[GLOSS News] Hatred Not Welcome at Greater Lehigh Valley Pride Festival

[GLOSS]

This is a letter from Shawn Bausher, President of Pride of the Greater  
Lehigh Valley.

Dear Friends,

This year we are very proud to present the Greater Lehigh Valley's  
14th Annual Pride Festival, celebrating the diversity of our entire  
community.  This year's festival promises more vendors than ever,  
exciting entertainers and promises to be a fun day for everyone.  The  
Pride in the Park Festival will be held on Sunday, August 19th from  
noon until 6pm at Cedar Beach Park in Allentown.

However this year we have also attracted some unwelcome attention.   
Pride organizers have recently learned that a group of zealots may  
attempt to disrupt the festival to spread their message of hate and  
intolerance, under the guise of religious education.   These intruders  
will be dealt with appropriately, but we feel it is important to make  
everyone aware in advance, so that all festival patrons can enjoy a  
great festival.

If you are approached or harassed by any of these hate-mongers at the  
Pride in the Park festival, please walk away and report the incident  
to the nearest clearly marked Pride official.  Please do not engage  
them in a debate, since their goal is to promote a hostile reaction.

Pride officials will attempt to limit these hate-mongers disruption of  
our festival, but we can use additional help.  This coming Wednesday,  
we will host a training session on non-confrontation techniques  
specially designed for dealing with the intruders we will be  
encountering at the festival.

If you are able to help with our non-confrontational protection  
effort, please attend our training:

Silent Witness Training

Wednesday, August 15th at 7:00pm

PrideGLV Headquarters at the Hamilton Business Center

1101 Hamilton Street, Allentown PA

(Refreshments will be served)



Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.  We look forward to  
seeing you at another successful Pride in the Park on Sunday, August  
19th.

Sincerely,

Board of Directors - Pride of the Greater Lehigh Valley

Shawn Bausher, President sbausher at prideglv.org

Rob Hopkins, Vice President         rhopkins at prideglv.org



P.S.   We encourage you to forward this message to your family and friends.