On Friday night, around 30 men marched along King Street in Newtown, Sydney, chanting the Lord’s Prayer and Hail Mary in protest. The group, associated with the anti-LGBT group Christian Lives Matter, was filmed praying the rosary in response to an offensive joke about Jesus by a queer comedian on The Project earlier that week.
The men, escorted by several police officers, were seen forming a circle to recite the Lord’s Prayer before marching up the street, with a person at the front holding rosary beads above his head.
Some diners seated outside were seen filming on their phones. As footage circulated on social media, some described the scenes as “intimidating” and “creepy”.
Newtown Greens MP Jenny Leong slammed the protest as “disgraceful”. She wrote on Twitter that the “Christian Lives Matter” group of men who attempted to disrupt the atmosphere on King Street / Enmore Rd last night appeared to have police walking alongside them. She advised people to “take care” as “these incidents can be traumatic and make you feel violated”.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said officers with Inner West Police Area Command attended King Street “in relation to unauthorised protest activity” at about 8pm on Friday. “Police spoke with a group of about 30 people who marched along the footpath on King Street, Newtown, before dispersing just before 9pm,” she said. No arrests were made.
Christian Lives Matter has also announced a “men’s rosary crusade” outside Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral at 1pm on Saturday afternoon. Queer comic Reuben Kaye sparked outrage among the Christian and Muslim communities after making an X-rated joke about Jesus on The Project, leading to calls for the show to be cancelled. Channel 10 issued a grovelling apology on Wednesday night. Some viewers defended the joke, saying they found it amusing.
»Hail Mary protest in Sydney slammed by the local Greens MP«
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