Poughkeepsie Journal

Sunday, April 4, 2004

Police force is boosted for anti-gay protest

Party planned to match Kansas group
By Gabriel J. Wasserman
Poughkeepsie Journal

NEW PALTZ -- More than 100 police officers are expected to be in New Paltz today, monitoring a Kansas church group's anti-gay pickets and a party designed to counter them.

''It's a very serious undertaking,'' Town Supervisor Don Wilen said of the law enforcement efforts. ''Hope for the best, plan for the worst, that's what this is. ... We want to cut down the chances of any type of difficulty.''

The 20-officer New Paltz town police force will be joined by the New York State Police, Ulster County Sheriff's deputies and a half-dozen officers on loan from the neighboring Town of Lloyd, Wilen said.

A state police helicopter was recently used to take aerial photographs of the village as part of intricate tactical preparations, Wilen added.

New Paltz became the focus of a national gay-rights debate Feb. 27, when Mayor Jason West attempted to certify two dozen same-sex marriages. He faces criminal charges because the weddings were allegedly unlicensed.

Picket at village hall

Starting at 8 a.m., a delegation from the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., is scheduled to picket at New Paltz churches, the village hall, and the State University of New York at New Paltz.

In the late afternoon, the group will take its anti-homosexual message to Nyack in Rockland County, according to the church's Web site. Nyack Mayor John Shields, who is gay, hasn't performed same-sex marriages but is trying to establish legal grounds to do so.

Led by Pastor Fred Phelps, the Kansas church is said to have more than 100 members. Less than 20, arriving in vans, are anticipated for today's demonstrations.

The New Paltz Equality Initiative, which took over organizing the same-sex marriages after a state Supreme Court judge ordered West to stop, has, with other groups, organized a musical party on the SUNY campus, in the Old Main Quad. The event's stated objective is to counter the Phelps contingent.

A ''Phelps-a-thon,'' with donations increasing while Phelps stays in New Paltz, will help defray town police overtime, according to party organizers. Police will keep the church group separate from its opponents to ''keep the peace,'' Wilen said.

The church is litigious, but not violent, Wilen said. Precautions are being taken to promote safety for all peaceful demonstrators and counter-demonstrators, he added. The total number of officers on hand in New Paltz will be 110.

''After consulting with other municipalities that have experienced this, it was determined by police that they needed to beef it up,'' Wilen said. ''They're very well prepared.''