Behind enemy lines: on November 3, 1981, gay activist Scott Tucker and friends infiltrated a Jerry Falwell rally in Philadelphia--and lived to tell us the tale.

Know the enemy and know yourself, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles, wrote Chinese general Sun Tzu in 490 B.C. It's good advice that has inspired The Advocate to keep a close eye on such religious conservatives as Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, Sen. Jesse Helms, and the late televangelist--turned--evangelical politico Jerry Falwell. It was certainly Scott Tucker's motivation for staging a silent protest at a Marriott hotel in Philadelphia, where Falwell was breaking bread with his people.

Here's what he reported to us:

On November 3, 1981, Tucker, with his partner, Larry, and a handful of their friends, "put on fundamentalist drag" and walked past 500 protesters chanting "1-2-3-4: We don't want your holy war! 2-4-6-8: Falwell preaches Christian hate!" With free tickets they'd ordered in the mail, the group walked tentatively past security guards into a crowded anteroom.

The point of the gathering? "A public boosting for one of Falwell's ventures, the Liberty Baptist College." And while it's likely Tucker anticipated the rhetoric he would hear, somehow, from the middle of the enemy's camp, it sounded both more terrible and more familiar.

"I am just beginning to breathe easily when I overhear a certain litany--'niggers, commies, queers'--delivered with the sotto voce aplomb of a salesman.... I eavesdrop... 'Like I said, the niggers, commies, and queers are gonna get out of hand. And anyone who doesn't stock up on weapons is just a fool.'"

After a trip to the men's room for a "nervous leak," Tucker listens to an elderly and distinguished man explain to two women that Armageddon is upon them; Jesus will provide the worldly goods.

"I suddenly wanted to be in Machu Picchu, or in the Alhambra, or in the backroom of the Mineshaft--anywhere else in the world," wrote Tucker. "I am struck firsthand and forcibly by the fact that many of these Moral Majoritarians are very much like, for example, my grandparents: decent folks, really, and yet...."

For the next two hours Tucker and company surreptitiously listened as Falwell railed against "the feminists, the abortionists, the homosexuals." They suffered through a slide show of Falwell in the pulpit, Falwell with his family, Falwell cavorting with Phyllis Schlafly. Finally, it was time. As Falwell launched into yet another homily, Tucker and friends rose from their seats, unraveling squares of cloth printed with protest slogans--and catching the attention of the devoted.

"First there are stunned stares, and perhaps certain survivalists expect us to pull out submachine guns next," wrote Tucker. "Nothing of the kind: This is a silent witness."

Not to mention another good tactic. Speaking to the press outside the Marriott, Tucker explained the point of his protest: "There is a time and place for aggressive and passionate resistance, but we wanted to walk out of the lion's den unpawed." After all, Sun Tzu also said it's best to win without fighting.