Antigay Jewish Group Hired Day Laborers to Picket NYC Pride

Amid the revelry and rainbows in Manhattan this weekend was the standard anti-LGBT religious hatred -- delivered by some unexpected messengers.

Sunnivie Brydum

Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.

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Sunnivie Brydum

June 29 2015 5:33 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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Members of the antigay Jewish Political Action Committee didn't want their youth scarred by the sight of LGBT Pride in New York City this weekend. So they hired day laborers to hate on their behalf, according to The New York Times.

Cordoned off behind a barricade at Fifth Avenue and 15th Street, a small collection of men wearing the Jewish prayer shawl known as a the tzitzit lackadaisically carried signs condemning homosexuality.

"G-d created Adam and Eve, NOT Adam and Steve," read one sign.

"Today man marries man," read another. "Tomorrow man marries his sister. Stop the madness. Outvote perverted politicians."

Despite their traditional garb, the protesters didn't look like the Orthodox Jewish group they were representing -- because they were "Mexican day laborers, protesting because they were paid to protest," reports the Times.

\u201cPaid protesters held signs for a Jewish group that opposes same-sex marriage. Parade coverage: https://t.co/5CYVTct3ui\u201d
— NYT Metro (@NYT Metro) 1435524396

A member of the Brooklyn-based Jewish Political Action Committee told the Times that the group's leaders worried about sending young students to the parade to protest "because of what they would see at the parade."

Despite the meager smattering of stand-in protesters, the demonstration was not without confrontation. At least one fight broke out, with blows exchanged between an Orthodox Jewish man and a 19-year-old woman, the Times reports. Other Pridegoers reportedly tossed open water bottles at the protesters and defiantly kissed in front of them.