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Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
Language Used In Letter Echo's Offensive 1998 Million Dollar 'Ex-Gay' Campaign
NEW YORK - Truth Wins Out criticized a letter from GLBT advocates and African American preachers defending Barack Obama's poor decision to offer a platform to virulently anti-gay gospel singer Donnie McClurkin. In an effort to win the crucial Democratic primary in South Carolina, the Obama campaign seems willing to open it's "big tent" to bigots at the expense of GLBT citizens, says Truth Wins Out.
"Pastor McClurkin believes and has stated things about sexual orientation that are deeply hurtful and offensive to many Americans, most especially to gay Americans," the letter said. "This cannot and should not be denied. At the same time, a great many African Americans share Pastor McClurkin's beliefs. This also cannot be ignored."
Truth Wins Out condemned the letter as empty rhetoric that skirts the central issues, while doing nothing to lessen intolerance. Furthermore, the letter is inconsistent with Obama's admirable efforts to practice a "different kind of politics."
"This incoherent letter basically says, 'we know McClurkin's message is despicable, but hey, we really need the bigot vote in South Carolina, so we are willing to surrender our core principles and pander to anti-gay preachers,'" said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen. "The letter is a false compromise, that only compromises the values of dignity and respect for all people. For all the feel good language in this letter, GLBT voters are not feeling very good about the way they have been treated during this controversy."
Indeed, even the language used in this letter was eerily reminiscent of the 1998 "Truth In Love" right wing ad campaign that said homosexuals could be "cured" through prayer. The print and television campaign featured the late football star Reggie White and featured ex-gay activist John Paulk, who was later photographed in a gay bar in Washington. According to the letter:
"We also ask Senator Obama's critics to consider the alternatives...would we rather stand with Barack Obama, who speaks truth in love to both sides, pulling no punches but foreclosing no opportunities to engage?"
"If we look at the name of the gospel tour, "Embrace the Change" combined with the "truth in love" phrase in the letter, one has to wonder if the religious right has hijacked the campaign's media operation," said Besen. "Obama should have shown leadership and dumped McClurkin. Let's hope the Obama campaign has learned from this debacle and can return to its inspiring message of hope and genuine reconciliation - which is not what this clumsy letter represents."
Indeed, McClurkin, as feared, used his platform to indirectly condemn the GLBT population saying, "there is a side of Christ that deals in judgment, and all sin is against God."
"McClurkin conveniently left out the side of religion that condemns such intolerance and supports the equality of GLBT people," said Besen "There are many people of faith who don't share McClurkin's backwards views and these are the people that Obama's campaign should be courting."
Truth Wins OUT is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.
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11 Comments:
It's really simple: The Democratic Party is indeed a "big tent", but there's only room in our "big tent" for people who respect others who are in the tent, too. By implying that gay people are outside the providence of God, McClurkin fails that test quite miserably.
posted by Anonymous, at
10/29/2007 1:33 PM
Yes, and I'm sick of the victim mentality held by the very people who are bigoted toward others.
The white people who claim they are the disadvantaged minority.
And for that matter, the black church goers who have apparently learned nothing from the history of social injustice in this country, and in turn show that same intolerance toward gays, including those within their own race.
The homophobic Christians who claim that the existence of gay people infringes on their right to live in a world without gay people.
The PFOX clowns acting like they are the poor, oppressed people, and by denouncing their lies and life-ruining messages they spread, we are actually discriminating against them. Wah wah wah.
They say we are on a "witch-hunt" against "ex-gays".
So where are the constitutional amendments that ban ex-gays from getting married and getting equal access to health care, property rights, child custody, sick and bereavement leave, hospital visitation, etc...
Where are the brainwashing camps set up to transform straight people into homosexuals?
Where are the gay ministers and priests preaching intolerance against straight people? What gay person ever told a heterosexual that his lifestyle is "wrong" and "sinful" and he is going to hell?
Bill Mahar mentioned this McClurkin story on his show last week. I also heard that a significant percentage of African Americans are supporting Hillary over Obama. They know she has a better chance of winning. I *used* to have respect for Obama until this story broke, now I would never vote for him. He's also foolish to think that the fake "values voters" would ever vote for a black person for president just because he's pandering to them with a gospel singing, gay-bashing, closet case!
posted by Anonymous, at
10/29/2007 3:41 PM
People may choose to believe in the various lies and deceptions that characterize the anti-gay movement and all of its various, loosely-aligned factions, but, thankfully, truth is of such a consistency that it eventually does WIN OUT. Truth has an authentic moral quality to it that just can't be beat, and certainly not by the silly, half-baked lies of the stigmatizers.
posted by Anonymous, at
10/30/2007 8:39 AM
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