Protesters arrested as church trial of gay minister set to begin

By Lisa Heyamoto and Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporters

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By mid-morning, 33 Dammann supporters had been arrested. They did not resist as officers from the Bothell Police Department led them away, patted them down and booked them at the scene.

Dammann, who formerly served in Seattle and most recently at Ellensburg United Methodist Church, is accused of breaking church law prohibiting the ordination of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals." The church trial, a rare event, is open to the public.

Because the church where the trial is being held is in a dense residential area next to Bothell High School, where about 1,600 students attend classes, Bothell police and Northshore School District officials took extra security precautions, bracing for an onslaught of trial-goers, protesters and media.

Before the arrests began, about 50 protesters refused entrance several times to Bishop Elias Galvan, head of the church's Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, and Bishop William Boyd Grove, the trial judge.

Galvan and Grove tried to enter the church three times with Galvan asking protesters to pray with him and allow the two bishops to enter. The protesters are members of Soulforce, a national interfaith gay rights group that had promised to stop the trial through acts of civil disobedience.

Jimmy Creech, a former Methodist minister stripped of his credentials in 1999 for conducting a same-sex union in Nebraska, spoke on behalf of Soulforce, denying the bishops entrance. He said, "We are not moving. This trial is an evil act."

While the vast majority of demonstrators supported Dammann, two men, members of a non-denominational church in Seattle, voiced opposition, decrying homosexuality as sinful.

Dammann, arrived with partner Meredith Savage and their five-year-old son. Dammann declined comment, other than thanking supporters and hugging Creech.

In late February, both Bothell police and school district officials had asked the church to move the trial because of anticipated safety risks, but church officials declined, saying previous trials had been peaceful. "I believe the risk has been overestimated, based upon our history and experience of the groups involved," Galvan wrote in response to the request.

Members of Soulforce also said the worries were exaggerated. Although they believe "the rules the trial is convened to enforce are evil and anything that would enforce those rules are evil, too," their intention is to carry out only nonviolent acts "in the spirit of Gandhi and King," said the Rev. Mel White, executive director and founder of Soulforce.
 
Bothell police and the school district were hoping for the best while planning for the worst, their representatives said. "If we didn't prepare for the worst-case scenario, we'd be derelict in our duties," said Police Capt. Bob Woolverton. "If we could be guaranteed that it's going to be a peaceful event, it would be another issue, but we don't have that guarantee."

The department has been in talks with other law-enforcement offices to prepare for the crowd and has worked closely with groups planning to demonstrate, Woolverton said. Police promised they would have a subtle presence and had asked officers, staff members and neighboring jurisdictions to be on call as a precaution. About 40 officers were on the scene this morning.

District officials feared the trial's proximity would, at least, disrupt the students' school days and, at worst, cause safety problems that might quickly spiral out of control. "We're doing everything that we can to protect the safety of our students, staff and property," said district spokeswoman Pamela Steele. "We can't afford to take a wait-and-see attitude."

For the duration of the trial, Northeast 185th Street will be closed between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., from 89th Avenue Northeast to 92nd Avenue Northeast. The school district has erected a security fence to block the north end of campus from trial-related spillover, and students won't be allowed to leave during the school day, as they usually are. Security cameras have been set up to monitor the north end of campus.

At a briefing by Dammann supporters yesterday, the Rev. Mark Williams and the Rev. Katie Ladd, two gay Seattle Methodist ministers, expressed hope that the trial would offer some clarity to issues surrounding gays in the church.

Lisa Heyamoto: 206-464-2149 or lheyamoto@seattletimes.com

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com

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