Michelle Deferio arrived on Waverly Avenue outside of Newhouse I around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday wearing a long corduroy skirt and holding a sign that read, ‘Homosexuality is a sin, Christ can set you free.’

In response, Chris Pesto, a junior acting major who is gay, made a sign that read ‘Corduroy skirts are a sin, homosexuals can help you,’ and stood next to Deferio in protest.

News of Pesto’s protest spread. And Michelle and her father, Jim Deferio, who also went to preach to passersby that homosexuality is a sin, soon were facing a crowd of Syracuse University students, protesting against the Deferios, saying SU has no place for hate.

At the peak of the protest, about 60 students turned out. Some had signs, some encouraged passing cars to honk in solidarity for their cause. Although the Deferios only planned to stay on Waverly Avenue for three hours, they did not leave until around 7 p.m. The protestors stayed until 7:30 p.m., when the Department of Public Safety broke them up.

Michelle and Jim Deferio are open-air Evangelists, a religious group that preaches the gospel on city sidewalks, in parks, neighborhoods and on college campuses, among other places. The Deferios frequently preach on Waverly Avenue.

Jim went to school at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and lived on SU’s South Campus. Jim said SU has warned him that if he steps on campus he will be arrested, but he said that he is not preaching hate.

Instead, Jim said he is showing love and offering hope. He said, just as he would warn someone if a car were about to hit them, he is warning homosexuals of their sins.

‘Love warns people. It would be unloving of me not to warn them,’ he said. ‘God is the judge. There are going to be consequences. They can do that, but one day God is going to judge them, just like he will all of us.’

To bring hope to the homosexual community, he said, Jim shared experiences he has had with ex-homosexuals to show that change is possible. He said he shared an apartment with one, and has friends who are ex-homosexuals as well. Jim used these examples to support his claim that homosexuality is not genetic, but a choice. He said he has worked for six evangelist organizations in the past but was on Waverly yesterday independently with his daughter.

Just as the Deferios defended their right to preach, they said they were also not against the students’ peaceful protest. They had seen many like it before.

‘We have free speech in this country, but you don’t have the freedom to not be offended,’ Jim said.

Michelle Deferio said it’s actually typical that people get angry and come to protest them with their own cardboard signs. But for students, their signs were far from ordinary.

In fact, for many students associated with the LGBT community, this is the first time they protested in such a public manner. Joseph Downing, a professor in the Setnor School of Music who was at the protest Wednesday, said he has been on campus since 1988 and said this is the first time he was aware of a spontaneous protest like this on campus.

‘I just came out to support the students,’ he said. ‘I admire spontaneous peaceful protests like this.’

Students saw the Deferio’s signs as hatred toward their community and said they were protesting in an effort to create a more loving and accepting environment. Students said they only needed one person, in this case Chris Pesto, to start their movement.

‘I came out here with one friend and now there’s 50 people here,’ Pesto said. ‘I wasn’t expecting this; I was just trying to make a joke and a point to these people.’

John Crandall, president of Pride Union, said the protest brought the LGBT community and their supporters together like a family. Crandall brought paper to the gathering for people to make signs, another student brought markers and another brought everyone coffee.

‘This is a student gathering to show that this is an open and loving community that accepts everyone,’ Crandall said. ‘If this is how students need to heal, this is what should happen.’

Students focused on having a peaceful protest, and when DPS Sgt. Charles Fiesinger, arrived at the protest, he confirmed that both students and the Deferios had committed no crimes.

‘No one has broken any laws at this point,’ Fiesinger said. ‘We are just there for the safety of the students.’

Many protestors mentioned talking with the Deferios as a way to mend the issues they had with each other. This could have been a point where the two camps came together, but Michelle Deferio said if student protestors were willing to have a reasonable discussion about the issue of homosexuality, she and her father would be more than willing. ‘But they even said they don’t want to discuss this with us,’ she said.

Crandall disagreed with her statement, but said there would be conditions to these talks. ‘If they would talk to me without calling me a sinner, anyone would be more than willing. I would be more than willing,’ he said.

Ginger Woessner, a junior political science major, did take the time to talk to Jim Deferio. She said, as a transgender individual, her initial reaction was that a person like Deferio would be irrational and hateful. But after talking to him, Woessner said she was surprised.

‘I don’t think he is a hateful person,’ she said. ‘He showed that it is not something that he just thought up, he truly believes in this.’

Woessner said she plans to start a committee as a result of the protests yesterday. She said the committee would take Jim’s claims and find counter arguments to them, because she thinks Jim is a person who would change if presented with hard facts that counter his beliefs.

‘Love you guys,’ screamed the protestors as the Deferios finally departed.

For Crandall, the president of Pride Union, he vowed to come back if the Deferios did.

‘We’re here now and will be here every time they come back demonstrating love and caring,’ Crandall said.

ampaye@syr.edu

Published on November 29, 2009 at 12:00 pm