01/31/2008
Choir Member on Outing Spree Hits DC Baptist Church
A female choir member at the D.C. Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church has sent a letter to its pastor, outing over 100 church members, mostly male members of the choir, the Washington Blade reports:
"The outings added to the inner turmoil experienced by a large number of gays who attend services at the 7,000-member Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church, located on Rhode Island Ave., N.E., according to a gay former member who provided copies of the e-mails to the Blade. 'I will be leaving the choir at the top of the year because 80 percent of the tenors are homosexuals and act more like a female in choir rehearsal than I do,' the church choir member said in one of her e-mails to Bishop Alfred Owens Jr., the church pastor. The e-mail, sent in December, identifies about 45 fellow church members as gay. She sent a second e-mail to Owens on Jan. 2 identifying another 62 church members as gay. 'The following people I am asking you to monitor very closely and my prayer is that you will sit them down from their ministries,' she told Owens in the December e-mail. 'Because they are ushering in the presence of sin, lies, a spirit of homosexuality and sexual spirits.'"
The female choir member also copied the email to over 300 additional church members on a Yahoo group.
The pastor would likely be sympathetic to her concerns, given his past: "Owens became the subject of media attention in April 2006 when he used the word 'fag' in a sermon on Palm Sunday. 'It takes real men to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior,' Owens said in the sermon, which was recorded by the church. 'I’m not talking about no faggot or no sissy,' he said. 'Let the real men come down here and take a bow — all the real men. I’m talking about straight men … praise God that you’re straight.' The church’s web site includes a listing of twice-monthly sessions of a ministry called 'Breaking the Chains of Homosexuality,' which it says helps gays change their sexual orientation through counseling and prayer. Minister Dennis Sawyers, an expert in 'ex-gay' ministries, is listed as the leader of the church’s efforts to counsel gays."
Sylvia Rhue, director of the National Black Justice Coalition’s religious affairs program said that many gays attend that church because they like the "traditional setting" they find there. A setting, which, at this particular church, is now in turmoil.
Outing campaign roils D.C. black Baptist church [washington blade]
Posted 11:20 AM EST by Andy Towle in News, Religion, Washington DC | Permalink
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Ryan and GOD(if I go to hell for referring to you as "GOD", I'm comin' back after you):
What the poster, Charles, was saying is what isn't coming through to many politically aware gay folks. Those gay people who remain in anti-gay religious institutions stay there because often it's the social/historical bonds which keep them there. That doesn't just apply to blacks who stay in the black Christian churches, there are probably gay Armenians who stay in the Armenian Orthodox Church because their church is not just a religious institution, it is also the social and cultural center of their community. Well, same thing with Black Americans: many black folks see the black church as the force that has kept them alive for over 300 years (ironically, a church based on a religion forced on them by slave owners). It is an institution that is social and cultural, an institution whose foundations rests partially on the shoulders of what black preachers call, "faggots and bulldaggers". Funny thing, black preachers and black people didn't have much of a problem with gays until Republicans told them, "Gays are a political & social force, they have an agenda."
Disgusted American: a few weeks ago, I tried an argument similar to yours against the Mormons--you know, "why are Mormons so anti-gay. Don't they know what it means to be a persecuted group?" Nobody paid me much mind. Finally, some poster wrote in, "shut up, Derrick, you sound as bigoted as the Mormons". Yeah, Yeah! He got what I was trying to do, but then he didn't get it.
STEVE:
You got it kinda' right. The Southern Christian Leadership Council was forced to cut ties with Bayard Rustin--not just because of Senator Strom Thurmond's "outing" him, but also because of Congressman Reverend Adam Clayton Powell's threats to say there were "romantic" ties between Rustin and upper level officials of the SCLC. Thurmond and Clayton Powell Jr were hypocritical sons of bitches--both condemned others' morality, yet both loved a variety of pussy.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jan 31, 2008 2:36:45 PM
I know this is going to seem crass and unsympathetic, especially for me, but for the life of me I don't know why the outed people would be shocked or upset about this.
These men sit in this church Sunday after Sunday listening to anti-gay sermons and conversations. This, by the way, is the very church where the pastor went on a homophobic tirade, demanding that the REAL MEN come down, "NO FAGGOTS, NO SISSIES". This is the same church that runs an "ex-gay" "ministry" and that pushes gay people (especially gay men) to feel horrible about themselves and to pray away the gay or be shunned.
What seems to be so upsetting to people in this instance is that NOW someone in the church is actually putting their WORDS into ACTIONS (in accordance with their words) and rather than condemning and railing against the faceless gay masses they are now getting down to the nitty gritty and confronting the gay people (individuals) who sit in the pews on Sunday morning and shake their heads in approval while the pastor preaches hell and damnation against the faggots and sissies and then rushing down to the nearest Tea Dance later that afternoon.
I completely condemn what this evil bitch did but not because she had the balls to DO what everyone else in the church was TALKING/PREACHING about (without being confronted). I condemn her for the evil mindset and ignorance that lead her and others in this and other churches (black, white and mixed) to treat some of God's children as if they are lepers, unclean, unwanted, unwelcome, unworthy and unloved.
Perhaps this will be the last straw that will wake some people up.
It's not like there are no alternative, traditionally black churches that offer the spirituality and worship without the hate and discrimination. The UCC has such churches. Obama is a member of one (Trinity UCC) in Chicago.
This church should be ashamed of treating their brothers like this.
I just hope that this doesn't crush the spirit of these individuals. I think they've endured enough (even if by choice) already.
Posted by: ZEKE | Jan 31, 2008 2:50:23 PM
Oh, and how sad is it that some of the one's listed in the email, rather than challenging the church's homophobic teachings or confronting the homophobic sh*t stirrer, turned on their fellow gay members and outed others who weren't on the list.
It seems that there is a lot more outrage over the woman's doing what the church teaches than there is over what the church teaches.
I just don't understand that.
Posted by: ZEKE | Jan 31, 2008 2:54:40 PM
Derrick, I do understand what you and Charles are saying. It is more than a church it is family, community, history in a way that is different from my cultural experience. My church was just my church. Thanks for eloquently (as usual) explaining the nuances that many of us may be unfamiliar with.
Having said that, I left my family, my community and my state for treating me like crap so I guess on some level I still don't understand enduring the abuse.
Posted by: ZEKE | Jan 31, 2008 3:02:19 PM
Carmine, no my comments are not as ignorant as what this asshole woman is doing. Sorry. Not by a long shot.
I reserve the right to mock Santa, the Easter Bunny and your Savior as they're all imaginary and moronic.
Posted by: Marco | Jan 31, 2008 4:28:23 PM
****Interesting note here on the campaign against Bayard Rustin***
In his Huffington Post column, Rod McCullum points out that the Kennedy's put pressure on Adam Clayton Powell Jr to threaten Dr. King and the Civil Rights leaders to cut ties with Bayard Rustin. Well, I still love the Kennedys, but I think it's Sargent Shriver's (their brother in-law)picture who black folks should have framed on their walls--not JFK. Shriver was a true liberal and supporter of Civil Rights. JFK became a liberal after his death...can't change your registration from Arlington, honey.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Jan 31, 2008 4:49:19 PM
A year before his death in 1987, Rustin said: "The barometer of where one is on human rights questions is no longer the black community, it's the gay community. Because it is the community which is most easily mistreated."
Posted by: steve | Jan 31, 2008 4:59:09 PM
Bernard was also a Quaker not a Baptist.
Posted by: steve | Jan 31, 2008 5:02:45 PM
No, Marco, you are being as bad, it's just that you believe your bigotry is justified whereas her/the conservative Christians' bigotry is wrong. Belief is a very personal thing and as long as it stays that way it deserves to be respected, not mocked. You can certainly disagree, you may even believe God is imaginary, but when you "reserve the right to mock" as "moronic" that which others believe, particularly in public forums, you are clearly a bigot. Why not mock the hypocrisy of those like the lady and pastor in the post and leave decent people who believe in God and aren't hurting anyone alone. Ultimately, none of us knows the key to the secrets of the universe, we just believe what we believe for reasons we shouldn't have to argue with bigots on the religious or secular ends of the spectrum.
Posted by: Lucky Linden | Jan 31, 2008 5:05:54 PM
The Washington Blade. My local gay paper. I think I need to write an op-ed about the prejudice of the staff. How does a story about anti-gay bias become a "black" story? If the Pope makes an anti-gay pronouncement, he isn't a "white homophobe." It's clear that his religious beliefs are at the heart of his pronouncements. Why in the world is it that every time a person who is black says something that is anti-gay, it has to be about race?
Posted by: Brandon | Jan 31, 2008 5:15:30 PM
NOT ALL tenors are gay. Some of us baritones happen to have been 'blessed' as well.
Posted by: Parker | Jan 31, 2008 5:30:40 PM
And people wonder why I'm anti-theist? "Christians" treat other people so inhumanely. Oh, well. If you choose to associate with such delightful excuses for humanity, you will, to use a biblical metaphor, reap what you sow.
Posted by: Iko | Jan 31, 2008 6:05:01 PM
The homos staying in the gay bashing churches are a buncha Uncle Toms. Call em for what they are.
Posted by: beergoggles | Jan 31, 2008 6:44:56 PM
another woman "not starting any wars" so i see...
Posted by: alan brickman | Jan 31, 2008 7:26:47 PM
"if every gay member of every African American church left, there would be NO choirs and NO choirmasters."
So true. Furthermore I'd bet my life this b---- is a self-hating closeted lesbian. I think the most "on the DL" African-Americans are the most attracted to evangelical churches. The most lesbian-seeming African American woman I've even known goes to fundie megachurch, and has an openly gay son who she said is just "going through a phase." Yeah. The phase she's been in her whole life.
Posted by: Zinfandelista | Jan 31, 2008 9:41:43 PM
Jesus Christ isn't love. And he isn't hate. And he isn't divine. GLBT folks have to suffer the same amount of brainwashing as children as most of the rest of the population when it comes to religion, and I feel badly for those unable to overcome that mental handicap and walk away from organizations that hate you. But religion is nothing more and nothing less than a harmful psychological addiction which you shouldn't be contributing to under any circumstances, especially in the case of openly hateful congregations. As painful as it may be to be forced to leave a church, nobody there is truly a friend, and nobody there is doing any favors by tolerating their GLBT fellows in private. Divinity is a malicious invention of the human mind, one that is best left behind. If it takes a painful lesson to realize that, or two or three painful lessons, then I for one welcome them. Theology, regardless of flavor, leads to one illogical end: inhumanity towards one's fellow man. Which isn't to say that other beliefs do not or can not run down the same rabbit trail. Of course they can. One only needs to muster the courage to examine them truthfully and abandon them when necessary.
Posted by: JB | Feb 1, 2008 4:00:14 AM
Spare me the "God is love; Jesus is love" crap. God we can debate, but hate to break it to ya--Jesus never existed. No proof--nothing. Nice myth that isn't original or even all that creative. These days I don't feel kindly towards back-stabbing wenches who probably became enraged when the guy in the choir she was hot for told her and her skank ass to hit the road. So, she did what any Jesus-addicted spinster would do: she accused her rejector and everyone else of being queer. Now, tell me if HER conduct was, um, full of "love". No, it was full of the typical, hate-filled attitudes that most evangelicals have. Grab that bible and start the beat-down. Personally, if Jesus existed, HE would probably read her and then bitch-slap her.
Posted by: mike | Feb 1, 2008 1:38:36 PM
Spare me the "God is love; Jesus is love" crap. God we can debate, but hate to break it to ya--Jesus never existed. No proof--nothing. Nice myth that isn't original or even all that creative. These days I don't feel kindly towards back-stabbing wenches who probably became enraged when the guy in the choir she was hot for told her and her skank ass to hit the road. So, she did what any Jesus-addicted spinster would do: she accused her rejector and everyone else of being queer. Now, tell me if HER conduct was, um, full of "love". No, it was full of the typical, hate-filled attitudes that most evangelicals have. Grab that bible and start the beat-down. Personally, if Jesus existed, HE would probably read her and then bitch-slap her.
Posted by: mike | Feb 1, 2008 1:39:00 PM
shame they don`t have a backstage channel like this one here:
http://www.kyte.tv/ch/18531-thisis50com
its just so cool !!!
Posted by: dext | Apr 21, 2008 9:44:08 AM
shame they don`t have a backstage channel like this one here:
http://www.kyte.tv/ch/18531-thisis50com
its just so cool !!!
Posted by: dext | Apr 21, 2008 9:44:41 AM