The DenverPost.com reports that Ted Haggard is awash in Denial:
The Rev. Ted Haggard emerged from three weeks of intensive counseling convinced he is “completely heterosexual” and told an oversight board that his sexual contact with men was limited to his accuser.
Rev. Haggard, this is reality calling. Please face the facts: You Are Gay! You’re just making your life more and more miserable by trying to deny this fact. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s the way that God made you! Embrace who you are.
I still don’t know whether I should feel sorry for church leaders who get busted for homosexual tendencies, or whether I should chalk it up karmic justice. Here in Colorado, there have been two church leaders in the past month (via 9news.com):
The church allowed our partner at the Denver Post to view a video tape Barnes made for his congregation, announcing he has experienced homosexual tendencies since he was a child. The married pastor appears on the tape alongside his wife.Another pastor, the Reverend Ted Haggard, created a national stir last month when he was fired from the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs amid allegations he engaged in sex with a male prostitute and used drugs.
I want to feel sorry for these men. Both have had to struggle their whole lives, not being able to admit that they are gay. Both tried to deny to the world (and probably to themselves) how they truly felt. Both were living double-lives, with all the fear and guilt and shame that comes with it. It would be easy to feel sorry for them.
But on the other hand, both men stood up in front of hundreds of people and talked about the evils of homosexuality. Both worked to restrict the rights of gays. In the case of Ted Haggard, he fought tooth-and-nail against marriage equality. In other words, both sold out homosexuals everywhere in a bid to hide their own homosexuality. That is pathetic, mean-spirited, selfish, and more than a little evil.
In my opinion, it is okay to hate something within one’s self. It may not be healthy, but it is okay. It drives some people to make changes to either come to terms with one’s self, or change. But it is not okay to force your self-hatred on other people. That is just plain wrong.
So now I probably should’ve expected this: Colorado voters are of two minds regarding marriage equality (via 9news.com):
A new poll shows Colorado voters want to define marriage and, at the same time, allow same-sex couples to become domestic partners.Amendment 43 wants to change the Colorado Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
Referendum I would establish a relationship between same-sex couples as a legal domestic partnership.
So the majority of Coloradoans want to make sure the term “marriage” can never be applied to same-sex couples. But on the other hand, it looks like Coloradoans also want to make sure that same-sex couples have all the rights and privileges as married couples. Does anyone wonder why living here is both encouraging and frustrating?
Boo and hiss to those who want to vote yes on Amendment 43. Huzzah for those who want to vote yes on I. I reckon that, once everything is sorted out, the net result will be a positive movement towards marriage equality here in Colorado. Like I’ve said before, this is a long journey, but we will eventually see this through.
For those who wonder: I voted No on 43 and Yes on I.
There’s good news for marriage equality out of the New Jersey Supreme Court:
New Jersey’s Supreme Court opened the door to gay marriage Wednesday, ruling that homosexuals are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals, but leaving it to lawmakers to legalize same-sex unions.The high court gave lawmakers 180 days to rewrite marriage laws to either include same-sex couples or create a new system of civil unions for them.
This is a most wonderful step in the right direction. It still allows for legislators to pass Civil Unions instead of allowing Marriage, but that’s a small thing. This ruling still opens up the door for marriage equality. And it creates a precendent to work around all of the “definition of marriage” amendments currently being passed by a number of states. This ruling basically says that states can define marriage however they want, but they cannot deny same-sex couples the same rights that heterosexual couples receive.
The tide is turning. Slowly, but most definitely.
Hooray! Judge strikes down Georgia’s ban on gay marriages
A judge has struck down Georgia’s ban on same-sex marriages, saying a measure overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2004 violated a provision of the state constitution that limits ballot questions to a single subject.The ruling by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance C. Russell had been eagerly awaited by gay-rights supporters who filed the court challenge in November 2004, soon after the constitutional ban was approved.
This might have been struck down on a technicality, but that’s not the important part. The important thing is that the ban was struck down as unconstitutional. There’ll be another attempt to get this passed, of course. But for now, at least, this hateful ban is null and void.
Ugh ugh ugh…. you know that the Catholic church is doing something wrong when members of its own organizations (in this case Catholic charities) resign in protest of the Church’s new medeival views on gay adoption:
The state’s four Catholic bishops said this month that the law threatens the church’s religious freedom by forcing it to do something it considers immoral.
Eight members of Catholic Charities board later stepped down in protest of the bishops’ stance. The 42-member board had voted unanimously in December to continue considering gay households for adoptions.
Catholic Charities has been involved in adoptions for about a century but has had a contract with the state for the past two decades to provide such services to children with severe emotional and physical needs. Its contract with the state expires June 30.
In that time, Catholic Charities has placed 720 children in adoptive homes, including 13 who were placed with same-sex couples, Catholic Charities said.
Never under-estimate the vileness of a homophobe: Drives to ban gay adoption heat up in 16 states.
Efforts to ban gays and lesbians from adopting children are emerging across the USA as a second front in the culture wars that began during the 2004 elections over same-sex marriage.
Steps to pass laws or secure November ballot initiatives are underway in at least 16 states, adoption, gay rights and conservative groups say. Some - such as Ohio, Georgia and Kentucky - approved constitutional amendments in 2004 banning gay marriage. (Related story: Both sides cite concern for children)
“Now that we’ve defined what marriage is, we need to take that further and say children deserve to be in that relationship,” says Greg Quinlan of Ohio’s Pro-Family Network, a conservative Christian group.
Let me make my feelings very clear on this issue: It is evil to restrict a devoted and responsible couple the opportunity to adopt a child. It doesn’t matter what sex the members of the couple are. Studies have proven over and over again that homosexual couples make just as good parents as heterosexual couples. This type of ban hurts prospective parents, and it hurts children who have a chance to go to a great home.
It’s evil to stop this!
I’m pretty sick and tired of hearing about the lunatic - alleged lunatic? - known as the Reverend Fred Phelps. Phelps is an extreme, radical homophobe who enjoys staging anti-gay rallies at the funerals of people who’ve died of AIDS. Unfortunately, while he was doing this, the rest of the nation didn’t really get upset about it.
However, Phelps changed gears recently, and has started having his rallies at military funerals for soldiers who were killed in Iraq. The reason? Some incoherent babble about the soldiers being killled by God as punishment for America harboring homosexuals. Doesn’t make sense to me, either.
There is a little bit of good news in this story, though: it appears that Phelps has earned himself a group of dedicated protesters, a group of motorcycle riders who are driving around the country, setting up counter-protests for Phelps’s rallies. The goal: give the grieving families some privacy as they bury their loved ones.
Wearing vests covered in military patches, a band of motorcyclists rolls around the country from one soldier’s funeral to another, cheering respectfully to overshadow jeers from church protesters.
They call themselves the Patriot Guard Riders, and they are more than 5,000 strong, forming to counter anti-gay protests held by the Rev. Fred Phelps at military funerals.
Phelps believes American deaths in Iraq are divine punishment for a country that he says harbors homosexuals. His protesters carry signs thanking God for so-called IEDs — explosives that are a major killer of soldiers in Iraq.
The bikers shield the families of dead soldiers from the protesters, and overshadow the jeers with patriotic chants and a sea of red, white and blue flags.
Ugh. Doublespeak is alive and well here in Colorado. Coloradans for Marriage, a group of homophobes who don’t have the courage to admit that they are homophobes, have come up with a unique justification to try to pass an anti-gay marriage amendment: love.
Saying they were motivated by love, a coalition of religious and family groups formally kicked off a drive Wednesday for an amendment to the state constitution that would bar gay marriage.
Coloradans for Marriage submitted the proposed wording of the amendment to the Legislative Council office at the state Capitol, the first step toward getting it on the ballot this fall.
The group’s president, Bishop Phillip H. Porter Jr., said the group was acting with “the love of a mother, the gentle guidance of a caring father” to preserve marriage and protect children.
He said the proposed amendment was not about hatred toward gay people.
These types of people are amazing to me. I actually have more respect for someone who comes out and says, “I don’t like gays,” instead of someone who says, “oh, no, I have nothing against gay people. I just don’t want them to have any rights.” Don’t try to hide your prejudices behind pleasantries and double-speak.
Some more good news on the local marriage equality scene:
Senator Tom Plant and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald are proposing a ballot measure that would legalize civil unions for same-sex couples.
The referred measure would need a two-thirds vote in each house to get on the November ballot. It would not require the signature Gov. Bill Owens.
The measure would give same-sex couples the right to visitation and to be involved in the care of hospital patients and nursing home residents, inheritance and pension benefits, access to a partner’s health care benefits and family leave benefits, and the right to take possession of a deceased partner’s remains.
It’s not legalizing marriage, but it’s a step in the right direction.
