LAKEWOOD - Late-night chants of "love conquers hate" echoed outside the home of the Lakewood BlueClaws minor league baseball team Thursday as counterprotesters outnumbered supporters of a rabbi who has called the team's planned Pride Night "an abomination."

The counterprotest resulted after Rabbi Yehuda Levin of Brooklyn released a video calling for a demonstration against Pride Night, a celebration of the LGBTQ community and people of every sexual orientation, scheduled for the 7:05 p.m. game Saturday at FirstEnergy Park.

Counterprotesters starting showing up shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday and the crowd gradually grew to about 200 as a sea of rainbow shirts, signs and flags crowded the sidewalk.Levin’s protesters, which included himself, his followers and others outside the Jewish community, numbered about 50.

Al Schenker, a 22-year-old first responder from Lakewood, initiated the counterprotest effort. Schenker created an event on Facebook, and said the invite was initially sent to friends, but the event started to go viral and total strangers began to show up.

“We are all peaceful. We don’t want violence. We just want to show that we’re regular human beings that love differently,” said Schenker, who identifies as gay. “The people who are here are here because they just love love.”

The BlueClaws released a statement indicating that Pride Night would go on as scheduled Saturday.

“We are committed to the idea that baseball is for everyone and all people are welcome at a BlueClaws game,” the statement read. “It is unfortunate that some individuals are choosing to display intolerance rather than embrace the true spirit of the night.''

Both protests gathered on opposite sides of Cedar Bridge in the shadow of a massive, illuminated rainbow sign outside FirstEnergy Park that read, "Baseball is for everyone.''

Police directed traffic in the busy intersection as counterprotesters crossed the street to engage the Pride Night protesters, who held signs that had messages like "take your 'pride' back to Sodom, not Lakewood!!" and "keep your 'claws' off our kids!" written in black letters. Some calmly debated with the protesters while others were more animated. There was no violence.

One of the counterprotesters who crossed the street was 11-year-old Mia Grande of Toms River, who spoke directly to Rabbi Levin.

“I told him to teach your children the right thing instead of the wrong thing,” Grande said.

Many motorists honked their horns as they passed the protests. The BlueClaws' regularly scheduled postgame fireworks show went off as scheduled during the encounter.

Todd Shaw, a 48-year-old who was born and raised and Lakewood, held a rainbow flag and said the counterprotest reflected on "positivity.''

"It's all about love and people's freedom to love who they want," said Shaw, who has a gay son and sister. "This is America. They're not America."

In a YouTube video released on Monday, Levin called on people, “to protest the homosexualization of a very religious community, whose community standards and values are traditional and biblical.”

Fliers supporting Levin’s protest that were passed out in Lakewood earlier in the week declared Pride Night as an "abomination."

Rabbi William Gershon of the conservative synagogue B’nai Israel in Toms River sent a statement to the Asbury Park Press condemning Levin’s protest.

“We cannot tolerate arbitrary discrimination against millions of Americans just because of who they are,” the statement said. “We would encourage all to not support the 'call to protest' and instead speak out and fight against hate of any kind and embrace acceptance and love.”

Garden State Equality released a statement supporting the counter-protest effort.

"The outpouring of love and support from everyday New Jerseyans for LGBTQ people shows that we are the state that doesn’t hate," the statement read. "For the young transgender kid sitting alone in the cafeteria who is wondering if they have a place in this world, these incredible displays of compassion, pride, and allyship are life-changing symbols of hope and strength."

Both protests left the street corners by midnight.

A previous version of this post misstated the residency of Rabbi Levin.

Danny LoGiudice has covered local sports across New Jersey since 2014. Contact him at dlogiudice@gannettnj.com or at @danny_logiudice on Twitter.