Dobson in Boston -- 29 October 2005

Saturday was very political in downtown Boston. Cindy Sheehan spoke in The Commons and James Dobson of Focus on the Family came to preach just a few blocks away at The Tremont Temple Baptist Church.

While Dobson was preaching inside, a handful of very angry demonstrators congregated outside.

There were about as many police as demonstrators, but because they weren't particularly angry, they probably felt colder and wetter.

Nevertheless, it seems the Boston Police are extremely moderate and professional in these sorts of situations.

The people inside the church didn't seem angry, actually. Maybe they are used to this kind of thing or maybe they have less reason to be angry.

I looked at the Focus on the Family web page, and it has a link to their postion on homosexuality. In a nutshell, they consider homosexual sex to be a sin. They also consider extramarital sex to be a sin. So I suppose the demonstartors were angry because they are the ones being judged and the FotF people aren't angry because they are the ones doing the judging.

In retrospect, I wish I'd gone inside with my camera. I wasn't protesting, after all. I was present in my role as a (very very small time) professional freelance photojournalist. No press pass, but I do have a card (and I'm going to have an even nicer card soon.) It's important for me to remember that the camera isn't a wall between myself and my subjects.

The more I talk with them about what's going on, the better shots I get. I also have more interesting thoughts about it afterwards.

Still, it was hard while standing out there in the cold with these people who were so angry for me to form the thought that I could walk up those stairs and just go in.

Perhaps I could have done that and perhaps I wouldn't have been allowed in with my camera and no press pass. I'm sorry now that I don't know.