CALIFORNIA EPISCOPAL BISHOPS EXCORIATE PASSAGE OF PROPOSITION 8
Los Angeles Bishop Says California Voters "Ignorant" About Homosexuality
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
11/9/2008
Two Episcopal bishops and the head of The Episcopal Church's gay and lesbian organization, Integrity, blasted voters who backed a successful ballot initiative to ban gay marriage in California and three other states. Mormons were attacked along with members of Protect Marriage Coalition forcing Los Angeles Interfaith leaders to condemn attacks on the LDS faith who believe the family is the anchor of their faith.
In Arkansas, voters voted to bar all unmarried people, LGBT or straight, from adopting children or serving as foster parents.
Many California churches also experienced harassment, drive-by attacks, obscenities and defacement of property following the vote.
It was an overwhelming repudiation of gay marriage that prompted Los Angeles Episcopal Bishop J. Jon Bruno to say that California voters should examine their consciences and banish their ignorance on homosexuality. A statement released by Bruno said support for the ballot initiative was tantamount to "religious oppression,". Bishop Bruno charged that Proposition 8 was "a lamentable expression of fear-based discrimination that attempts to deny the constitutional rights of some Californians on the basis of sexual orientation."
He called on Californians who supported Proposition 8 "to make an honest and dedicated effort to learn more about the lives and experiences of lesbian and gay humanity whose constitutional rights are unfairly targeted by this measure. Look carefully at scriptural interpretations, and remember that the Bible was once used to justify slavery, among other forms of oppression."
Californians rejected a May 2008 state Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. By a margin of 5,376,424 to 4,870,010 votes, or 52 per cent to 48 per cent they overturned the ruling and specified that only marriages between one man and one woman would be recognized as valid in California.
Ironically, Bishops Jon Bruno, Marc Andrus of California, Don Mathes of San Diego, Barry L. Beisner of Northern California, Mary Gray-Reeves, of El Camino and the bishop of the provisional diocese of San Joaquin Jerry Lamb all weighed in to support the "no" campaign.
What is doubly humiliating for these bishops is that it was Blacks and Latinos who pushed for Proposition 8 putting the bishops in a double bind.
If they yell too loudly about people who believe sex stays within marriage between a man and a woman, they will be accused of racism. On the other hand, if they don't support Episcopal lesbigays and (the Rev.) Susan Russell of Integrity, they will be accused of not being inclusive and diverse enough.
As soon as the announcement was made that Proposition 8 passed, Bruno stated he was placing his trust in the courts to nullify the will of the people. "It is only a matter of time" he said, before the "narrow constraints" of Proposition 8 "are ultimately nullified by the courts and our citizens' own increasing knowledge about the diversity of God's creation."
Bishop Bruno commented that "too often the road to justice is made deeply painful by setbacks such as Proposition 8, which nearly half of California voters rejected."
After Proposition 8 was passed, Andrus and his assistant, Bishop Steven Charleston, both weighed in with a feel-your-pain message lamenting what they called "fear" and "pendulum swings" because of the election of President-elect Barak Obama.
These bishops don't give enough credit to the distinctions Americans can and are able to make. Americans can reject racism and vote for a black president and at the same time uphold Christian standards for marriage. Why is that so hard to believe?
To say, as Andus said, that Californians demonstrated a "fear of human sexuality" is plain nonsense. California is one of the most sexually open and sexually experimental states in the country. It is the home of Playboy magazine, the bulk of the porno industry, the morally relative and reductionist Hollywood industry and much more. Yet these bishops want us to believe that Californians were driven by "fear, prejudice and injustice." Nonsense.
Most Blacks have strong Baptist roots. Most Latinos have strong Roman Catholic roots. Mormons have strong roots in their belief in the centrality of the family. These people are not driven by fear or anything else. That's a lie coming from these bishops.
"Because too many of us in California succumbed to fear, we will consign countless numbers of our neighbors to an immediate future of life without hope," said Andrus. Rubbish. No one is denying lesbian and gays their basic civil rights. Sex is not a civil right. It is a gift. No one is denying the rights of gays to work in any job they choose or even to live with whomever. What Californians said was "no" to gay marriage which they said is not marriage at all, either in God's eyes or the state's.
"The Christian faith informs us that fear is ultimately not a way forward at all. Love and fear don't exist in the same dimension, and while fear will come to an end, love goes on for eternity," said Andrus. "As bishops of a community that offers all people a fear-free zone in which they can live with justice and dignity."
The question is who's afraid of whom? Gays and lesbians are not remotely persecuted in California. The live-and-let-live philosophy is well entrenched and well established. What the predominantly Christian people of California said was, we will not allow you to legitimize a behavior that God does not approve of. We will not change the definition of marriage.
The Episcopal Diocese of California will continue to seek to be a place of hope, of love, and an instrument of God's sheltering and, over-shadowing power. This Love is what will finally endure, finally prevail, said Andrus. Is that agape love, philia love or eros love? Andrus doesn't tell us.
Integrity president Susan Russell whined that she was "disappointed that anti-LGBT marriage bans passed" and opined "that we have miles to go in this great country of ours before liberty and justice for all is not just a pledge but a reality." She accused the voters of bigotry.
"We believe discrimination against any member of the human family grieves the heart of God," said Integrity President Susan Russell.
"We will continue our efforts within the Episcopal Church and our witness to the wider Anglican Communion on behalf of the LGBT faithful. We are looking ahead to our 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church. Integrity will redouble its efforts to work for the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments of our church as we pray for God's strength and guidance in the struggle toward wholeness for the whole human family."
At the end of the day, that might be the only place pansexual behavior is accepted. The culture seems to be on a march away from the gadarene slide towards the sexual abyss. If TEC continues on its present pathway, it may find itself all alone galloping over the cliff edge.
END
