Babette, I actually enjoyed the writing style of your article.
You write quite well.

It is such a pity you have involved yourself with all the loony toons that go for this 'natural family (AKA Christian Family)' .
You couldn't get a gig because your group's views are simply archaic.
If Runner is on your side, I am definitely not!

Can you not see the futility of this 'anti -every -other -family- than-a-married-Christian-family' stance that you and a few others (mainly middle aged religious males) stand for?

There are so few of these biblical families of the past left now.
Homosexuality and abortion are legal now.
So is living together without marriage.
So is having babies outside marriage.

You guys have missed the Ark .....so to speak.

'Danny Nalliah sat inside the fence with a megaphone and assured the ferals that "Jesus loves you and I love all of you too".'

And how was this childish taunting supposed to improve relations? If this is the level at which your group interacts with its critics, it can expect plenty more opposition in future.

Babette,

I don't believe you've quite got the hang of Christian inclusiveness...breaking down the barriers, so to speak.

(Perhaps you've been misguided by referencing "runner's Guide to Hate Speech in the Service of Christianity")

".... but with the ferals threatening there would be l,000 protestors blocking entrances...."

"...It has been a pleasure to deal with them and also with the "intelligence" division which kept me informed of estimated feral numbers....."

"....The local police provided excellent protection so all registrants got in safely and all but one of the 50 ferals were kept out....."

".... One feral stripped down to her waist and painted her nipples bright blue. This was the most intellectual argument of the day on the feral side of the fence..."

"Danny Nalliah sat inside the fence with a megaphone and assured the ferals that "Jesus loves you and I love all of you too"..."

"....One lady emailed to say she loved being escorted by the police through the yelling ferals and had not had such an exciting day for years..."

Loverly!

My wife and I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the Regional Gathering for those who are passionate to support life, babies, mothers and fathers, families and freedom. My allotted subject was the challenge of getting parents particularly Dads to love their children.

What I found peculiar was after driving for an hour out into the supposedly peaceful suburbs of Melbourne I was confronted with a a group of about 50 angry demonstrators who screamed out fascist and other words that I dare not print in such illustrious company. It was not so much a demonstration as a hate fest but then again I am probably biased.

The protest reminded me of the anti war marches I used to attend in the early seventies in Sydney CBD when the police used to kick me and my Marxist friends. They used many rude descriptive words when they did it. I remember at one of those peace marches I saw an old man get kicked to the ground by police. It was quite horrific.

Apparently before I got there an older woman who was trying to get in was pushed to the ground by the demonstrators. Now it seems the boot is on the other foot and my Marxist and anarchist friends are the ones doing the kicking.

Warwick Marsh

I think that Australians need to revisit the issue of freedom of speech and expression. This is not a lone example of people failing to respect the right of someone to express and unpopular point of view. Legislation on hate speech and vilification might seem like a good idea but like all such legislation it is not cost free in terms of reduction of freedom. Such legislation should be CONFINED TO THE MOST EXTREME CASES otherwise it might seriously abridge freedom of speech and expression. I would suggest that there are other ways of coping with such problems. People have a right to demonstrate against meetings and conferences that they find offensive but not to prevent the event being held. The protesters could have organized their own event to counter what Mrs Francis and her colleagues were advocating.

Yea Poroit you have shown time and time again that you can easily label something hate speach when you disagree. Usually when your own dogmas are exposed for what they are. I would be very afraid if I was on your page. As I said in my post the self interest of the feminist is so easy to see as they boycott any protest against those who truely do hate them.