Here's my response to Tidmus' request for background on Ralph Ovadal, Wisconsin's "class clown" of Christian bigotry:
"Hello Mike:
The only word I can gather on the matter is that a phone call was made to the police department allegedly by the WCU. No mainstream papers have reported anything on the alleged altercation, which reportedly happened early last week.
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This "martyrdom of the majority" ploy, however, is a common tactic of "Pastor" Ralph Ovadal, a former beer truck driver and sheep herder (really!) with no formal religious training who now heads Pilgrims Covenant Church, a miniscule ministry in Monroe, WI (the mailing address and meeting hall at one time was a shed on Ovadal's farm). Anything in the form of negative response, is claimed to be "violent persecution" of Christians. At one of Ovadal's Truth Forums in the early 90's one smartass lesbian shouted "Bring back the lions!" He used that line for almost a decade to "prove" the "violent homosexual intent" toward his ministry.
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Ovadal's foray into guerilla Christian street theatre as the head of the larger - but still miniscule in membership - Wisconsin Christians United has given him more press space, not to mention a police record for civil disturbances as long as your arm (you can check out the bigger offenses at the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access Project - there are also local ordinance violations around the state too numerous to mention). He is the best known of a number of evangelical extremists who regularly picket LGBT-related events in Wisconsin. He's also currently fighting an incident where he physically intimidated and verbally abused a woman at Mazomanie Park, site of the state's best-known nude beach. (Reference: Dane County Case Number 2001CM003050. From court record of August 6, 2001: "Defendant (Ovadal) shall not have any contact, direct or indirect, with N.J.E. This no contact order is different than any 72 hour no contact order that may have been issued at time of incident. This no contact order must be followed as long as case is pending unless changed by a judge." Judges have to issue these kinds of restraining orders to the boundary-free criminal element in society: thugs, bullies, wife beaters and - apparently - certain "religious" leaders.)
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Ovadal also is likely to lose a frivolous lawsuit he promoted against the state's LGBT civil rights group, Action Wisconsin, for publicly reporting content of a speech made by Pastor Grant Storm, Louisana's version of Ovadal. Storm made his comments at the "First International Conference on Homo Fascism" attended by a little over a dozen people at an evangelical church in Milwaukee in September, 2003. Ovadal actually sold a copy of the speeches to the gay group, who then transcribed the contents of the compact disc and released them to the public. The lawsuit claimed Storm has received "death threats" since Action Wisconsin's published the speech. Storm has been a long time fixture protesting New Orleans' Southern Decadance and also regularly rants against the Roman Catholic Church in one of the most Catholic states in the United States. He would have a hard time proving any death threat was based on comments made in an Action Wisconsin press release.
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Ovadal got his start in the late 80's by blowing up pictures of aborted fetuses to 8' in size and then picketing with the placards on street corners and then everything from women's health conferences to the state's AIDS walks and rides (I've never gotten how safe sex condom messages lead to abortions but the placards showed up for years).
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His sideline rants on homosexuality grew as legislative efforts by more politically-savvy right-wing "family" organizations like the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin intensified in the 1990's. A shameless self-promoter, he was ready to jump in front of very TV camera and mic whenever the opportunity arose. Ovadal's constant availability has allowed him to become the lapdog media's "go to guy" whenever they want "balance" on gay issue reporting. More recently, other voices have emerged and only the totally lazy Madison broadcast media pay much attention to him.
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Ovadal's other foray into press coverage is his long-standing Mazo Beach pickets. In the name of "public decency" he decries the existence of and alleged "state promotion of public nudity" at state's best-known, and thus most popular, clothing-optional beach.
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Ovadal's over the top rhetoric regularly refers to "sodomites" and "homo fascists," which have led many to refer to him as Wisconsin's Fred Phelps, a moniker at which he bristles. "Fred Phelps Lite" would be more appropriate I guess.
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Gay activists, including myself, indirectly have confronted Ovadal many times over the years, typically in successive sessions of locally-produced TV programs, which he later refers to as "debates." He has never taken up any direct offer to debate from such notables as Tammy Baldwin, openly-gay Assembly Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison), and even the state Log Cabin's former Executive Director and former Bush AIDS czar Scott Evertz. My all-time favorite zinger at Rantin' Ralph was my April Fool's cover story I did in 1998 for the now-defunct Wisconsin Light. (However, the idiot editor butchered the piece completely, rewriting the entire story into future tense. His logic? Because the paper came out on March 28 and he wanted the story to appear as if Ovadal come out on April Fool's Day. Not a clue as to the fictional nature of satire. And they wonder why that paper folded?).
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Come to think of it, April 1 is coming - I 'll have to crank up my ancient Mac Performa, but that's a story worth sharing again on my blog this coming April 1."
That gives me another idea as well. Look for more profiles of other Wisconsin "Christian" bigots soon. In the meantime check out Mike's "Stoopid Intelligence" blog - its a hoot!
That gives me another idea as well. Look for more profiles of other Wisconsin "Christian" bigots soon. In the meantime check out Mike's "Stoopid Intelligence" blog - its a hoot!
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