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he Rev. Jim Dancing Trout says all
he wanted to do that September
evening was see a movie.
So he headed over to Cinema
21, nestled on Portland’s funky
Northwest 21st Avenue, to catch Edge of Seven
teen, a gay coming-of-age flick. It was Sept. 23,
the last night of the film’s showing.
“When I approached the theater l...saw five
or six demonstrators standing right along the
curb facing Cinem a 21 with large sandwich-
board placards. I think one said ‘Bum in hell’
and had flames,” recounts Dancing Trout, a gay
man who describes himself as an ordained min
ister of the Universal Life Church.
The demonstrators, he tells Just Out, “were
screaming and yelling at anybody entering the
theater, calling them homosexuals and sinners.”
He says he stopped to engage in “dialogue”
with the protesters, asking them why, as Chris
tians, they were passing judgment on people
going into the movie.
“I did not get loud,” says Dancing Trout,
who explains he was, at one point, talking with
a female demonstrator who was standing “about
two feet a way.” He says a man came over and
stepped between them.
“He said, ‘Don’t fuck with my wife, this is
my wife,’ ” says Dancing Trout, adding that the
man “got within six inches” of his face and said,
“If you move and something happens to you it’s
going to be your own fault.”
The man, says Dancing Trout, was yelling
loudly and spittle was spraying from his mouth.
“A t that point 1 told him he was...harassing
me and I felt in danger and I was going to have
him arrested,” says Dancing Trout, who went to
a pay phone and dialed 9-1-1. Portland police
soon arrived and asked Dancing Trout if he felt
threatened.
“I said yes. They asked me if I wanted him
arrested and 1 said, ‘Yes 1 do.’ So they had me
point him out and they arrested him,” says
Dancing Trout. “That was the last I heard of
it— until 1 was served a summons.”
That was on March 22. The man, identified
in court documents as Daniel John Lee of Port
land, is suing Dancing Trout for false arrest, bat
tery and malicious prosecution. Lee is seeking a
total $180,000 in compensatory and punitive
damages.
“1 was stunned!” says Dancing Trout.
In the suit, filed in Multnomah County C ir
cuit Court, Lee describes himself as a “preacher
of the gospel of Jesus Christ” who was “preach
ing the biblical message of salvation through
Jesus Christ on a public sidewalk outside the
Cinéma 21.”
The suit claims Lee was “preaching against
the sexual sins of adultery, fornication and
homosexuality” when Dancing Trout, “volun-
tarily approached” Lee where he stood preach
ing.
It further alleges Dancing Tout “repeatedly
shouted his objections within six inches of
Anti-homosexuality demonstrator takes legal action against moviegoer [Lee’s] face.”
In the suit, Lee says his “manner of preach
who questioned his 'biblical message of salvation' by Inga Sorensen
ing includes gesturing and movement,” and
that Dancing Trout’s proximity prevented Lee
“from expressing himself in this manner lest an
accidental jostle be represented as a deliberate
act.”
The suit alleges Dancing Trout’s proximity
was a “deliberate attempt to create an ‘offensive
contact’ ” by Lee. It also says Dancing Trout
“was heard to threaten plaintiff with the words
‘How would you like your skull smashed to the
ground? I’m going to kick your f—ken’ a-s-s!’ ”
Dancing Trout denies making any threats or
using foul language.
Ofenda«*
According to the suit, Portland police
arrived, did not interview Lee or any witnesses,
and arrested Lee on a “citizen’s arrest.” It says
Lee was handcuffed and jailed for "about an
_
lJ* actog Trou, _____ — - — -
hour.”
-----
m
p ^ Y tR F O R R E ^
According to the suit, Lee took time off
from work to go the scheduled arraignment, at
which time Multnomah County’s district attor
f
ney dismissed the charges stemming from the
follows:
> incident.
•% 1
Dancing Trout’s actions, says the suit,
» <
deprived Lee of his liberty and freedom of
movement. It alleges Lee “suffered loss of
opportunity” to engage in free speech and exer
cise his freedom of religion, and also claims
Dancing Trout, without probable cause, initiat
ed criminal proceedings against Lee.
The Portland law firm Bennett Hartman &.
Reynolds has agreed to represent Dancing
Trout pro bono.
D em onstrate« outside
Says attorney Greg Hartman: “[Lee] seems
Cinema 21 on Sent. 23
to be promoting a heavy agenda in court”—
which is inappropriate, the lawyer adds.
Hartman and Dancing Trout say they’d like
to hear from anyone who may have witnessed
the incident or similar anti-gay protests at C in
ema 21.
Just Out’s Oct. 1 issue reported that demon
strators popped up at Cinem a 21 during the
Sept. 18 screening of Edge of Seventeen.
In the article, Ed Segel, a Reed College his
tory professor, told us: “I got there about [8:50
p.m.] for the 9:05 showing. The police were
already there. There was lots of shouting.... It
caught me by surprise.”
Portlander Ron Glanville, who was also on
hand, noted: “When I drove up to Cinem a 21,
the folks with the placards were screaming.”
Picketers again appeared at Cinem a 21 in
mid-October, during the third annual Portland
Lesbian/Gay/Bi/Trans Film Festival.
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