Exgay activist Stephen Bennett lent his support Sept. 26 to an Oak Park, Ill., antigay church’s rally against marriage and civil unions for gay couples. He claimed to “love” gay people because he “was once gay,” but he nevertheless supported the denial to gay couples of basic partnership rights — in employment, taxation, health and family law — that are granted by default to married heterosexual couples.
In response, some Chicago protesters planned a loud protest, while gay equality advocates from Oak Park planned a silent sit-in and prayer vigil.
According to the Chicago Tribune, one antigay onlooker “started yelling at protesters, threw her coffee to the ground and nearly started fighting with them.”
Antigay organizers claimed their battle against gay couples was not political, even as they “said they feel it is important to add what they call a biblical perspective to the debate over gay marriage. It has become an issue during this election season because President Bush supports a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.”
“You don’t have to agree with us,” the antigay Rev. Ray Pritchard said. But, in fact, the constitutional amendment would force all churches, and all Americans, to agree with Pritchard’s antigay definition of marriage and support his discrimination against civil unions.
According to the Trib, the 100 silent pro-tolerance protesters from Oak Park “hope their willingness to peacefully hear the pastor’s message will spark dialogue with the church.”
“I respect [Pritchard’s] belief. His belief is deep and profound. But I will not agree that homosexuality is a sin. I think it’s a form of life, a form of living, a form of love,” association spokeswoman Ethel Cotovsky said. Her group opposed the boisterous evening protests because “that kind of fiery stuff doesn’t go down in this town.”
Ignoring the peaceful protestors and calls for dialogue, religious-right activist Peter LaBarbera declared war, calling the protests “a telling glimpse into the anti-religious heart of the ‘gay’ activist movement, which redefines historic Christianity as ‘hate and bigotry’ and is intolerant of opposing viewpoints.”
LaBarbera labels all gay equality protesters “anti-Christian” and leftist. He accuses them of planning to “criminalize Christianity.”
Instead of defending his and Stephen Bennett’s denial of the family, employment, social, and tax benefits of marriage or civil unions to gay and lesbian couples, LaBarbera dodges the reason for the protest.
“Homosexual activists are just petrified of the truth getting out that nobody has to be ‘gay,'” LaBarbera says.
La Barbera? The guy who, a few years ago, indicated that he had stacks of gay porn in his office?
He claimed that the gay porn was for research purposes.
Research purposes?
Right
That La Babs?
If anyone is afraid of the truth getting out, it’s Peter La Barbera who has cynically made a career out of disseminating anti-gay lies and hatred. Even when confronted with (1) documentation that the “ex-gay” programs are a fraud and are NOT supported by the existing studies and (2) the spectacular “moral fall” of his former collaborator, Michael Johnston (see: https://www.washblade.com/2003/8-1/news/breaking/exgay.cfm), he continues to restate the same tired lies.
If the “Christians” like La Barbera ever want to be taken seriously by gay Americans in their claims of “love” for gays, not to mention their claim to be followers of Christ, they must first stop the non-stop, deliberate lying. Sadly, I doubt that will happen any time soon.
Stephen Bennett’s website at https://www.sbministries.org has a video feed of his speach at Oak Park.
Ugh, I wonder what the people of Oak Park thought. Oak Park like most of the state is liberal but in a quite way. Illinois doesn’t have big protests over controversial issues like the west or drag it’s feet until the courts order something like the south. Illinois took sodomy laws off the books back in the 70ies with a vote from legislature!
Oak Park is one of the more gay supporting burbs of Chicago. It started a domestic partnership registry back about five years ago. Stephen Bennetet’s kind of disruptive fiery evangelicalism will not go well in this state and especially not in that area.
How many poor misguided christian young people will marry this year in the hopes of finally having sex, only to find that the person they married is not good in bed, and not good in a relationship. These same poor young people are then brain washed into believing that gay people are a threat to marriage. Next, these same poor, young christians will divorce, because as we all know, sex is not enough to hold a relationship together, and drive the divorce rate up even further. Poor, poor young christians.
Posted by: sara young at July 16, 2006 08:51 PM
I think I understand your sentiment Sara, but aren’t you describing young Christians in the same mistaken way that ex-gays often describe young gays? I suppose what you said could be true of many people, but not necessarily any certain group. Either way, without factual references these are just generalized assumptions.
I don’t mean to pick nits, but I think it’s an important point to make.
David Roberts