Appearing at the primary public entrance to the pre-Inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial, representatives from a group calling itself "Brother Ruben and the Official Street Preachers" protested openly-gay Episcopal Gene Robinson's participation in the event.
With a diverse and otherwise joyous crowd of adults and children of all ages streaming by, the three protest participants shouted about hate, hell and "homo-sex" - using a megaphone to assert that "homosexuals are eternally damned" and "Jesus doesn't love homosexuals."
On its website, the group claims to "preach a loving message to sodomites. We tell them the truth, that unless they repent they shall likewise perish in Hell Fire!"
Although widely denounced by the passing concert attendees, the protesters' message and ahistorical Biblical justifications for their bigotry differ in tone only from the beliefs espoused by the Saddleback Baptist Church and its Pastor Rick Warren. Rick Warren will be delivering the official Invocation at the Inauguration on Tuesday.
