A lone protestor paces in front of Planned Parenthood on East Genesee Street as part of the 40 Days for Life Campaign. (Paul Brockwell Jr.)
For Lent this year, Christine DiNovo gave up doing nothing about her convictions. Once a week, rain or shine, she’ll be in front of Planned Parenthood demonstrating against abortion.
“From the moment of conception to a natural death, all human life has dignity,” DiNovo said. “We should be thankful to our creator for that.”
As DiNovo sees it, her weekly vigils against abortion at Planned Parenthood of Syracuse on East Genesee Street are her religious and civic duties as a Catholic. She is among scores of activists who take their deeply held beliefs to Syracuse street corners, sidewalks and other public spaces. They demonstrate against abortion, preach repentance, demand justice. Many wave placards. Some use bullhorns to shout their message. Some, like DiNovo, quietly stand or slowly pace, gently prodding the public conscience.
For them, public sidewalks are sacred ground.
All are exercising their First Amendment rights of free speech and peaceable assembly. For many, the protests also fall under the First Amendment’s protections for religious liberty. But their protests can be limited by local laws and can be a source of tension between individual rights and public order, say experts on the First Amendment and local officials.
“If you want to hold a demonstration and you’re going to use public streets or gather on public land, then you’re going to need a permit,” says David Rubin, a communications law professor and former dean at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
The city’s permit requirement, says Rubin, “doesn’t mean that every time there’s a gathering of 15-20 people with signs that the police with break it up.” Instead, he said, a permit alerts police to the protestors’ intentions and allows the department to plan accordingly. Without a permit, Rubin added, police are within their rights to arrest protestors who are a disruption and refuse police orders to disburse.
To get a permit, protestors apply to the police department at least 48 hours in advance of the event. Syracuse police can also charge organizers for any additional patrols needed to ensure safety at an event. The city ordinance doesn’t spell out punishments for failing to get permit. But police can arrest and detain unruly or illegal protestors.
For most protestors, the permit is a formality. For some, they’re on a mission from God.
Outside the Varsity Pizza restaurant on South Crouse Avenue near Marshall Street, Dom Mauro and Mark McLoughlin often pace the sidewalk when a big SU game draws walkers enroute to the Carrier Dome. Mauro, 65, of Cicero is an electric supply salesman and McLoughlin, 61, of Manlius is a chef for Loretto, which provides care for the elderly.
Both are part of the open-air ministry of the Buckley Road Baptist Church in Liverpool. They’ve been on Syracuse streets preaching their gospel and handing out religious tracts for nine years. Their hats read “Only Jesus Saves” and “Sin Kills – Jesus Saves.”
Their message: Jesus died and was resurrected for the sins of man. Those who do not accept him as their savior and repent will face fiery damnation in hell.
They preach on the streets, Mauro said, because of the Bible’s commandment. Others must hear the word of God to be saved, he said. “Preaching is a method God has to lay conviction on peoples’ hearts,” Mauro said. “That’s why we preach. It can soften or harden their hearts. But preaching always has some effect on the heart of man.”
At the federal courthouse downtown on Feb.26, in another example of religion’s inspiration for public protest, about 40 demonstrators gathered on the seventh anniversary of the sentencing of Dr. Rafil Dhafir to 22 years in federal prison. Dhafir is an Iraqi-born American physician convicted of violating United Nations sanctions against Iraq, defrauding Medicare and evading taxes related to a charity called Help the Needy that raised money to aid Iraqi children.
Dhafir’s supporters have long maintained that his conviction was a miscarriage of justice and the result of prejudice against Muslims after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. His supporters on this February commemoration include Muslims, Christians and those with no religious affiliation.
Among them is Linda Bergh, 69, of Syracuse’s South Side and a retired substitute teacher. Her support for Dhafir, she said, “began with the church.” After Sept.11, she joined an interfaith dialogue group with Muslims and members of James Street United Methodist, where her husband was then the pastor. Through the interfaith group, Bergh said, she formed friendships with several people in the Islamic Center of Central New York’s mosque and heard of what happened to Dr. Dhafir. She became “horrified because of how everything was done” at his trial.
She portrays her protests on his behalf now as a sign of her faith. “I do identify my actions for peace and justice with my faith,” Bergh said. “That’s what gives me motivation to work with the marginalized or the oppressed.”
At Planned Parenthood on East Genesee Street, Christine DiNovo is part of a national network of vigils called “40 Days for Life.” Every day, she and a small group of abortion-rights opponents march slowly up and down the sidewalks, handing out brochures to any who will take them. To DiNovo, the reason for her weekly vigil is simple.
“My faith,” said DiNovo, “ is really very important to me.”
(Paul Brockwell Jr. is a graduate student in magazine, newspaper and online journalism.)
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