UMC minister attacked in hate crime

Going back to reclaim site of assault – solidarity events in DC, Chicago, NY

Rev. Josh Noblitt and his partner were attacked in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park on July 2. According to news reports, the attack started when they were accosted by three young men, who said “Are y’all gay? Two men laying on a blanket. We ought to beat y’all for that.” They later returned with a large stick. Noblitt and his partner defended themselves and called 911, but one of the assailants also made a call. The two men, who were in the park simply enjoying a picnic, found themselves surrounded by eight to 10 men, one of whom put a gun to Noblitt’s head and demanded money. They took Noblitt’s wallet, phone, keys and his partner’s phone. Noblitt sustained a bruised back and ribs and a bruised forehead.

In church two days later, Noblitt said “The church can be the source of a lot of hate toward LGBT people. This makes me feel good about the work Saint Mark does and other affirming churches to try to change that climate.”

In an open letter “to the Beloved Community” a week later, Noblitt reflected on the experience, the “permanent relationship” he now finds himself in with his attackers, the “spiritual starvation” at play, and Martin Luther King’s vision and hope for a beloved community that embraces all, transcends boundaries and promises justice to all. He wrote of how easy it would be to take “the path of fear” and how instead he is committed to taking “the path of love.”

Noblitt has invited people to join him this Sunday, July 18 at Piedmont Park, in the same place he and his partner were attacked, for another picnic – to reclaim the space and forge the path of love.

In solidarity, members of the Baltimore-Washington Area Reconciling Methodists (B-WARM) are also holding a picnic on July 18 at 3pm in Washington’s Lincoln Park. “Together we can make every park a safer place and promote healing and understanding,” their invitation says.

There is also a solidarity picnic on July 18 at 3pm in Chicago’s Grant Park (just south of the Spirit of Music Dance Floor on Michigan Ave.).

MIND is dedicating its annual picnic, which will be July 24, to Josh Noblitt, the fight for safe space — in our parks, in our churches and everywhere — and the work of building the “Beloved Community.”

[UPDATE: The solidarity picnic response is growing. Additional picnics (that we know of) are being held in Topiary Park in Columbus, OH and in Houston, TX.]