Archive for the ‘outing’ tag
Minnesota LGBT magazine outs antigay Lutheran pastor
Reverend Tom Brock is the Associate Pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in North Minneapolis. He is known for his denunciations of homosexuality and GLBT rights on his daily KKMS AM 980 radio program, The Pastor’s Study. His video series lambastes with outrage the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) for progressive attitudes toward women’s reproductive rights, racial equality, ecological stewardship—and, worst of all in his view, openly gay or lesbian pastors having the right to minister if they are in a committed monogamous relationship with a member of the same sex.
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In stunning contrast to all this homophobic vitriol, I observed firsthand that the words spoken by the 49-year-old, unmarried Brock from his ivory bully pulpits do not match his actions.
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I encountered Brock at my very first FIA meeting on April 16.
Having arrived 10 minutes early, I was greeted amicably outside St. Charles Church by its Pastor, Father Paul A. La Fontaine. He escorted me inside, down some stairs, through a kitchen, and into a meeting room.
At 7 PM, Brock entered with two younger men, who immediately swooped toward where I was seated. They grilled me to ferret out if I was Catholic, or at least Christian, and how I found out about the meeting. I was taken aback, as Father Jim Livingston, in my initial interview at North Memorial Hospital through which I was granted access to participate, gave the impression that the group was comparatively low-key and easygoing. I told the two that I was Baptist, not Catholic, but that I had great respect for Catholicism, having defended the Catholic Church to friends and family. I added that I had Googled to find the location.
One of the two younger men laughed, teasing that “now, Tom isn’t the only non-Catholic in the group.”
At one end of the table, Brock sat adjacent to me. At the opposite end was La Fontaine. After opening remarks, reading, recitation, and prayer, he asked how we had been faring—over the past week, since we last attended, or in my case since my interview—with what participants were calling a “gender disorder.”
Brock recounted that it had been “a good week.” He had been on a trip to the East Coast, and had kept his mind off men.
Following the first round were moments when attendees brought up feeling excluded and stigmatized as boys for being inept at sports.
Brock observed that he sometimes “feels effeminate” because he has no interest in the sports page, and that he feels deficient because he finds society’s mass interest in sports to be a bore.
On the other hand, most of the men, including Brock, expressed a deep love for opera and classical music. He related that he was especially fond of a Ralph Vaughan Williams composition.
When the topic of same-sex marriage came up, Brock stated, “The world needs [heterosexual] marriage.”
This one has been widely discussed because the reporter who outed Tom Brock did so by infiltrating a confidential 12-step style support group for celibate gays.
While there is some support for the outing of hypocritical anti-gay gays, many people have been very uncomfortable with how the reporter got his information this time.
Not sure I’d have done it myself, but I’m not going to shed too many tears for the Rev either, I have to admit.
Political Outing– Is It Ethical?
And they bring us right to the notoriously homophobic closet cases currently in the House of Representatives: Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Adrian Smith (R-NE), Trent Franks (R-AZ), David Dreier (R-CA), Aaron Schock (R-IL- [...]), and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA).
Yes, there are some names missing from the list… but for a reason. Every one of the above gay men has a zero score on their lifetime votes regarding gay people. Like Ashburn, they’re all in terror and voting on automatic pilot when anything comes up regarding gay people, even something as assisting local law enforcement to protect gay men and lesbians from hate crimes. As Signorile put it, these hypocrites are “too traumatized to make critical decisions” with clear minds. They belong on therapy, not Congress.
via DownWithTyranny!: Political Outing– Is It Ethical? Yes, And Aaron Schock Is VERY Gay.
On the back of the Roy Ashburn change-of-heart interviews, the blogger makes the argument for aggressive political outing. It does seem that if Ashburn had been outed earlier (because plenty of people knew) he would have overcome his paralysis that kept him from ever voting positively on a measure that impacted the LGBT community.
It would be interesting to compare the voting records of those suspected closet cases with other conservatives. Are closet cases more likely to vote against our interests? Roy Ashburn would say yes.
You’re Outta Here!
I’ve often had a fantasy that everyone would turn some shade of pink related to their position on the Kinsey Scale. Pale white heteros to shocking pink homos. Even if it were just for a week, I think our fight would be over. People could not deny knowing or admiring any homosexuals if that highly paid action hero were to suddenly turn the color of a memorial day peony. Imagine how festive the CPAC convention could have been!
Jester over at Our Big Gayborhood invites a discussion on whether it’s only right to out gay people.
Inspired by the recent stories of Roy Ashburn and Sean Hayes, Jester asks the question:
Do celebrities or other public figures have a responsibility to come out of the closet?
What do you think?
UPDATED: A Pennsylvania Outing: Bill SB 707
I spend a fair amount of time in Harrisburg. I know who is closeted. Any closeted Senator who votes for Eichelberger’s bill will be outed. I also know a State Senator who is wildly homophobic and is also an alcoholic. One of her rants will also be made public depending on her vote. This is fair warning.
via The Pennsylvania Progressive:: The State Senate’s Bigotry.
What do you think? Is this fair?
The bill they are voting on is a “marriage protection bill” that will protect marriage from gay people who would like to destroy it marry.
UPDATE:
The bill has been tabled by a vote of 8-6. No word yet from The Pennsylvania Progressive as to whether he needs to make good on his threat.
An interesting quote, in light of the threat:
“We knew this was coming in the last couple of days because some of the people had switched their votes,” Eichelberger said, noting that even though the table motion could allow for the bill to be resurrected before the end of this session, that’s not going to happen. “The people who voted for this were voting to kill it. That’s the realistic picture. Why they did it, I don’t know, because they are some of the people who were in support of this effort in the past.”
from Philadelphia Gay News
