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Georgia State Patrol helicopter cruised overhead, making a sweep of the town. 
    Jeremiah’s radio crackled.  “They’re coming your way, now.  See them out peacefully.”
    “Copy,” the deputy said.  “I’m going to ask you folks to step aside, we’ve got some disruptive elements coming out.”
    “Disruptive elements!” Miss June squawked.  “How did they get in and we can’t?”
    “They came in separately, and…look, Miss June, just help us out here.” 
    Norman could feel it, a chill in the group, a silence as half a dozen men came out past the barricade, escorted by twice that number of police.  They were…terrifying.  Bald heads, black jackets, bleach-spattered jeans and big black boots, like an army of childhood nightmares.  Norman stepped back into the safety of the old women’s legs.
    “Fuck yeah!” one of the men shouted at the group, waving a fist.  “Yeah, death to faggots!”
    “Fucking burn ‘em at the stake!” another one added.  They were laughing and smiling at the church group, but the Reverend and his flock watched them silently.
    “Come on, man,” one of them egged the Reverend.  “You want what we want, just admit it!”
    Reverend McCoy shook his head.  “No, son, we don’t.  We love the gays, we love ‘em.  Love the sinner, hate the sin.”
    The men laughed as if this was the funniest thing anyone ever said.  “Right.  Burn the sin and not the sinner, good luck with that!”
    Another bared his shoulder to reveal a tattoo, words in script text on an ornamental parchment.  “I got it right here, man!  Leviticus 20:13!  Fuck yeah!”  Leviticus also banned tattoos, but he either didn’t know or didn’t care.
    Then they were gone.  The whole thing took all the air out of the parade.  Signs were lowered, touching the ground.  A sense of embarrassment pervaded the group, as if some dark communal secret had been publicly revealed. 
    “We’re not like that,” Faith said, more to herself than anyone else. 
    Others nodded, murmuring their agreement.  No.  Miss June’s sign referred to the same text as the skinhead’s tattoo, Leviticus 20:13.  Which clearly stated, “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death.”
    But nobody there wanted to actually kill the gays.  Yes, the Old Testament condemned them to death, but Christ could redeem them, and the New Testament was the pardon that would save them from the death sentence.  All they had to do was accept Jesus Christ, and sin no more. 
    They went back the way they came, silently.  Norman waved his sign enthusiastically, wanting the parade to begin again. 
    The group seemed to get its spirit back again as they stopped at the Cobb County Courthouse.  The Reverend stood on its steps to rally his troops.
    “Folks, there’s a date I want you all to remember.  March 14 th , of this year of our Lord 1994, when the Federal government ordered Cobb County to remove the Ten Commandments from this courthouse.”
    This was greeted with sighs of disappointment and cries of “shame!”
    Reverend McCoy nodded.  “Yes, shame.  Sorrow.  The Psalms say, ‘If the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do?’  The liberals in Washington, under the Liberal-In-Chief, are destroying the foundations of our country, the Biblical principles the Founding Fathers held so dear…”
    As the Reverend went on, reinspiring the group to “Amens” and “Hallelujahs,” two men passed the group, headed towards the town square.  As they cautiously kept to the edge of the sidewalk, one of them saw Norman, and his sign. 
    Norman and the man made eye contact.  Norman smiled like any normal happy boy would at a stranger, when all the strangers in his life had been friendly and approving. 
    But the boy could see the horror in the man’s eyes as they went from Norman to his sign and back.  The man’s face