Articles in Religion
Clary: Gays = Drunks and Cheaters
Andy Clary is the son of Anchorage Baptist Temple’s Glenn Clary. But he doesn’t want us to judge him as an assembly candidate based on his ties to Jerry Prevo or his enthusiasm for Mayor Sullivan. He wants to be judged by his own words, and by his current church. So what is ChangePoint’s stand on gays? Pastor Dan Jarrell wrote on Feb 22:
“God doesn’t hate people who are homosexual; he hates what homosexuality does to people.”
WTF? That’s twisted. Jarrell also calls us “pernicious,” which means destructive in a sneaky way:
“Perhaps the most pernicious behavior of gay and lesbian activists is their effort to indoctrinate children and encourage the promulgation of their alternative lifestyle…”
And what about Clary? During last summer’s battle for the jobs and housing ordinance, he was a staff writer for the anti-ordinance Alaska Standard and he wrote:
“Now, before I go any further, let me say that I am opposed to the ordinance myself, but for very different reasons. You see, I am a committed follower of Christ, and although I believe homosexuality is not a lifestyle that Christ approves of, I see it no differently than other sins such as alcoholism or adultery. Why do we Christians lash out against one sin so differently than we do any other? We need to be reaching these people not tearing them down.”
“These people”? He might have more success in reaching out to “these people” if he didn’t compare our loving families to chronic drunks and cheaters.
“What if some simply have not found answers to the tough questions they have? For instance, why is it that some people struggle with homosexual tendencies their whole life and others do not? It is the same as alcoholism. Some people are predisposed to certain types of behavior…”
Many gays and lesbians are comfortable with our natural and God-given sexuality. What we struggle against is the stigma of being different and the anti-gay prejudice of people like Clary.
“Finally, to answer the question, “Should you legislate morality?”, clearly the answer is again, no. It cannot be done, nor should it be done.”
The religious right often tries to legislate morality, as long as it’s their own moral interpretations that get promoted. Does he really mean that we shouldn’t have laws against murder and rape?
Clary told the Anchorage Press that he grew up in Prevo’s church where his father is assistant pastor:
“I have my own beliefs and I don’t agree with my father on everything. Yes, I grew up at that church; I do not attend there now. People will just have to judge me on myself.”
So he agrees with his father on most things, including his opposition to gay rights, but not on everything. What are the disagreements? He doesn’t say. But he belongs to ChangePoint now. Here are more quotes from the anti-gay ChangePoint article by Clary’s pastor:
“There are no reasonable grounds for considering same-sex unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage…”
“Support ministries that offer help, hope, and healing to those affected by homosexuality. Exodus International is one example of an effective effort to provide a way out for homosexuals who want help.”
Being gay is not a sickness that needs healing. Prejudice is the sickness. The pray-away-the-gay methods used by Exodus have been discredited over and over, but churches like ChangePoint and ABT continue to push the “ex-gay” lies.
Jarrell also tells his church members to become politically active against gays:
Get involved in the political process supporting any effort to preserve a biblical definition of marriage as a life-long, intimate partnership between one man and one woman.
And they have their own anti-gay “pernicious indoctrination” class for children:
There are many excellent tools available for any parent wanting to instruct their adolescent child about marriage, sex, and family issues… ChangePoint’s Due North program for 6th grade girls and boys is exceptional as well, get your kids involved.
How sad for those kids, especially the LGBT ones and their parents.
So, in his own words, Andy Clary thinks that gays (“these people”) are struggling with a lifestyle like alcoholism and adultery. His current pastor calls us “pernicious,” pushes harmful pray-away-the-gay methods, and encourages church members to get involved in politics against gay rights. Sounds close enough to Prevo.
This is NOT who we want to represent us on the Anchorage Assembly.
Haiti: Countering Robertson’s Lies with Love
– guest post by Rev. Johnathan Jones of Church Life Alaska
As the death toll from Haiti’s devastating earthquake rises to 200,000 the world is literally scrambling to send aid and relief to the broken country. However, some people are making outlandish claims that the earthquake was punishment from God. Just think of the recent comments made by the 700 Club’s so called “Reverend” Pat Robertson. It reminds me of other ridiculous comments made in the past. Like Jerry Falwell’s comment that “AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”
What do we do with such comments? Shake our heads in disbelief? Stare in shock at our TV screens? Discuss the comments over a cup of coffee and declare how dumb such people are? The reality is that many people agree with such statements, and the media delights in reporting them. We should be taking notice of such comments and speak against such lies.
As a Christian, I am moved to let folks know that the majority of Christians don’t think this way. I also want to apologize on behalf of those Christians who do believe that way. I apologize not because I have some type of spiritual bond with them but rather because they are children of God, just like I am. As a gay man I am also aware just how hurtful and upsetting such comments can be. Even though these words are absolute lies, it hurts knowing people actually think this way and are saying “Amen” to the Pat Robertson’s of this world.
I want to come up with some solution that will dispel these false comments, solutions that will reveal them for the lies that they are, I want to stop them from being said in the first place. Except, there’s nothing I can really do that is going to stop Pat Robertson from making such comments again or from having the media report on them. But, I can do my best to reveal them as the lies that they are.
Through relationships. As queer folk we know anecdotally that homophobes and fence sitters often change their views about homosexuality when they become friends and enter into relationships with people who are queer. I have seen this time and time again. I believe that with the same philosophy we can show the people of Haiti, and those who are hurt by such ugly words, that these are not the truth.
By offering our support, love, prayers and money we can show Haiti and the world that we do not believe the earthquake was punishment from God because of some so-called pact made with the devil 200 years ago. By loving the people of Haiti, by caring for those hurt by others’ words, by loving our neighbors as we love ourselves we can reveal a God of love rather than a God of hate.
Sticks and stones can break our bones and words can break our spirits, but love and care can build those bones and renew our spirits. Let’s do our part to make a good difference during this time of trial. Let’s spread love and stop hate.
Anchorage paper hosts legacy book for Mary Daly, Boston lesbian author
Mary Daly, radical lesbian feminist author of Gyn/Ecology and Beyond God the Father, passed away on Jan. 3, and the Anchorage Daily News opened a legacy book for the Boston professor who didn’t live in Alaska and probably never visited.
The ADN reprinted her obituary from the Associated Press, and the guest book currently has 105 entries, mostly from New England. Only 2 entries are from Alaska, although a few entries do not give locations.
Daly was a major voice in the women’s movement and a central figure in eco-feminism. Several of her books are among the classics of women’s studies courses. Her first book, The Church and the Second Sex published in 1968, argued that the Church systematically oppressed women for centuries. In later years, she considered herself “post-Christian.”
“Ever since childhood, I have been honing my skills for living the life of a Radical Feminist Pirate and cultivating the Courage to Sin,” she wrote in the opening of “Sin Big,” a 1996 autobiographical article for the New Yorker magazine. “The word ‘sin’ is derived from the Indo-European root ‘es-,’ meaning ‘to be.’ When I discovered this etymology, I intuitively understood that for a woman trapped in patriarchy, which is the religion of the entire planet, ‘to be’ in the fullest sense is ‘to sin.’ ”
Daly made headlines when she retired from Boston College (a Jesuit university where she taught for 30 years) rather than admit men to some of her advanced women’s studies classes, saying that the presence of men made the women less likely to speak. She did let men enroll in her introductory feminism courses and tutored them in the advanced subjects. Her anti-trans opinions were as controversial in the LGBT community as her anti-patriarchy stance was at Boston College.
Rev. Johnathan’s Christmas message
Christmas Music, Youth Drop-In, HIV Survey & Gifts for Change
Gay AK – news for and about LGBT Alaska
Youth Initiative “Drop In/Hang Out” kicks off in Anchorage
The Youth Initiative program is ready to offer a safe place for youth to hang out with their peers and adult facilitators. The two facilitators are Johnathan Jones and Ginger Blackmon, community leaders with youth work and education training. To kick off this exciting new program, we’re hosting a special holiday drop-in/hang-out for teenage youth (13 to 19) at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center on Saturday Dec. 19 from 12-3 p.m. The entire center will be set aside so that the youth can use the space as they like. The youth will have the opportunity to meet with the facilitators and let us know exactly what it is they would like to do and how they would like to see the Youth Initiative develop. Because this is a special event, holiday gifts and pizza will be provided. And not just lousy gifts, but cool gifts. If you are a LGBTA youth, you don’t won’t to miss this! For more info or make a donation to support the program, please contact the GLCCA.
HIV Prevention Online Survey seeks rural Alaskan men who have sex with men
The University of Alaska, Department of Health Sciences, has asked for our cooperation in spreading the word about a new online survey. The online survey is primarily targeted for “men who have sex with men” who live in or are visiting rural Alaska. The survey is HERE. If you have questions, please direct them to Dr. Nancy A. Nix, Assistant Professor of Public Health at UAA.
Christmas Music Service and MCC news
The MCC Christmas Music Service is Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. Please join us for refreshments, scripture readings by Dianne O’Connell, music by James Gray, Kevin Holtz and the MCCA choir, and a message by Sara Gavit and Matthew Moak. The monthly MCC potluck will be on Sunday Dec. 20th. Feel free to bring a dish to pass or just join us for a great time of food and fellowship after the service. Step by Step, the Wed. Bible study, is taking a break for the holidays and will meet again starting on Jan 6, 2010. The Annual Congregational Meeting is January 17, 2010. Thank you to all those who have donated food and clothing items for Covenant House. We will be packing up the boxes in the next week or so. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of those who so desperately need it. Metropolitan Community Church
The Affirmation Declaration
The Affirmation Declaration expresses the convictions of Christians all over the world and was written in response to the infamous anti-gay Manhattan Declaration. The Affirmation Declaration corrects errors that have been preached in the pulpits of many churches for far too long. Please read The Affirmation Declaration and sign it if you are willing.
Help needed for Kuani’s Kidney Transplant
Kuini AhDar is in need of a kidney transplant. Her friends and co-workers are working with the National Transplant Fund to raise the amount that insurance and other sources won’t cover for the surgery. The Friends of Kuini have organized a fundraiser at the Snow Goose Restaurant on Third Avenue in Anchorage from 6:30-9:00 p.m. on Thursday Dec. 17. Light appetizers and entertainment will be included in the ticket price of $35 per person, with a cash bar and silent auction. If you cannot attend, but would like to make a tax deductible contribution in Kuini’s honor, please call 800-642-8399 or go to The Transplant Fund and enter “AhDar” in the patient box on the homepage. If you can volunteer for the fundraiser, please contact Lori. Thanks
Gifts for Change to benefit the Four A’s
Do your holiday shopping with Four A’s this year by giving those on your list Gifts For Change. The Four A’s Gifts For Change program provides donors with another option for special occasion gift giving and it also supports individuals living with HIV/AIDS in your community as well as prevention efforts across the state. It is truly the gift that keeps on giving and is a meaningful way to celebrate the holidays with your loved ones while impacting your community at the same time. Four A’s will send the recipient a card recognizing the gift and your name (amounts will only be acknowledged if you choose that on the form.) For more information, or to arrange a Gift For Change with a credit card over the phone, call (907) 263-2046 or use the online form HERE.
A Lesbian Bishop
The Episcopal Church has elected a second LGBT bishop! Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool is a partnered lesbian and was chosen as the Assistant Bishop of Los Angeles. In 2004, openly gay Rev. Gene Robinson became the Bishop of New Hampshire. Congratulations to Rev. Glasspool and Los Angeles.
Ex-gays inspire Kill the Gays bill in Uganda, CBC & Prevo are silent
American ex-gay leaders, mega-church pastors and conservative senators are behind the push for Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law that will impose life imprisonment for being gay, death by hanging for having gay sex if you’re HIV positive, and up to 3 years in prison for not reporting gay people to the government.
U.S. ex-gays organized a conference in Uganda earlier this year that provided the inspiration and supposed “evidence” to justify the Anti-Homosexuality Law, introduced right after the conference. If gays can be cured by prayer, goes the argument, then those who continue to be gay are just not praying hard enough. In Uganda, being gay is already a crime, and now anyone who isn’t cured will be sent to prison for life or killed.
Is the true intent of the ex-gay industry to eliminate homosexuals – by any means necessary? Do the sponsors of the ex-gay events in Alaska support this? Why haven’t the UAF Campus Bible Club, the Abbott Loop Community Church, and Jerry Prevo spoken out and condemned this death bill?
Rachel Maddow is reporting an on-going series called “Uganda Be Kidding Me” on the U.S. connection to the proposed law. A segment focusing on the ex-gays shows three American groups closely involved with Uganda’s effort to eliminate gays: congressmen connected to The Family, evangelical pastors, and the ex-gays.
Watch Uganda Be Kidding Me: the story behind ‘curing’ gays (Dec 8):
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The ex-gay methods are dangerous and ineffective, and these groups are exporting a deadly homophobia to countries like Uganda. But the larger goal of The Family is Dominion, a world run by evangelical Christian rule. In other words, sharia, and a return to the Dark Ages.
Frank Schaeffer on the Brad Blog shows that killing gays for Jesus is just part of the larger plan. Bruce Wilson on Talk To Action connects Rick Warren’s purpose driven “reformation” to Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law, and explains the Dominion plan for setting up evangelical Christian governments. Uganda is just the tip of the iceberg.
Box Turtle Bulletin tracks the ex-gay industry and has been following the Uganda bill all year.
For an inside look on African gays, GayUganda is a blog written by a gay Uganda man who is still in the country, writing about the bill and the international response, and questioning whether he and his partner should leave or stay and be martyred. It’s heartbreaking.
So who is going to ask Campus Bible Club, Abbott Loop, and Prevo if they support the Kill the Gays bill?
Free copies of "Silent Lives" for GLBT-welcoming ministries
Queer, Christian, and raised in a Yupik Village
Julia McCarthy grew up Catholic in a Yupik village. She graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, worked in Anchorage for a few years, and now lives in Maine with her partner. She wrote this essay about her journey as a queer person of faith on October 30, a few days before the religious conservatives of Maine voted to repeal the state’s new same-sex marriage law.
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How does that slogan go? I’m queer and I go to church – get used to it
I am a person who tries to practice my faith daily. I am a queer person who believes that we can experience mysteries that defy explanation in our daily life. I am a person who regularly attends church and believes that there are many, many paths to understanding ourselves and our relationship with the unknown. I am a person who loves math and science and logic and believes that we gain wisdom from knowledge.
My relationship with religion may seem complex to some. It is not a relationship which I choose to be very vocal about, for a variety of reasons. I’ve been inspired to try to share something of my path by the aggression I have seen directed toward a number of young people in our community and by the powerful words of our housemate, who chose to share his perspective. Thank you for reminding me that it’s important to come out in lots and lots of ways.
Spirituality and religion have played transformative roles in my life since I was born. The village culture I grew up in practiced both Catholicism (in Yupik) and a variety of ways of celebrating the worldview of Yupik peoples – dance, singing, mask making, storytelling, honoring the cycles of life. Fellowship with your community and with God was a part of my daily life in the village and imbued almost every task in some way or another. It’s how I learned to respect life, the natural world, responsibility to others, and more. These traditions are not without their challenges – most GLBTQ Yupik people I know have had both cultural and religious barriers to coming out. It was through the lessons I learned in the village that I developed a relationship with god, though, and it’s important to note that the lens through which that relationship developed was guided by the elders I loved and respected.
Throughout the rest of my childhood and into my teens I was a devout Catholic. I attended St. Nicholas Church in my hometown and, as I got older, found as many reasons to be at church as I could. My devotion to my faith set me apart from many of my peers and it was sometimes difficult for me to find community that was accepting of who I aspired to be. For a long time, I thought about becoming a nun – I felt my path to being a helping person was to be found next to God. I was confirmed as an adult in the tradition of that faith, and shortly thereafter chose to leave the Church. When I left Catholicism, I lost many of my friends. More importantly for me at the time, I lost my faith. There were a number of reasons that my relationship with God was damaged and the one reason that created a huge barrier for me in finding another community of faith was my queerness.
I was taught through declamations of supposedly loving people that the god that I had developed a relationship with throughout my life HATED me because I was queer. I learned through the behavior of my community and my peers that to be queer was to be without faith, without support, without dignity. I learned through conversations with other queer people that to adhere to a path of faith was scary and wrong, especially after understanding the damage inflicted upon queer people by communities of faith. I learned to create an armor to deflect the painful phrase “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” I learned to avoid conversations with people that had to do with any kind of spiritual belief system. I learned to hide my questions and to reject my beliefs and to keep my mouth shut so as not to offend anyone. I have watched people be shunned by their communities or live closeted in fear that they will be rejected and ridiculed if they come out. I have lost so many friends to suicide that I cannot keep track any longer. I decided that if there was any kind of higher purpose to life, it completely escaped me.
Then I met Jamez and with him I remembered what a joy it is to explore my faith. To lift up my voice in praise. To listen to a sermon and feel inspired to disagree with my faith leader and thereby learn more about who I am in the process. In this community of faith, I don’t need to make up my mind about anything to know that I have value.
When I think about the people who have been with me to explore my faith, I feel lucky to count among them people from all walks of life and all belief systems. It is not my intention to change your mind about your particular system of belief or non-belief.
I’ll tell you what I do think needs to change though:
I think more queer people need to feel safe coming out as people of faith.
I think people who are queer allies and practice any kind of religion need to feel like they can express dissent without becoming isolated.
I think people of faith who are NOT allies to GLBTQ people need to stop choosing to abuse their fellow humans with words and looks and actions.
We are complex beings, with beautiful multi-faceted identities. I want to see more love in the world, and if I can’t see that, I want to see more respect for one another.
Churches are at war over homosexuality
This article on the harm caused by anti-gay churches was written by Matthew Moak and posted yesterday on MCC Anchorage.
If the past summer in Anchorage is any indication, Christian churches are at war over homosexuality and this war is exacting a heavy toll among homosexuals themselves. Homosexuals are the number one persecuted group of people in the Christian community, persecuted by their own friends, families, and church families.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers, according to the Massachusetts 2006 Youth Risk Survey. A 2007 San Francisco State University Chavez Center Institute study shows that LGBT and questioning youth who come from a rejecting family are up to nine times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. And for every completed suicide by a young person, it is estimated that 100 to 200 attempts are made (2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey).
If that is not disturbing enough, GLBT youth left homes last year more often (12.38 times) than their heterosexual counterparts (6.69 times). GLBT youth were more likely to leave as a result of physical abuse, alcohol use in the family and conflicts with family over their sexual orientation.
Nothing says Jesus like making a child’s living conditions at home so unbearable that they feel they must either take to the streets where drug addiction, sexual abuse, homelessness, alcohol addiction and more horrific realities await them on the streets, or commit suicide. Nothing says Jesus more than displaying such an utter lack of understanding or compassion that homosexuals are driven from their homes and take their lives.
This summer on the Eddie Burke show, one caller referred to the homosexual community as non-human. Other callers read Scriptures that they interpreted to mean that God did not love homosexuals. I suspect that callers believe this because it is what they have been told as opposed to seeking and searching the Scriptures.
Baptist Pastor Jerry Prevo claims that the idea of homosexuals being protected from discrimination under the law would give them special rights which are unnecessary because homosexuals already have the same rights as heterosexual individuals. Further, in a KTVA interview, Prevo also claims that he doesn’t believe discrimination is actually happening in the city of Anchorage.
In an interview conducted by the Anchorage Daily News, Pastor Prevo asserts:
“I’ve tried to reason with these people. I don’t want the issue to come up. I’ve just dealt with a couple. … Their daughter, 19 years old now, is taking shots to make herself a man. These parents, their daughter never had any signs of being unsatisfied with her assigned sex, which is another terminology in here that’s a legal term, assigned sex at birth, and what they feel like has happened, she just got with this crowd and has been brought over.
“My problem is when I take this stand and I can’t minister to these people. I can’t tell them that Jesus Christ died for them and will forgive them just like he will an adulterer or a murderer and they can be changed. It makes it hard for them to listen to me, because they frame me as being hateful. … But I see it as that I’m telling them the truth. …
“I’ve had those who’ve come out of homosexuality in my church, and I’m sure I have some there now that are homosexuals. Based on scripture, I just can’t allow them to promote it as an acceptable alternative lifestyle.”
Red flags should immediately be raised when the pastor of any church is unable to minister to any individual or a group of people. What Pastor Prevo has asserted here is his inability to love all people.
Often, when we are so close to a subject we are passionate about, we fail to see that it is ourselves promoting hate, intolerance and that individuals who display such an utter lack of compassion, understanding and love (the greatest commandment) are the very people who are enabling children and young adults to take to the streets, and to take their lives.
It is time Anchorage to begin shouting from our churches that the spreading of hate, intolerance and discrimination must end. The lives of so many are being destroyed and countless lives are being lost, largely because churches and spiritual leaders such as Jerry Prevo are far too busy trying to be correct, rather than making an attempt to minister and to love.
A Christian Transwoman’s Letter to Mayor Sullivan
