'Love trumps hate': Interfaith community gathers in support of Tempe mosque

They gathered near the children's playground at the Tempe mosque where two women had live-streamed themselves ransacking the place of worship and mocking Muslims.

They weren't there to erase the memory. That would mean forgetting, when they wanted to remember that hate can be overcome.

"What excites me the most, is that this very playground — that they talked about being 'disease-ridden' — has children that are now learning to love where there were children learning to hate," Shayna Stevens, a Muslim-American and CAIR-Arizona board member, told the large crowd packed into the courtyard on Saturday.

A few hundred people from across the Valley came to the  event at the Islamic Community Center of Tempe to support their neighbors at the longtime mosque near Arizona State University.

The mosque was at the center of a video that went viral and drew international attention this week when Tahnee Gonzales and Elizabeth Dauenhauer live-streamed themselves ransacking the mosque and mocking Muslims as child molesters and dog eaters.

The two women called the playground "disease-ridden" before encouraging three children with them to help take pamphlets and copies of the Quran from the mosque courtyard.

Gonzales, 32, and Dauenhauer, 51, were arrested Thursday and booked on burglary charges after their Facebook-live video. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge released the women on their own recognizance but ordered them to wear electronic-monitoring devices in lieu of bail. 

While the video has been viewed by countless people around the world, it was a stark contrast from the children playing and laughing at the facilities at the Tempe mosque Saturday morning. 

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'Love trumps hate'

Members of the Valley's interfaith community said they gathered Saturday to show solidarity with the mosque and Muslims in the wake of the 25-minute video.

The event was shared on Facebook with a short message, inviting the public to visit the mosque to show "the world that LOVE overcomes hate."

Over coffee and snacks, people filled the same courtyard shown in the video.

Some people wore hijabs, while others were clad in clerical collars or a yarmulke. Others were clad in T-shirts denouncing hate or carrying signs proclaiming their support.

The crowd chanted a message: "Love trumps hate." 

That the two women brought children to assist with their attack rattled many of the attendees, including Tempe resident Keeley Bruner. The mother thought of her own children.

"As a parent, you're always trying to do the best with what you have, but that's not okay," she said. 

Imraan Siddiqi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Arizona, said it was jarring to see the women's actions live on video.

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His own family has been a part of the Islamic Center for years. He's still struggling with the reality that this happened at his own house of worship.  

Deedra Abboud, a U.S. Senate candidate, recalled an earlier encounter with one of the women in the video. She said Gonzales had heckled her outside of a political rally for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in Phoenix last Sunday.

Gonzales can be seen screaming, "Deedra Abboud supports Muslims who hate America!" on a video uploaded to her Facebook page. The clip has since been removed.

Abboud urged those hurt by the video to look for ways to bring people together.

"We're going to love this country to the best that it can be for every single person in it," she said. 

Standing with Muslims

Religious leaders from throughout the Valley pledged to unite with the Muslim community again, like they had after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 

"This is our mosque and we will always stand with it," Guardian Angels Catholic Community Pastor Sue Ringler said. "We will always protect it and we will always honor it and we will always love it." 

Usman Karriem, board chair of the Islamic Community Center, said he isn't interested in seeing the two women suffer. Instead, he wants to help them understand that they are wrong about his faith.

"My hope for them is they get an opportunity to learn from this experience and change the way they feel and the way they behave," he said. 

The mosque's imam has said he won't let attacks change how the mosque operates: It will continue to leave its doors unlocked and welcome visitors of all faiths.

Republic reporter Maria Polletta contributed to this article.

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