigay slurs was confusion about the date that they occurred, which was Oct. 7, not Oct. 14.

Language at the Oct. 7 rally did indeed contain multiple antigay references that went on for several minutes.

As one of the writers, Tricia Pasko, questioned in her letter, "It makes no sense- our protest has nothing to do with homosexuality." I totally agree!

Which is why I was appalled that such references were repeatedly made at the Oct. 7 rally. I assumed the rally was supposed to be about illegal immigration, but the protester veered far off his original subject matter and used a megaphone to be certain he could be heard throughout the entire neighborhood.

If the Oct. 14 rally is the only one the two letterwriters attended, they should know that it was the quietest and most polite rally of them all.

But of course, there was a different audience that day with the mayor and dozens of police officers present. JoLynn Hinger Simi Valley