Hatred of ‘the other’

Matthew Shepard - a 21-year-old gay college student, a faithful member of the Episcopal Church in Laramie, Wyo., who was kidnapped, robbed and pistol whipped - died Oct. 12.  It was five days after he had been rescued from a Wyoming ranch where he had been left tied to a fence for 18 hours in near freezing weather.

The cruel, obscene death of this young man touched the American psyche deeply. Over and over I heard people saying when they heard Monday that Michael Shepard had died, “a piece of me died with him.”  Out of that tragedy has come a stronger commitment to rid our nation of hatred.  Suspicion, fear and hatred of “the other,” the one not like me, is the fundamental disease of the world today.

THE WORLD THEY CREATED

This disease of the heart is the source of every pogrom, every genocide, every holocaust.  This malignant hatred of ”the other” is the source of gay bashing.

As I honor my gay brother, Matthew, I repent for the role Christian churches around the world have played in creating the environment in which hatred and disdain of gay and lesbian people is acceptable.  This summer, 15 religious right organizations, in the name of Christianity, put a full-page advertisement in The Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post, claiming to be the nations moral compass and describing homosexuality as a sin and a sexual orientation that can be changed by the power of Christ.

“We’re standing for the truth,” they proclaimed, as they put a whole group of functioning, productive citizens into a category of the “diseased.”  They thanked both Trent Lott, the Senate Majority leader, who recently compared homosexuals to compulsive thieves and also Green Bay Packers defensive end and preacher, Reggie White, who said that “homosexuality is one of the Bible’s biggest sins.”

A good, healthy self image leads to good, healthy sexual behavior.  This is true for us all.  However, for gay and lesbian people, it is vastly more complex.  They must purge themselves of the internalized self hate they ingest at the hands of a hostile society.  They have been told by some churches that they are perverse and sinful, by the Vatican that they are “intrinsically disordered,” by a former President of the United States that they are not normal, and by the Supreme Court of the land by upholding the Georgia sodomy laws that they are criminals.

It is amazing how gay and lesbian people have withstood such horrific onslaught.  Yet such ugly rejection has an enormous cost.  It stirs the emotions against gay people.  And there is a zealotry in hating “the other” when you believe God is on your side.

CHRISTIAN RHETORIC

I believe that much of the antigay activity in this country is inspired by Christian rhetoric, and I say that as an Episcopal priest.  The biblical rhetoric that God condemns gays has contributed to the atmosphere in which hate crimes occur. This rhetoric helped tie the beaten body of Matthew Shepard to that fence in Laramie.

Such anti-gay talk cannot be in the name of Jesus.  There is not a single word from the lips of Jesus about homosexuality.  In my own mind, I have the image of Matthew Shepard - cold, bloody, defiled, near death on that Wyoming fence.  Along side, there is a God who loved him unconditionally as a gay man.

Hatred is the depravity, not the choice of whom, to love.  Out of this death may come a new commitment to banish hatred of “the other” from this land and make America safe for our gay brothers and sisters.  I hope so.  That would make glad the heart of God.

George Regas

George Regas and his wife served in the All Saints Episcopal Church here in Pasadena for years.  He can be reached at   regas@pacbell.net.

"Recently I met a man who worked in post WWII Germany and talked about what he
learned from the tragically small number of German Christians who'd been
involved in the Resistance movement against Hitler and the Nazis (another case
in which the Church as a whole was silent while people were dehumanized and
murdered). The German Christian resisters said they had to learn and accept
that their allies in the struggle against Hitler were very often not other
Christians, but rather Communists, Labor Organizers and others. They may not
all have had the same faith beliefs but they all had the same goal in mind --
to free those who were suffering under oppression and to fight evil as it was
made manifest in their lives.

This is the core of Jesus' teaching and people who call themselves Christians,
but can look on another human being with anything less than compassion, need
to do some serious discernment about what Jesus, who himself was killed for
beliefs in opposition to the political and religious status quo of his day,
really means to them. Is Christ someone to model their own lives upon or is he
someone to trot out to defend their own narrow bigotries? We should all be
praying that the Church can truly reflect the love of God to the world, not
hatred, prejudice and dehumanization of others."

A SOULFORCE RESPONSE TO THE ANTI-HOMOSEXUAL AD CAMPAIGN
Mel White, Author
Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay And Christian In America

In the past few weeks, fundamentalist Christian organizations have escalated
their attacks on lesbian and gay Americans.  Millions of dollars are being
spent to convince the nation that we are "sick" and "sinful," that we can and
should be "cured," that our rights and protections should be denied, and that
any political or religious leader who supports us should be condemned and any
business or city that comes to our aid should be cut off.

We are tempted to answer these misinforming voices with equally colorful
soundbites of our own; however rushing to do battle with angry words and
clenched fists will not help our cause.   Doubting their integrity or debating
their motives is another dead end.  We must not react, but we must respond.
The anti-homosexual rhetoric leads to intolerance, suffering, and death for
gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Americans.  It must be confronted
and the Soulforce principles of relentless nonviolent resistance of Gandhi and
King show us how.

First, when untruth threatens, we respond with truth.

There is a positive side to this series of full page anti-homosexual ads in
America’s major newspapers.  One of my non-religious, heterosexual friends was
enraged by their blatant untruth.  "How can they say these things?" he asked.
In fact, they’ve been saying these things for years but saying them virtually
in secret on their TV and radio programs, in their direct mail campaigns and
fund-raising appeals.

Now, the untruth is out there where our friends and neighbors can read it for
themselves and though the untruth confuses many it will also win allies to our
cause. We have one task only: respond to the untruth with truth.  Before you
respond to the ads, read them carefully.  Find the statements that are clearly
untrue, and answer them with truth.  And where they speak the truth, even if
painful, we must acknowledge it.  They have invited us to "a new national
discussion of homosexuality."  Let’s accept!

Second, when untruth threatens, we respond with truth in love.

Soulforce is founded on Jesus’ words: "Love your enemies." Gandhi defines that
love as refusing violent actions, violent words, even violent thoughts against
our adversaries.  King said love must control fist, tongue, and heart.  To win
the minds and hearts of the nation,  our community must take the moral high
ground.  We must learn to out-love those who caricature and condemn us.  We
should consider giving up our angry chants and nasty gestures, our mean-
spirited banners and inflammatory T-shirts, our belligerent marches and fiery
speeches.  These are acts of violence and meeting untruth with violence only
escalates the war.

I know the men and women behind these ads - Pat Robertson,  James Dobson, Gary
Bauer, D. James Kennedy, Beverly LaHaye. Whatever their motives, they truly
believe that we are sick, sinful, and a threat to the nation,  that we can and
should be "cured."  They have not taken seriously the scientific, historic,
and biblical research that demonstrates clearly that God created us and loves
us exactly as we are.  It is our job to help them discover this new truth.

Just decades ago, many of our current adversaries were misusing the Bible to
support segregation.  The folks behind these anti-homosexual ads are as
ignorant about homosexuals as Governor Wallace and Sheriff "Bull" Conner were
ignorant about African-Americans.  King didn’t yell back at his enemies. He
didn’t call them bigots or liars.  He didn’t waste time hating them or
plotting their destruction.  Dr. King demonstrated the truth about African-
Americans by his loving response to the untruth.  We must demonstrate the
truth about homosexuals by the way we respond to the war of words being waged
against us.  We must not hate or fear those who misunderstand us.  We must
lovingly liberate them from the untruth that holds them hostage.

Third, when untruth threatens, we respond with truth in love relentlessly.

We will not confront the untruth effectively until we have responded with
relentless determination.  For too long it’s been a war of words.  They launch
their missives.  We counterstrike.  They take out ads.  We respond with ads of
our own or we hold a rally, a demonstration, a benefit, or a one day march on
Washington; then thinking we have advanced the cause, we all go out to party.
Soulforce calls us to a far more difficult and demanding task.

First, we make a list of their dangerous and deadly untruths.  Second, we do
our homework, preparing our answers to each untruth with carefully researched
truth.  Third, we accept their offer of "a new national discussion of
homosexuality" and ask them to join us at the table in a mutual  search for
truth.   Fourth, if they refuse to join us at the table; or if, when there,
they refuse to negotiate seriously an end to their anti-homosexual campaign,
we take direct nonviolent actions that will convince them (and the nation) of
our sincerity and compel them to join us at the table.

Look at the fifteen organizations listed at the bottom of these anti-
homosexual ads.  These are the nation’s primary sources of misinformation, not
just about homofolk but about other minorities, the Constitution, the Bill of
Rights, and the separation of church and state.  We must surround these
organizations with truth in love relentlessly, not just for our sake but for
the future of this nation.  One day protests will not do it.  Ad campaigns
will fail.  No one cares if our one day march on Washington is bigger than
their march.  In South Africa and India, Gandhi led his people in relentless
direct actions to demonstrate their sincerity and to win friends to their
cause.  Refusing to give up until their truth prevailed,    King’s "children"
faced water hoses, police dogs, beatings, jail terms, and lynchings.  Our time
has come.  We are second class citizens in our own country.  Our freedom is at
stake.  Our lives are on the line.  It is time for a new strategy of
relentless nonviolent resistance.

Gandhi and King both began their civil rights campaigns by training their
allies in nonviolence.   Marchers signed vows that carefully proscribed
behavior or they weren’t allowed to march.   Direct actions, once begun, were
not ended until the goal was accomplished even if it meant imprisonment,
suffering and death.

We must re-discover and apply their Soulforce rules.    I don’t know what will
happen  to us and to our allies when we take nonviolence seriously.  Gandhi
says "Just take the first step and the rest will follow."  It is time to try.
Thinking ourselves safe in our closets, we are sleeping through a revolution.
The Soulforce guidelines are clear.  Truth cannot prevail until those who hold
that truth are willing to live and die for it.

Please feel free to forward to your e-mail network of friends.
OK to publish or reprint.

For more information on Soulforce or Mel's Soulforce videos contact:
Soulforce, Inc., PO Box 4467, Laguna Beach, CA. 92652
Fax: (949) 455-0959  Office Phone: (310) 360-8640
RevMel@aol.com  www.melwhite.org

They stand inside your church, Lord, and know a wholeness that can benefit it. Long ago they learned that they must regard the lilies of the field, putting their trust in you. Pressured to hide their identities and gifts, they have served you with an unyielding, fierce love inside the same church that condemned them. Taught that they must feel self-loathing, nevertheless they learned integrity and dignity, and how to look into your face and laugh with grateful joy, Lord. Victims of a long and continuing torture, they asserted a stubborn faith in the justice of your kingdom. Negativism was drummed into them as thouroughly as if they were sheet metal. They learned what it is to be hated. Yet, despite real rejection, they insisted on attesting to the fullness and beauty of all human creation, including theirs, in your image. They are alive and well and standing inside your church. Bless them, Lord, to your service. (Malcom Boyd)
 

Amazing Grace

There are killers on the loose today. The problem is that you can't tell by looking. They don't wear little buttons that give away their identity, nor do they carry signs warning everybody to stay away. On the contrary, a lot of them carry Bibles and appear to be clean-living, nice-looking, law-abiding citizens. Most of them spend a lot of time in churches, some in places of religious leadership. Many are so respected in the community, their neighbors would never guess they are living next door to killers.

They kill freedom, spontaneity, and creativity; they kill joy as well as productivity. They kill with their words and their pens and their looks. They kill with their attitudes far more often than with their behavior.

The amazing thing is that they get away with it, day in and day out, without being confronted or exposed. Strangely, the same ministries that would not tolerate heresy for ten minutes will step aside and allow these killers all the space they need to maneuver and manipulate others in the most insidious manner imaginable. Their intolerance is tolerated. Their judgmental spirits remain unjudged. Their bullying tactics continue unchecked. and their narrow-mindedness is either explained away or quickly defended.

More and more Christians are realizing that the man-made restrictions and legalistic regulations under which they have been living have not come from the God of Grace, but have been enforced by people who do not want others to be free.

Be warned, there are grace killers on the loose. To make matters worse, they are a well organized, intimidating body of people who stop at nothing to keep you and me from enjoying the freedom that is rightfully ours to claim.

There is a need to emphasize the full extent of grace, giving people permission to be free, absolutely free in Christ. Why? Because so few are! Bound and shackled by legalists' list of do's and don'ts, intimidated and immobilized by other's demands and expectations, far too many in God's family merely exist in the tight radius of bondage, dictated by those who have appointed themselves our judge and jury. Long enough have we lived like frightened deer in a restrictive thicket of negative regulations. Long enough have we submitted to the do's and don'ts of religious kings of the mountain. Long enough have we been asleep while all around us the grace killers do their sinister nighttime work.

Too many folks are being turned off by a twisted concept of the Christian life. Instead of offering a winsome and contagious, sensible and achievable invitation of hope and cheer through the sheer power of Christ, more people than ever are projecting a grim-faced caricature of religion-on-demand. I find it tragic that religious kill-joys have almost succeeded ub taking the freedom and fun out of faith. People need to know there is more to the Christian life than deep frowns, pointing fingers, and unrealistic expectations. Harassment has had the floor long enough. LET GRACE AWAKEN! Charles Swindoll "The Grace Awakening"

You're Special

You're special.  In all the world, there's nobody like you.  Since the beginning
of time there has never been another person like you.

Nobody has your smile, nobody has your eyes, your nose, your hair, your hands,
your voice.

You're special.  No one can be found who has your handwriting.  Nobody anywhere
has your tastes for food, clothing, music or art.  No one sees things just as
you do.

In all the time there's been no one who laughs like you, no one who cries like
you, and what makes you cry or laugh will never produce identical laughter and
tears from anybody else - ever.

You're the only one in all of creation who has your set of abilities.  Oh there
will always be somebody who is better at one of the things you're good at, but
no one in the universe can reach the quality of your combination of talents,
ideas, abilities and feelings.  Like a room full of musical instruments, some
may excel alone, but none can match the symphonic sound when all are played
together.  You are a symphony.

Through all of eternity, no one will ever look, talk, walk, think or do like
you.

You're special ... you're rare.  And in all rarity there is great value.
Because of your great value you need not attempt to imitate others ... you will
accept - yes, celebrate your differences.

You're special and you're beginning to realize it's no accident that you're
special.  You're beginning to see that God made you special for a purpose.  He
must have a job for you that no one else can do as well as you.

Out of the billions of applicants, only one is qualified, only one has the right
combination of what it takes.

That one is you, because ... you're special!

The following is from the Gay Theological Journal

According to the story on the back of the icon of Saints Sergius and Bacchus by Robert Lentz, Sergius and Bacchus (martyed ca 303) are ancient Christian martyrs who were tortured to death in Syria because they refused to attend sacrifices in honor of Jupiter.

Recent attention to early Greek manuscripts has also revealed that they were openly gay men and that they were erasti, or lovers. These manuscripts are found in various libraries in Europe and indicate an early Christian attitude toward homosexuality. After their arrest, the two saints were paraded through city streets in women's clothing, treatment that was meant to humiliate them as officers of the Roman army.They were then separated and each was tortured. Bacchus died first and appeared that night to Sergius, who was beginning to lose heart.

According to the early manuscripts, Bacchus told Sergius to persevere, that the delights of heaven were greater than any suffering, and that part of their reward would be to be united in heaven as lovers. The feast of these saints is October7.

The saints are particularly popular throughout the Mediterranean lands, in Latin America, and among Slavs. For nearly a thousand years they were the official patrons of the Byzantine armies, and Arab nomads continue to revere them as their special patron saints.

Links

7thDayGay Homepage

The Preachers Son

Ex - "ex-gays"

 Ex Gay Nomad

Cathedral of Hope

 Claiming The Promise Bible Study Series

Whosoever

Gay Christian Online

 Gay Christians Homepage

The Evangelical Network

Evangelicals Concerned

Christian Lesbians Online

Christian Pastoral Minstries Group

Christian Pride: Gays and Lesbians Living The Gospel

 Dispelling the Myth

 Ecclesia of Greater Lansing

Free Catholic Church

Gay Christian Bible Study

Gay Christians

Gay/Lesbian Religious News

Gay Theological Journal

Golden Ark

HESED (Hebrew For Steadfast Love)

Homosexuality and the Bible

Gay Jewish Link

Living Streams

Lutherans Concerned

Mel White's Justice Net

Mistakes Churches Make When Dealing With Homosexuals

 New Life Community Church of Hope

Newsgroup for Gay Clergy (Catholic)

Oasis (Episcopal Diocese of Newark)

Ontario Consultants On Religious Tolerance

Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns

Steps To Recovery From Bible Abuse

 Sodom and Gomorrah and Adam and St(Eve)

 The Open Church of Jesus Christ

 Zion Gay Christian Youth Ministries

This will make you proud, and warm your heart! :-)

A Lesson In Kindness
Gay Bar provides support and gifts for adopted grade school
 

By Christine Wicker / The Dallas Morning News

JR's is an Oak Lawn bar and grill with a million-a-year liquor business. Sam Houston Elementary is Dallas' oldest school and one of its poorest. The distance between them is exactly a block. But until last fall, they were worlds apart. Then, as principal Ricardo Weir likes to say, destiny intervened.

This fall, JR's and three other gay bars owned by Caven Enterprises Inc. are adopting the entire school. They're planning Halloween parties, Christmas gifts for every child, Valentine celebrations and an Easter egg hunt. Sam Houston has some new playground equipment this year, courtesy of JR's. Its yard is free of cockleburs for the first time in a long time. Teachers were welcomed back this fall with a pizza-and-Pepsi party. The children have more than $1,000 in new school supplies. The number of tutors signed up to read to the children once a week has doubled, from 35 to 70.

It all started last fall when JR's manager, Donald Solomon, was looking for a small Christmas project. Bar employees had collected Christmas toys for the school in previous years. But Mr. Solomon wanted to do something more. He wanted to provide Christmas for a few families who live in the little neighborhood of frame houses behind the Cedar Springs Road bar. "If you want to say no, it won't hurt my feelings," Mr. Solomon remembers telling assistant principal Bernette Austin. Christmas is for children, Mr. Solomon said. "We don't have kids," he said. "Some of our families reject us." So the assistant principal considered the offer. Sam Houston is the seventh-poorest school in the district, Mr. Weir said. Freelunches go to almost 97 percent of the students. The principals told Mr. Solomon they couldn't pick one or two children from a class of 22. So the bar manager sighed and said, "All right, we'll take a whole class. Pick one." The principals thought about it. But once again, they couldn't choose. "How can we choose one kindergarten class when the other eight are equally in need?" they asked. "How many children are in the kindergarten class altogether?" Mr. Solomon asked. One hundred and seventy, came the answer.

Mr. Solomon went back to his employees and took a vote. "Can we adopt the entire kindergarten class of Sam Houston Elementary School for Christmas?" The vote was a unanimous yes. As Christmas approached, the children wrote letters to Santa. They signed their first names only. The letters were posted on windows of the upstairs bar at JR's. When the big day approached and many children's letters remained unanswered, customers began to pick them off the windows. Some customers took 10 or 15 letters. One wealthy man bought toys for 30 children. JR's employees built the replica of a huge stocking in the hall of the school and filled it with stuffed animals, one for each class. Mr. Solomon and friends had won them by tossing dimes at the State Fair of Texas. "Bartenders," he said, shrugging. "We spend a lot of time flipping bottle caps."Children wrote essays, and the winners went home with an animal.

Then came party day. "We were the unknown Santas," Mr. Solomon said. While the children were in P.E. class, JR's employees sneaked into the school, decorated the rooms, set out refreshments and delivered the toys. "One hundred and seventy kids, and all of them got what they wanted and more," Mr. Weir said. "I'm not talking little toys. I'm talking skateboards, Barbies. The teachers were in shock. They told me they'd never seen anything like it. Nobody had ever adopted a whole class before."We had these little kids going home lugging these big boxes," Mrs. Austin said.

The teachers had planned to have a Christmas party of their own, but at the last minute a sponsor backed out. Mr. Weir was mulling that over one day when Jack Polachek, Mr. Solomon's boss and owner of Caven Enterprises, came by. The principal and bar owner are longtime friends, and Mr. Weir and his wife and Mr. Polachek are godparents of the same children. "I told him we needed some money, thinking maybe he would give me $200," Mr. Weir said. Mr. Polachek asked: "How much do you need?"A thousand dollars. "I'll write you a check," Mr. Polachek said. And so the relationship grew.

The Dallas Independent School District oversees all such partnerships, said Michael Ralston, the district's director of community relations. "We meet with partners to see if the business ... [is] appropriate to working with schools and children," said Mr. Ralston, a former Sam Houston PTA president. As for Caven Enterprises, the company has done tremendous work at the school, Mr. Ralston said. "They're giving the school books and funds and school supplies," he said. "Everything that these schools are lacking, this group is stepping in to bring them. I think it's great that this is an opportunity to set a precedent."Rebecca Bermudez, president of Sam Houston Elementary's community council, said she's grateful that JR's has stepped in to help. "I'm very much attuned to the fact that this is a gay community. ... They are our neighbors, and, by golly, they support thekids. They've done some wonderful things," Ms. Bermudez said. When the school runs out of ice, someone goes to JR's. "We can ask and don't have to feel miserable about it," Mr. Weir said.Teachers park in the club's private lot. "I have 71 employees and 35 spaces," the principal said. "Jack gave me the key to the gate of his parking lot."

At Easter, JR's employees rented a school bus to transport kindergartners to an egg hunt at Lee Park. Two thousand candy-filled eggs were hidden. "We held three to four hundred back to make sure that everyone went home with at least three or four eggs," Mr. Solomon said. "We didn't want anyone crying." The club also gave each child a stuffed bunny, chick or duck. Mr. Solomon said he never required that anyone volunteer, but employees couldn't resist the chance to help the children. "There's no hate in the children's faces,"Mr. Solomon said. "They don't know about hate.

"Early this summer, someone noticed the school's playground. "It was really sad," Mr. Weir said.In 100-degree heat, JR's bartenders picked up burs and painted equipment. One of the bar's liquor suppliers heard about the effort and donated a $3,000 wooden playset. The bar's employees also bought slides for the playground, which had none. A lawn company helped with the yard at half price. JR's buying power gives Mr. Solomon contacts with businesses across the country, and he uses his power for good. "I don't beg," he said. "But if I tell them the situation, and if it makes them feel good to do something, I accept." He does state the situation boldly. "Some of these kids are so poor, they aren't even allowed to talk about Christmas," he said.

One day Mr. Polachek was visiting Mr. Weir when the principal said, "Isn't that interesting? We're such good friends. You have four businesses. I have a school with four grades that need to be adopted. It almost seems like destiny, doesn't it? "So Mr. Polachek went to the employees at the three other Oak Lawn bars he owns and asked them if they wanted to follow JR's lead in adopting Sam Houston classes. They did. Mr. Polachek and his employees are careful that no liquor references or ads accompany anything at the school, he said. "We don't want to offend any parent," he said. Mr. Weir said no parents have complained. "They're our neighbors," he said. "We're not going away. They're not going away.And we need them."
 
 

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. -- Who's afraid of former homosexuals?

At first blush, of course, it's easy to see why the recent newspaper advertisements promoting the "truth" about homosexuality -- that it can allegedly be changed -- might provoke a strong response from homosexuals and their allies. The advertisements, sponsored by 15 religious-right organizations, featured Anne Paulk, a self-described "wife, mother, former lesbian," and were intended to advance the idea that homosexuality is a free and sinful "choice" and therefore unworthy of civil rights protections. This idea is marshaled by fundamentalists who, sadly, see nothing uncivil about describing another group of functioning, productive citizens as "diseased."

The campaign is clearly a desperate gambit to change the terms of the debate about homosexuality, a debate the religious right has been steadily, inexorably losing for two decades. The leaders of the far right realize that unless they can redefine homosexuality as a pathological illness, it is only a matter of time before the logic of civil rights protections embraces a group of people they find threatening.

But in its desperation, the right may well have overreached. A closer examination of "reparative therapy," the psychoanalytic treatment that allegedly turns homosexuals into heterosexuals, reveals it to be far less threatening to the argument for gay equality than first meets the eye. Indeed, in some ways, the arguments and ideas behind reparative therapy paradoxically strengthen, rather than weaken, the case for gay rights.

Take the notion of a "cure." Even the reparative therapists themselves believe it to be extremely difficult in most cases, requiring therapy five times a week often for years. They claim a "success" rate of about 30 percent, but their patient population is skewed to those most willing and desperate to make a change. A more realistic figure of a conversion rate for a representative population of gay men would be far lower.

As Freud himself argued, "In general, to undertake to convert a fully developed homosexual into a heterosexual is not much more promising than to do the reverse."

Freud was also ahead of the game in distinguishing between a psychoanalytic "conversion" and what most people think of as a cure.

He once wrote to a mother who was seeking his help to change her gay son: "In a general way, we cannot promise to achieve it."

Or, in the words of a contemporary reparative therapist, Steven Richfield, the most realistic goal of such therapy is "a satisfying heterosexual adaptation which is not jeopardized by the periodic intrusion of homosexual fantasies."

One of his patients puts it in more human terms: "I've come to accept that there is a part of me that I may never be able to get rid of. But maybe I can learn to live with it."

Then there's the notion that homosexuals "choose" their sexuality.

If the literature of reparative therapy teaches anything, it is how deep homosexuality runs in a person's identity, and how enormously difficult it is to alter. Most reparative therapists think sexual orientation is fixed in early development before the age of 18 months or, at the latest, three years.

The most prominent psychotherapist in the field, Charles Socarides (whose own son is gay), specifically denies that homosexuality is a choice. What he and other reparative therapists argue, in fact, is something very advantageous to the argument for gay equality: even if homosexuality is not genetic but environmental, it is still involuntary.

In other words, homosexuals have as much choice over their sexual orientation as they do over their race or sex.

Of course, reparative therapists would be appalled at the comparison of sexual orientation with gender or race. For them, homosexuality, while unchosen and deeply ingrained, is still a pathology or psychological disorder.

But this part of their argument is increasingly unpersuasive. As more and more gay men and women live and work openly in our society, the clearer it becomes that they are not demons, disease-carriers or psychopaths. We have our problems -- gay men in particular -- but the problems are recognizably human problems: of love, commitment, sexuality and intimacy.

Moreover, the contribution gay people make and have always made to society and civilization is hardly the mark of psychological dysfunction. I wonder whether Trent Lott, who recently compared homosexuals to compulsive thieves, has ever read Whitman or Proust or Auden. Or listened to the music of Copland, Tchaikovsky or Britten. If he does, does he think: kleptomaniacs?

There is, however, one final glimpse of hope in the rhetoric of the religious right in this matter. In its advertisements, the right admirably insists that "ex-gays" be allowed a forum, and to be free from abuse, derision or condescension.

I couldn't agree more. The kind of struggle that these people have had in their lives is a struggle that just about every gay person recognizes. It is the struggle to become who you are. If someone genuinely feels he cannot live with himself as a gay man and decides to submit to grueling therapy and join a particular sect of American Protestantism to be able to live a heterosexual life, then who am I to stand in his way? These conflicts are so deep, these choices so personal, that only the individual can resolve them.

But by the same token, doesn't the "ex-gay" owe the same tolerance to me? Shouldn't this struggle be deemed beyond the reach of politics and coercion? If one owes it to an ex-gay not to cast aspersions on her sincerity and mental health, should one not also owe it to a lesbian?

I would not, moreover, deny someone her civil rights because she resolved this issue in a heterosexual way. I wouldn't deny her the right to marry the person she loves, nor would I deem her beneath the civic responsibility to defend her country in the military. On what principled, nonsectarian grounds, then, would she plausibly deny those same civil rights to me?

In a strange but beautiful way, then, the religious right may have finally stumbled onto the true moral ground. The more you think about it, the rights of former homosexuals are truly indistinguishable from the rights of gay men and women. Those rights include the pursuit of happiness as one sees fit, and equal protection of the laws in a republic where no single religion is privileged.

So let the leaders of the religious right continue their battle for self- determination. But let them apply that principle universally. They will discover that they have joined the gay rights movement after all.

Andrew Sullivan, a senior editor at The New Republic, is the author of the forthcoming "Love Undectectable."
 
 

Straight to Hell: 
When Gays Go Hetero, the Consequences Can Be Anything But Redemptive
by Mark Schoofs

Jeffrey Coates just couldn't see a way out. He had spent his entire
life trying not to be gay, but it wasn't working. Until he was 29, he had no sex
at all. Then, after an encounter with another man, he threw himself into
Homosexuals Anonymous and Desert Stream, a fundamentalist ministry that
offered an intense, 20-week program to convert homosexuals into
heterosexuals.

Coates was awarded a certificate for making excellent progress, but, he
says, "I felt absolutely no different inside." After two more years of trying to
change, Coates ended up in a desperate bind. "I was taught that suicide was
a sin, so I thought there was no way out," he says. He decided to "just hope
that God will realize I'm killing myself for the right reasons."

Coates went to a bar, mixed some drinks with pills, then tried to drive
home over the narrow, winding roads of the Hollywood Hills, hoping to crash
into the canyon. He kept blacking out at the wheel, swerving into the other
lane or out to the edge of the shoulder, but didn't actually crash until he
ran into a parked car two blocks from home.

What compelled Coates to try so ardently to "cure" something that is
not an illness? His answer seems simple: Raised Baptist in Missouri, the
42-year-old Californian says, "I was taught that homosexuals would go to hell."
Ex-gay ministries insist they're not recruiting anyone, but the stories of those
who have gone through their programs show that most people enter "conversion
therapy" under duress-what some survivors call "psychological terrorism."
And the therapy itself can wreak harm, as it did to Coates.

Yet the movement to "heal" gays has suddenly gained media credibility,
simply because conservative political groups, such as the Christian
Coalition and the Family Research Council, shelled out $200,000 for a high- profile ad
campaign. Over the past few weeks, they've run full-page ads in major
American dailies featuring former lesbian Anne Paulk, now married to a former drag queen,
and a group photo of "ex-gays."
A new ad, in The Miami Herald, opens with the headline "From innocence to
AIDS" and warns of "the physical and spiritual consequences of sin."

These ads are only one salvo in an aggressive political assault on gays
timed to the midterm elections. While Trent Lott quips that homosexuals can be
compared to alcoholics and kleptomaniacs, congressional Republicans are
pushing at least three antigay bills. "Christian groups are reinvigorating
their long-standing crusade against homosexuality, but with an unprecedented
degree of unity and coordination," concludes The Washington Post.

Many of these attacks seem to be backfiring. Gerald Ford, for example,
recently warned his party of the dangers of extremism and reaffirmed his
support of gay rights. The ex-gay ads portray a kinder, gentler homophobia,
but The New Republic's Andrew Sullivan smoked the true antigay hate out from
behind the rhetoric of Christian love and healing. In a dramatic moment on
Nightline, Sullivan prodded Janet Folger, who orchestrated the ex-gay ad
blitz, to admit that she supports laws that criminalize homosexual sex,
allowing gay men and lesbians to be imprisoned for making love even in the
privacy of their own homes.

Indeed, the main impetus for the ex-gay ads lies in the polls.
According to Gallup, only 13 percent of Americans believed homosexuality was innate in
1977, the year Anita Bryant waged her antigay campaign. But by 1996, that
figure had soared to 31 percent. Those same polls show that Americans are
more than twice as likely to accept homosexuality if they believe it is innate,
like race. "If people believe it's a choice," says CNN commentator William
Schneider, "then they aren't going to be as sympathetic." The right is
betting that ex-gays will convince Americans homosexuality is a choice -- a
dangerous and depraved one.

The media have largely focused on the question posed by the ads: Can
gays change? The press has certainly cast doubt on whether that's possible,
usually by quoting "ex-ex-gays," who say they were able to alter their behavior but
not their core desires, and by citing the American Psychological Association,
which discourages conversion therapies because there is no credible evidence
they work. But what the press has all but overlooked is why anyone would
want to change his or her sexual orientation in the first place.

It's a glaring omission, because even the most "successful" ex-gays
describe the process as torturous. "Six years of extreme, intense struggle"
is how Elaine Sinnard, who runs an ex-gay ministry in Middletown, New York,
describes her effort -- which she says has worked -- to overcome her
lesbianism. Some programs try to butch up gay men and femme down lesbians by
taking the men to sporting events and teaching the women how to put on
makeup, or by pairing gays with a heterosexual mentor who can teach them
conventional gender behavior. Some therapists tell their patients to imagine that the
same-sex objects of their desires are diseased, perhaps with AIDS. A group in
Memphis, Tennessee, runs a year-long live-in program. Attempts at
exorcism --which survivors call emotionally devastating -- sometimes occur.

Homophobia is so pervasive that many heterosexuals just assume gays
would want to change, and don't think there's anything wrong with asking them to
try. As Dave Lemon, a gay Oklahoman who tried for years to become
heterosexual, says, "Ask some straight guy to imagine what it would be like
if he was told, 'You can't love women and now you're going to have to love a
guy.' Tell 'em that, and then they get it."

"I'm not trying to convert homosexuals," says Sinnard, "unless I would
try to convert them to God through Jesus Christ. And I would work my head
off for that." Of course, proselytizing to homosexuals is de facto recruitment
to ex-gay ministries. Indeed, it is almost impossible to comprehend the ex-gay
movement without first understanding religious homophobia. True, there is a
secular network of "reparative therapists" called the National Association
for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), but even it has strong
religious ties; NARTH cofounder Joseph Nicolosi is a Roman Catholic whose
clinic is named after Thomas Aquinas. And most of the larger groups, such as
Exodus and Homosexuals Anonymous, are explicitly Christian.

"The nonbeliever has great difficulty understanding [ex-gay
ministries], because we are talking about a supernatural transformation that God brings
about," says Michael Johnston, the HIV-positive, former homosexual who
appeared in the "From innocence to AIDS" ad, and is now president of Kerusso
Ministries, a prominent ex-gay organization. Overcoming homosexuality "is
not about rational thought or rational discussion," he explains, which is why he
dismisses "much of psychology" and the APA's 25-year-old position that
homosexuality is not an illness.

Homosexuality is an "abomination," Johnson explains, because in the
fullness of time, Jesus the bridegroom will unite with his bride, the church
of believers. Even though God has aspects of both masculinity and
femininity, and even though "in our glorified bodies there will be no sex," nevertheless
marriage between a man and woman is a "picture of the relationship between
God and his people." Therefore, he concludes, "a homosexual relationship
perverts that [divine] relationship to the greatest possible extent."

The power of religion is such that, to Johnston, this explanation seems
absolutely clear and true. Once fundamentalist premises are accepted, there
is no way to be gay and remain in God's grace, so shame, guilt, and self-hate
follow. Brandon Bauer, now 28, couldn't reconcile being gay with Mormon
teachings, so at 17 he tried to kill himself. That's when "therapy" began. A
Mormon psychologist assured him he was "under Satan's influence" and that
Satan was deceiving him into thinking he couldn't change. He was repeatedly
offered electroshock therapy, which he refused. Bauer's parents were told to
time his showers so he wouldn't have a chance to masturbate and to remove
any kind of magazine "like GQ, that might have underwear models." A church
bishop gave Bauer a private theological seminar, writing the levels of sin on a
blackboard. "He put murder as one step better than homosexuality," Bauer
recalls. "He said, 'God could forgive a murderer, but He could never forgive
a homosexual.' It haunts me to this day."

Each religious sect offers different therapies, but they all paint a
distorted and dire portrait of gay life. Bauer recalls being told
homosexuality would mean "a life of promiscuity and drug use and really
sleazy bars that would be horribly lonely. I would never be loved, because that's
impossible between people of same sex." Denied a healthy sexual outlet,
Bauer became "like two different people. I wanted to please everyone, to be
straight and have kids and be included. Meanwhile the other part of me sneaks out at
night and drinks and has sex. I felt like I was having this depressing life,
just like they said, so I started to believe them to a certain extent."
Bauer has since accepted his homosexuality, but he says conversion therapy scarred
him in ways that make it hard for him to maintain relationships.

NARTH, the ostensibly secular psychological organization, deploys a
similar hurt-then-heal strategy. "Homosexuality is maladaptive, it's
universally maladaptive," asserts NARTH cofounder Joseph Nicolosi. "More
pathology and self-destructive behavior is associated with the gay
lifestyle,"
he says, citing cigarette smoking, alcoholism, sadomasochism, failed
relationships, "narcissism for the homosexual, borderline personality for
the lesbian."

If the rarified religious and psychological rhetoric fails, there's
always crotch homophobia: "Our bodies were not made for homosexual sex,"
says Kerusso Ministry's Johnston. "The anus was not made to be penetrated." Never
mind that many heterosexuals practice anal sex, and that many gay men (not
to mention lesbians) never do. These are facts any psychologist ought to know,
but Nicolosi is practically Johnston's
echo: "I think the penis was made for a vagina; I don't think it was made
for another man's rectum." Asked if the penis was made for the hand or the
mouth, other body parts in which it often finds itself happily ensconced, Nicolosi
snaps, "I don't want to get into that."

Despite the extreme pressure, most people who attempt to change their
sexuality fail. NARTH and Exodus, the largest Christian ex-gay ministry,
both claim "cure" rates of about one third. Exodus offers no scientific backup
for its claim, and NARTH offers evidence that is at best flimsy. On its Web
page, NARTH quotes ex-gay Alan Medinger as saying, "Years after I had left behind
virtually all homosexual attractions, and years after a blessed and
pleasurable sexual relationship in my marriage, one factor continued to
disturb me. If an attractive man and an attractive woman enter a room, it is
the man I will look at first." NARTH counts this man as successfully cured.

Ariel Shidlo and Michael Schroeder, two New York psychologists who are
studying the effects of conversion therapies, say they have five out of 150
participants in their study who are happy with their change to a
heterosexual
life, though all of them still have homosexual desires. Shidlo says, "We
want to follow them over the long term," says Shidlo, "because many of our other
subjects say they were happy with their change for months or even years, but
now look back on that period as a time of not accepting their true desires."

Some ex-gay leaders focus on behavior only. "I don't believe men and
women can go into therapy and come out the other end heterosexual," says
Johnston. He says that God has changed his own sexual desires from gay to
straight but, he insists, "I don't think most of us have experienced that in
the long run." To promise a cure is "setting someone up for a great deal of
frustration. Christian law is not about eliminating sinful desires, it's
about overcoming them."

Thus, the vast majority of people who try to change their sexual
orientation can expect years of hardship followed not by a genuine
transformation of their erotic attractions but by a suppression of their
feelings, what ex-ex-gay Lemon calls "living a lie."

This tangled web often ensnares other people. At the height of his effort
to become straight, Kelly Kirby of Tulsa, Oklahoma, "proposed to three women
in six months, and the third one said yes. I didn't have a loving bond with
her, in the sense of this is the person I want to spend my life with, but I
thought, 'She would make a good wife and this is what I need to do."' Kirby
stayed married for 13 years and had four children before he finally accepted
being gay.
 
 

In The Eye of the Storm:
Gay Christians Tackle Mainstream Christianity
by: Michael Geisterfer
 
 

            It's Sunday morning in the Waterloo, Ontario Christian Reformed Church. A lone
            microphone is standing at the front of the sanctuary and during prayer requests an
            elderly man in his sixties walks up to it and shyly clears his throat. His shoulders are
            stooped slightly and he peers out at the congregation through wire-rimmed spectacles
            that frame his bewildered, pain-filled eyes: eyes that smile softly even as they bespeak
            the sadness I know he feels.

            "I want to thank God for bringing me here today," he says, his voice trembling slightly,
            tentative, as if unsure if he should proceed or just go back to his pew and sit down. He
            continues: "I know that he loves me just as I am and that Jesus died for my sins." Then
            he returns to his seat and a warm, sympathetic applause breaks out. Everyone there
            knows how difficult it was for him to do what he just did. For many of them the mixture
            of pain and joy he exudes reflects their own quandary. It is the last day of the
            International AWARE (As We Are) conference and most of the participants are
            precisely like him, struggling to situate themselves as gay and lesbian Christians
            within a church tradition that most believe wants nothing to do with them.

            "The Christian Reformed Church is my home," the elderly man tells me over a pancake
            breakfast just one day into the conference. "If I were to come out to my church
            community," he sighs and shrugs his shoulders. "All of my friends are there. I would
            lose everything."

            He is retired now but for over thirty years he worked as a Christian school teacher in
            the small Prairie town where he still resides. He hid his homosexuality not just from the
            Christian community, but from his wife and children as well. It wasn't until he retired
            and all of the children were out of the house that he separated from his wife and faced
            the implications of his sexual orientation.

            "Did you choose to be gay?" I ask him.

            He laughs with chagrin. "Of course not. I've always known that I was gay, ever since I
            was a child. I just kept it hidden, suppressed, hoping it would go away." It never did of
            course, and his struggle to keep it all under wraps led to a hellish personal life and an
            anguished spiritual odyssey. Like most people -gay or straight- he had to work through
            his own homophobia, his inbred fear of homosexuality which not only his church, but
            society in general had taught him was unnatural, repulsive and even vile: an
            abomination in the eyes of the Lord.

            The problem for him was that on a practical, physical level, none of these things were
            true. His natural sexual attraction has always been towards men, not women. It had
            been a constant painful struggle for him to maintain normal conjugal relations with his
            wife, so unnatural was heterosexuality for him.

            Yet, what of all the biblical prescriptions condemning homosexuality? He shakes his
            head in bewilderment. "I know that Jesus loves me as I am," he says. "I know he
            created me this way."

            It is a dilemma that most Christian homosexuals face as they struggle to reconcile the
            apparent chasm that exists between their sexual orientation and their faith. If one is to
            believe the popular rhetoric on the subject, there can be no bridging of the gap. "It's an
            oxymoron," says one Canadian Baptist official. "How can one be both a Christian and
            a homosexual? The two are mutually exclusive. Homosexuality is a sin. It's a
            perversion that goes entirely against God's plan."

            Not so says Reverend Mel White, a Fuller Seminary graduate and former ghost-writer
            and confidante of such contemporary evangelical giants as Jerry Falwell, Pat
            Robertson and Billy Graham. Addressing the Saturday evening banquet of the AWARE
            conference, he declared that "sexual orientation is a gift from God." For him the issue is
            not homosexuality, it is fundamentalism.

            "There is a purging going on in the world today. Islamic fundamentalists are shooting
            moderate Muslims, Christian fundamentalists are shooting abortion doctors and gay
            people," he says, all of it in the name of moral cleansing.

            A child of Christian fundamentalists, White was weaned in the highest corridors of the
            Christian Right movement before "outing" himself as a gay man in 1991. He has now
            become one of North America's most outspoken Christian gay rights activists, traveling
            the world preaching a gospel of love and militancy. Drawing upon the non-violent civil
            rights campaigns of both Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., White describes
            his own struggles with mainstream Christianity as a battle of truth versus untruth, and a
            question of soul-force.

            "Gays and lesbians are going to transform the Church. I don't think we know what our
            souls are capable of until we unleash their power," he tells his AWARE audience, "We
            can win this battle if we learn to out-love them. We must love the sinner, but hate their
            rhetoric." It is the anti-homosexual rhetoric of the Christian Right that White sees as the
            main obstacle to Christian gays and lesbians gaining legitimacy within the mainstream
            Christian church.

            "Homosexuals have become the new scapegoats of Christian fundamentalists," he
            says. "The latter are engaging in politics of blame. They blame the earthquakes in
            California for that state,s tolerance of >homosexuals. They blame gays and lesbians
            for the breakdown of the family unit, for destroying heterosexual marriages, for
            molesting little children. They,ve got to find an enemy. Demographics show that if you
            create a threat, people respond with money."

            For White, the struggle with Christian fundamentalism is more than political. It is deeply
            personal. During his first year as Dean of the Cathedral of Hope Metropolitan
            Community Church in Dallas, Texas, he had to assist at the funerals of twelve
            members of his church who had been killed in episodes of gay-bashing. Statistics
            show that 26% of all hate crimes in Los Angeles are directed at gay men. White
            believes that there is a direct link between these crimes and the rhetoric of Christian
            fundamentalists.

            "If you take Leviticus 20 literally," says White, "then killing gays and lesbians is divinely
            ordained. I've had Christians stand up in meetings and tell me as much, that there
            should be capital punishment for homosexuality because God says so in the Bible."

            For many moderate Christians, the Bible is itself the greatest stumbling block to open
            acceptance of gays and lesbians. What does one do with the many texts that overtly
            condemn homosexual practice?

            "It's all a bit of a smoke-screen," says Hendrik Hart, a professor of philosophy at the
            Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. "These texts can be treated in the same way
            as we treat the Apostle Paul's prescriptions for women to wear long hair. Instead,
            people use them to absolve themselves of their responsibility to interpret these
            passages and to know what the Spirit is saying to the Church today."

            In other words, Christians could ignore those passages just as they ignore numerous
            others that don,t particularly fit into contemporary lifestyles or theologies. The fact that
            they don't reveals more about their hidden biases than their adherence to the doctrine
            of scriptural inerrancy, according to Dr. White.

            "You can't reason someone out of something they didn't reason themselves into in the
            first place," he says. Most people have a strong visceral reaction to the mere thought of
            same-gender sexual intimacy.

            "I just think it's disgusting," says Carmen King, an evangelical Christian singer and
            song-writer living in Toronto, "and that's independent of what the Bible says about it."
            Her reaction is typical of most heterosexual people, Christian or otherwise. But does
            that visceral repugnance to the homosexual act in itself justify taking such a strong
            theological stance against it?

            "I once tried making love to a woman, just to prove I could do it," William Markus, a gay
            friend of the family once confided to me a few years before his death from AIDS. "That
            was disgusting."

            Mel White concurs. "The issue is no longer even an issue. The American Medical
            Association has stated that any doctor who tries to convert a gay person from
            homosexuality should be tried for malpractice. It is as natural to be gay as it is to be
            left-handed."

            It is precisely this notion, however, that has Christian fundamentalists seeing red.
            When Dr. White first published his autobiography, Stranger at the Gate, he received
            75,000 positive letters from people saying that was the first time they had ever heard
            anyone say that God loves gay people. He also received about 100 hate letters written
            on clerical stationary. "To say that God loves homosexuals is the worst," White says.
            "They go crazy."

            Listening to the soft-spoken school teacher from the Prairies though, it is hard to argue
            otherwise. "I know Jesus loves me," he says with quiet conviction. Behind his soft gaze
            I can sense a steely determination to hang on to that belief in spite of the storm raging
            around him on the issue, a storm not likely to abate anytime in the near future.
 
 

This issue has been dedicated to exploring the question "Can you be gay and Christian?" I believe our contributors have searched the scriptures and given us a resounding "YES!"

Now that we know God loves us and made us just as we are, where do we go from here? We must explore the question of what it means to be a Christian, regardless of our sexual orientation.

For many, the book of Romans is a painful chapter of the Bible, containing what many see as the most damning of the passages against homosexuality. But, Romans is a valuable resource for guidance on how to be good Christians.

In Romans 12:9-17, Paul's advice to Jesus' followers is: "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited. Repay no evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all."

Those are words that speak to every Christian, but I believe they hold a deeper meaning for gay and lesbian Christians. Everyday we are persecuted by people and groups that claim to represent the "Christian" perspective. But, as Paul advises, we must be patient in tribulation, praying constantly that God will open the eyes of those who seek to harm us. Instead of hoping for bad things to happen to members of the Religious Right who persecute us, we should bless them. They should be in our prayers every day. If we seek to bless our enemies rather than do them harm, Paul tells us "by doing so you will heap burning coals upon (their)heads." What a horrible thought for Pat Robertson, to be blessed and prayed over by a bunch of gay Christians! Praise God!

But remember, our prayers must be genuine. God knows the difference between an honest heart and and spiteful one. He hears and will act if we sincerely pray for God's blessings on those who hate us. Only through God's wisdom will others realize that we too are God's children. He made us, and loves us just the way we are.

Until that day we must honestly live the Christian life and do our best to show God's love through our lives. As Paul tells us in the end of Romans 12: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

STEP UP AND SPEAK OUT
By Steve Gunderson

  When I first ran for Congress in 1980, the Communists were still America's
enemy.  Amid the embarrassment of the hostage situation in Iran, Ronald
Reagan's commitment to a strong national defense swept him into the White
House and the rest of us into Congress.  In today's political climate,
especially within the Republican Party, I find myself longing for Ronald
Reagan -- and those Communists!

  For some time I have suggested that the worst thing to happen to the gay
movement was the collapse of Communism.  It doesn't take a Ph.D. in either
history or political science to recognize the direct correlation between the
fall of Communism and the increased attacks on America's gay men and
lesbians.  The political right argues that the attacks are in response to
our increased visibility, our activism, and, of course, our agenda!  But we
need to understand that the attacks are based on their essential and
desperate need for an opponent.

   No movement -- certainly no special interest -- can organize, fundraise,
or motivate without an enemy.  And with the fall of Communism, we became the
enemy of the far right.  For a while their wrath was directed toward many
groups, including welfare recipients, immigrants, and those who refused to
balance the budget.  But now we are the only enemy remaining upon which the
Right can build their "agenda" of organization and fund-raising.  Communism
is dead (except in Cuba).  Welfare as we knew it has been abolished in many
states.  Immigration reform has stopped those "foreigners" from taking our
jobs.  And Congress has balanced the budget.  Who's left to attack?  Us.

  While it is tempting to get angry, I would prefer that we become
inspired.  For some time it has been clear that the last remaining barriers
to equality and justice for gay men and lesbians would be the church and the
Republican Party.  As some Republicans increasingly try to make the party
their religion, the line between the two grows more difficult to see.
   But we are not the desperate ones in this fight.  The 1997 budgets for
the religious right groups Focus on the Family ($110 million) and the
Christian Coalition ($27 million) explain their leaders' real motives.
Compare those budgets to that of our largest gay and lesbian organization,
the Human Rights Campaign ($13 million), and you begin to understand all of
this is about raising money.

  Or consider the challenge of the interest group leaders.  With no
Washington agenda and projected low voter turnout, they are seeking ways to
activate their constituency.  For them, this is nothing more than crass
political strategy.  Their people will vote.  Ours likely will not.

  My question is whether we will allow them, through our lethargy, to
reward those who attack us for their personal political gain.
   Our simple task is to begin a dialogue with America.  The people of this
nation, including most Republicans and most people of faith, are committed
to fairness.  We simply must give them the facts -- not the stereotypes --
of our community.

   How?

   First, we must come out.  Individuals may decide when and how, but in a
fight of this magnitude, there is no longer an option.  Only we as
individuals can educate our family, friends, and colleagues.

   Second, those of us who are out need to recognize the real enemy and quit
 attacking each other.  Yes, we can accept that we will always differ on
certain issues, but surely we can agree on our common goals.  We can and
must present a unified message.  We will not accept discrimination.

   Third, we must all reclaim our God.  The church that can deal with the
realities of divorce can deal with the realities of homosexuality.  No
church can deny us the love of our God simply because we are gay or lesbian.

  Finally, we must become savvy warriors in this public relations battle.
Years ago, when people didn't listen to us, our actions and remarks escaped
the scrutiny of an ambivalent public.  The Republican Party has put the
spotlight on our community, and America is finally listening to everything
we say.  It's time to grab the microphone and speak clearly.

Gunderson was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from
1981 to 1997.
 

The following announcement - allegedly distributed by the Associated Press on April 1 - has caused a great deal of discussion as to its veracity and validity. Considering some of the hateful rehetoric coming from the radical Christian Right, you be the judge....

In a somewhat suprising announcement, three right wing Christian groups - the Family Research Council, the Christian Coalition, and Americans For Truth About Homosexuality - have announced that they were urging their members to cease using the King James Version of the Bible, known as KJV.

The King James Version was commissioned by King James I of England (also known as James VI of Scotland) whom scholars are now fairly certain to have been homosexual and produced in 1611.

Biographer David Harris Willson, who authored King James VI and I, is in do doubt:

"Oh, yes, James had a number of 'favorites' such as Earl of Somerset, and the Duke of Buckingham with whom he uhdoubtedly had sexual relationships."

Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council, who recently announced he was considering a run for the Republican nomination in 2000, has said that Christians should cease using the translation and use, instead, a more recent version of the Bible such as "The Good News Bible" or the "Revised Standard Version."

Speaking at a press conference, Gary Bauer said, "I feel uncomfortable that good Christians all over America, and indeed the world, are using a document commissioned by a homosexual. Anything that has been commissioned by a homosexual has obviously been tainted in some way."

Standing alongside Bauer, Peter LaBarbera of the Washington D. C. based Americans For Truth About Homosexuality agreed.

"The homosexual has, from the earliest times, sought to subvert Christianity in many subtle ways - some so subtle that we scarcely notice. I would ask Christians to check who is responsible for both the translation as well as the editing of their Bibles. We need to be vigilant."

Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition, based in Virginia, sent apologies for not being able to attend the press conference. In a phone conversation he said, "It is very important that we stand up to the homosexual wherever and whenever he appears."

Is it true or not.......................?

"Whosoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be saved" John 3:16

This is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible, yet there are churches that add 'except' to it.

Various churches are so protective of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they excluded people for whom Jesus died.  Contrary to Scripture, the thought is portrayed that God prefers married couples.  While these churches make an attempt to discourage divorce, even the couples who choose to divorce and re-marry are welcomed into their congregations.  It seems that the only people who have no place in the Kingdom of God are the ones who didn't choose their orientation - the homosexuals.  The basic Biblical principle in John 3:16 is that God accepts all of us
as we are!

Even the early church had a problem believing "Whosoever" meant everyone especially Gentiles.  Gentiles was used of anyone that was not a Jew and were considered pagans, much of the same reaction that gay Christians are feeling today from several fundamental churches.  It took a vision from God before St. Peter would believe that salvation included Gentiles (Acts 10).  But through the vision of the events that followed, Peter discovered that God is accepting of all people.  His fellow believers in Jerusalem were not so willing to accept this new truth.  In Acts 11:1-8 Peter had to defend his new found belief to the church.

Even well meaning Christian people have a difficulty accepting the fact that God is opening up doors to groups of people that have been previously labeled as unclean.  Several Judaizers (those who tried to impose the law of Moses on Christians) would not have anything to do with Peter after his return from this meeting with the Gentiles.  All Gentiles were considered unclean people according to Jewish law, therefore, Peter too was unclean by association!  This was Peter, a leader in the early church that was about to be excommunicated.  If this could happen to Peter why are we suprised when it happens to any of us.  This has happened to several gay and lesbian Christians as well as ministers of the gospel that have reached out to this community.  Peter's response is almost humorous when the Holy Spirit has fallen on the Gentiles and Peter acknowledges how God feels about the Gentiles in Acts 10:35:

"I preceive that God is no respector of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

God did not simply decide that on that day he would choose to love the Gentiles.  He always loved them, but it took direct action from God for the church to realize this.  It will also take divine intervention in all churches.

Since the beginning of time, God has always loved His creation and desired to have fellowship with them.  However, when sin entered the world and in our lives He was not able to have the fellowship he so desired.  That is why God sent His only son, Jesus, to die for our sins.  It was God who raised him from the dead so tht we could again have fellowship with Him.  God did all the work and is still searching and reaching out to everyone.  When a person realizes it is God himself that accepts that person as a "Whosoever," then the unacceptance of other believers can be dealt with a little easier because we all know that God's acceptance is more valuable than man's!  Another verse that confirms God's acceptance of all is Romans 10:13.  It reads:

"Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

This verse says nothing about race, color, or sexual orientation, but "Whosoever."

Peter had been devoted to the Jewish faith.  He knew the Levitical Law.  The sheet that was lowered to him in Acts 10 was full of unclean animals that were an abomination for the Jews to eat.  Then a loud voice told him to kill and eat.  Peter was hungry, yet in spite of his hynger he would not defile himself with anything unclean.  God let him know that He had cleansed the most unclean thing.  Once God declares soemthing or someone clean, who are we to declare it unclean!  It was because of the stereotype of the Gentiles hygiene and sanitation that caused them to be declared unclean.  Because of stereotypes, the gay community has also been declared unclean by some.  There are segments of the community, as in any community who are not following Christ, that are unclean.  But, "Whosoever" accepts Christ as Lord and Savior are declared clean through Jesus Christ.  Sexual orientation is not the issue, believing is!

God told Peter to go to the Gentiles, doubting nothing.  That term is Diakrino in the Greek.  It connotes a conflict with oneself in the sense of hesitation, heavy misgivings or wavering between hope and fear.

Those times when knowing what God is saying and yet also knowing what people will say causes fear, anxiety and frustration.  No one wants to be ostracized especially for serving God.  Buw when God sends someone out He reminds that person to have faith in Him and not fear people.  If God be for us who can be against us.  God will further prove himself to us by sending us evidence of the Holy Spirit.  No one can deny those results!

Looking again in Acts 10, Peter began to preach Jesus and as the Gentiles heard the word, the greatest thing happened.  The Gentile Pentecost took place.  Before Peter could finish his sermon the Holy Spirit fell on them with the evidence of speaking in tongues.  They had not been taught regarding the Holy Spirit, yet were filled.

The Holy Spirit brought poser to the early church and that same Spirit was given to the Gentiles and is the same Spirit that empowers us today.  The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is one of the many  ways we know God has placed his stamp of approval on us and is proud to call us His!  It is that Holy Spirit power that brings each of us the personal edification we need to move on in Christ which is also for public exhortation for the entire body of believers.

The Christian brothers that went with Peter when the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles were amazed that Gentiles are considered "Whosoever."  Once people get over their initial shock that God accepts gay people as a "Whosoever" can they begin to glorify God realizing that he loves and accepts all His creation.

This story in Acts 10 &11 demonstrates that it matters not what men think about us, it only matters what God thinks of us. God accepts you just the way you are and wants to become involved in your life.  As the Holy Sprit takes up residency in your heart, he will continue to confirm that God has not cast you out, but rather sought you out.
You are a "Whosoever."

Pastor Jerrell Walls
Christ Chapel of the Valley
11050 Hartsook Street
North Hollywood, CA  91601
 

Epistles.......from readers:
"...Poet Marge Piercy : “We must act out justice and mercy and healing as the sun rises and as the sun sets, as the moon rises and the stars wheel above us, we must repair goodness....We will try to be holy, we will try to repair the world given to us to hand on."

Dear One,
Thought this poet expressed my sentiments quite well.  In our effort to see the world clearly, we must never find ourselves judging others. For those who think God gives them the right to judge, I hope they remember how much more important it is for them to have mercy. Healing comes not from being so righteous that we feel superior to others, it comes from taking your arm and putting it around the one you thought was less worthy.

I wish you God speed today in doing your part in healing the world..."

************

"....I heard Louis Schmedes at a symposium on homosexuality early last year. He labors over the "sin" issue. But, of all of the conservatives on the panel, he was the only one to ask the intelligent question: If they are sinners, why do they worship Jesus? Why do they (homosexuals) band together to worship God? The Fuller students (listening in the audience) had no answers.

This respected, gray-haired evangelical professor, obviously a conservative person, said to the audience that he had attended worship services in gay and lesbian churches, despite his problem with the sexual issue. He testified that the men and women in such churches worshipped with as much heart, prayed with as much fervency, preached with as much spirit, and showed as much (or more) love than their heterosexual brothers and sisters in evangelical churches. I wish you could have been there to listen to him..."

************

"People say I have been harping on judgment and love of late. That is probably true, because there seems to be an abundance of judgment and not nearly enough love. Among ex-members of the WCG, there seems to be a plethora of justifiable reasons to be hurt and angry. We waste so much of our energies in focusing on what was or could have been. We waste even more precious hours debating theology with the entrenched views of those who see our life as a style chosen for the effect of intimidating others.

I was baptized 20 years ago and can honestly say I have more questions now than I did then. Par for the course, eh? With the ever expanding awareness of ideas comes either blind acceptance or searching questions. Being the doubting Thomas that I am (and happy to be so), I am ever questioning the paradigms that have brought me to this moment in time.

I am not afraid to question the such sacrosanct ideas as "Pride Week". I have realized that I am not the only one uncomfortable with the idea. My vote is to have a "Humility Week" combined with a "Gratitude Week". But, hey, who elected me president?!

This Web Page ought to be a grand forum to expand and grow together as the brothers we are. Though it would be great to set all the anger and frustration aside and just move forward, I am aware of the need we have to share such heartaches as a mechanism of healing. Yet the worthy goal we ought to be working toward is to release the negativity and soar to new heights. "To those who love God and are called according to his promise, nothing shall offend them!" Isn't that a fabulous, grand, delightfully titillating goal? (Sorry, but I am gay!)

Don't be afraid to go against the perceived grain. Each of us may share a sexual orientation, but we are, after all, individuals of such special significance to God and to each other. Think freely, share openly, and feel more connected to this family.

Finally, we must never lock ourselves into rigid positions of belief. Being malleable is each man's hope of becoming like God. Faith is a hope and hope is not a tangibly provable concept. It is an individually based premise from which we all build upon. If we become too dogmatic about the our views, we risk shaming ourselves in the same manner as other well-meaning Christians and non-Christians alike. So learn to bend a bit and accept the need to constantly thinks things through before we expound.

This Web Page will enhance our knowledge about each other and allow us to grow in setting an example of love to the world. It is the walk, not the talk that we are impressed with.....and so goes the society we live in."
 
 
 

This web page is dedicated to all the Swans who refused to be chickens!

A special thanks to the owner of this web address for letting us build this site on his address. This will give his detracters more fuel for their self-righteous, judgemental, hypocritical, unchristian attitudes. :-)

Gay and Lesbian Christians, Worldwide Church of God, WCG, United Church of God, UCG, Global Church of God, GCG, Philadelphia Church of God, PCG,

Christian Biblical Church of God, Church of God International, Church of God, Sabbath Keepers, Herbert W. Armstrong, HWA, Garner Ted Armstrong, GTA,

Ambassador College, AC, Ambassador University, AU, Joseph, Tkach, David Hulme, Ambassador, Ambassador Foundation, Ambassador Auditorium, Birds of a Feather, Imperial Schools, Rod Meredith, Gerald Flurry

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A special thanks to Janice and Stan for their endless supply of humorous anecdotes and for showing us how true Christians should REALLY act, and for giving us the reason to put this web site up.
 

 
 

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