HOUSTON — Three days before The Response, the Reliant Stadium prayer event Gov. Rick Perry initiated two months ago, the response has been spirited among those objecting to the governor's participation.

On Tuesday, more than 50 Houston-area religious and community leaders disseminated a signed statement drafted by the Anti-Defamation League expressing “deep concern” about a prayer rally “not open to all faiths,” while the Houston GLBT Political Caucus and related organizations announced a Friday rally at Tranquility Park to protest the event.

The groups that represent gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals accused the American Family Association and other sponsors of the prayer event of hatred toward the GLBT community.

The ADL statement followed a June letter from the Houston Clergy Council that criticized the governor for excluding non-Christians, partnering with an anti-gay group and blurring boundaries between church and state.

“Governor Perry has a constitutional duty to treat all Texans equally, regardless of race, religion or ethnicity,” the ADL statement reads. “His official involvement with The Response, at minimum, violates the spirit of that duty.”

In a news release, ADL southwest regional director Martin Cominsky said, “We strongly believe this statement, signed by so many of our most respected religious and community leaders, reflects the feelings of many Texans who are concerned that Governor Perry is overstepping his bounds in supporting an exclusionary sectarian religious event.”

Organizers of the Perry prayer event have not announced whether the governor will give a speech or how he will participate during the seven-hour program. Last week, a federal judge threw out a lawsuit brought by atheists and agnostics aimed at preventing Perry from participating in his official capacity as governor.

Perry, who joked last week that he may be an usher at the event, initially invited all the nation's governors, but the only one who has said he would attend, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, may be having second thoughts, the Lawrence Journal World reported.

Brownback announced in June that he had accepted Perry's invitation, but since then, according to the Lawrence newspaper, the governor's office would not confirm his plans, saying only that he would be on vacation this weekend.

The Response spokesman Eric Bearse said Tuesday that two nationally known religious figures serving as co-chairmen of the event, Dr. James Dobson and the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, will help lead the gathering in prayer and worship.

Dobson hosts the daily radio program “Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson,” and Rodriguez is president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Bearse said “several thousand people” have registered, indicating they would attend, and more than a thousand churches and individuals have signed up to simulcast the event in their local communities.

Reliant Park officials have said they planned a “small arena configuration” that would accommodate about 10,000 people.