When Rock for Life, a program of Students for Life of America, was finally accepted to popular Vans Warped Tour, we knew that we would be stepping outside of the pro-life “safe zone” and into an environment where our presence may not be welcomed. How unwelcome? Check out these tweets from festival-goers:
I will buy a ticket to warped tour just to stand out of the pro life tent and hug girls and tell them that’s it’s ok to get an abortion
— mariana (@Iilnugs) July 9, 2016
do you think I’d get in trouble if I set the pro life tent at warped on fire by accident
— Soggy Azalea (@brandilcoleman) July 1, 2016
Kinda wanna wreck that pro-life tent on my way out of Warped because fuck them
— bargain bin fuckboy (@angryqueer_) June 30, 2016
Come on people – whatever happened to free speech? Or you just don’t think what we say so you are going to hate on us? Not cool concert-goers, but we love you guys anyways.
So the press has caught on as well and one reporter actually asked a bunch of people what they thought about Rock for Life at the tour and ended up with some interesting responses:
Morgan Miller, Pennsylvania
“Obviously there’s a little bit of space for everything. There are people who are pro-life too, so it’s always good to have a little bit of everything at Warped Tour.”Nick Necro, Pennsylvania
“I don’t think that it takes away from the festival. You need to have different perspectives. We’re pro-choice, but everyone should be out there and have an opinion. But I think there should be a pro-choice tent, too. There should be a perfect balance, especially at a festival like Warped Tour.”
Rock for Life has been a fixture at Christian music festivals and other faith-based events for years, where we were usually welcomed with open arms. But you know what? While Christians certainly need to brush up on their pro-life positions and branch out their networks, we really need to be speaking to a broader audience. For Rock for Life, getting accepted into the Warped tour was a brand new opportunity to reach young people with the pro-life message as well as begin educating people about fetal development and the fact that a child is whole and has rights starting at conception. We really wanted to put ourselves in a position to get in touch with people who we may not see at the other events and continue to increase our nationwide network of pro-lifers.
We especially want to thank the Vans Warped Tour festival owner, Kevin Lyman, who is supporting our right to be at the festival:
Punk rock was about welcoming all points of view, you can make your own decisions, and opposing platforms and views are important.
— KevinLyman (@KevinLyman) July 11, 2016
He even invited pro-choice groups to come if they wanted:
If any Pro-Choice organizations are out there and would like to come have table @VansWarpedTour please contact us.
— KevinLyman (@KevinLyman) July 11, 2016
Warped has been great to Rock for Life, especially with all of the flack that is being dispersed right now and we are extremely thankful for their attention to our needs and safety. Security is always present and we are grateful for them watching our backs.
Want to get in on the action? We need you and any pro-lifers you know who want to help us combat the hate online and at our Warped Tour dates. If you are interested volunteering at an event, get in contact with us at info@rockforlife.org. Then if you and your friends would tweet, “@kevinlynamin thanks for allowing @rockforlife on @vanswarpedtour.” Lastly we would love to see more people using our tags #rflsummer16, #ibelieve, and #prolifebecause. If you have one of our shirts or want to share with us a positive message about why you are pro-life we would love to get a tweet from you.
