Stand up to anti-gay sermonizing
I have been attending a church in Oak Cliff for the past year that regularly spouts hatred against gays. This past Sunday, while two people running for judge on the Democratic ticket were there to ask for votes, Bishop Herman Murray launched into an anti-gay tirade that I thought would never end.
At the end of his sermon, the church’s founder, Apostle Lobias Murray, grabbed a microphone and graphically described man-on-man gay sex and even began talking about women "licking women’s titties" and on and on.
This is where I walked out in disgust.
When I was a fourth-grade teacher, I would have had a student sent home for saying what this church pastor said from the pulpit. I would have thought that the student had been exposed to this language from a graphic rap video and would have questioned the environment in which his parents had raised him.
But no! This hate-filled rant came from the pastor of Full Gospel Holy Temple, located at the corner of LBJ Freeway and Wheatland Road in Oak Cliff.
This is indoctrination. This is dangerous.
This mega-church is the mother church of 38 other churches that fall under the Full Gospel Holy Temple name across the nation.
There were 4,000 people in the audience Sunday cheering this old man and his nephew on as they damned all gay men and women. This church is on the airwaves on both radio and television all over the world.
Sadly, the candidate running for judge, whose name I do not remember, came up to the pulpit after church and told the old man that, "I am glad you said what you said. I am happy that some people preach the gospel just like it was spoken by God."
This same judicial candidate will, no doubt, ask for votes from the LGBT community. I would be afraid to have a case in his courtroom and have him know that I was gay.
I urge anyone in the gay community to come out and see the hatred and ignorance that I am monitoring each Sunday morning and night, Saturday night and Tuesday night.
When you hear these rants and see the thousands of people nodding their heads in agreement, you will be scared — you will be very scared, indeed.
This Hitlerish hatred needs to be put to a stop.
James Dunn
Dallas
Black, gay and proud!
The other day, a straight black man at a local Chicago Transit Authority train station told me he should strangle me and then throw me into the Chicago River because I was black and gay!
I was told being gay was a "white" thing.
Then on a CTA bus one Saturday morning, I sat next to a man and he instantly turned to the side.
I’m pretty sure I didn’t stink, so I figure it was because I was gay.
I have always helped fight the war on equality from afar, but I think it’s time to be more active.
I’m going to be on the front lines with patience, education, leadership and, most importantly, love.
Being gay alone brings enough challenges. Being gay and black means a lonely and hurtful world and being rejected by family, friends, the black church and black society in general.
Being gay and black in a straight black society means having to live in many different worlds. That is because the straight black man has told me I don’t exhibit the "correct" chacteristics to stay in the black society.
I think it’s time that I and anyone else in the LGBT community take a stand and speak out against these acts and start to have a uniform voice, no matter if we’re black, white, brown, etc.
Too many LGBT people walk around every day feeling repressed and confused and being tormented because of their sexuality and the way society treats them.
I know I will no longer wake up every day and try to come up with better ways to repress, hide and deny my sexuality.
I’m tired of having to try to prove my "blackness" to the straight black society, and I will not commit to their straight black politics any longer.
Understand this: I have taken your "Black Ability Test" for the last time!
I feel for the LGBT youth who suffer with trying to understand themselves, while at the same time being rejected by family, friends, their school and their church.
All LGBT people should come out of the closet and fight for the equal rights agenda. We should help each other, provide support for those who are trying to come out the closet, educate ourselves and be there for one another as so many of us suffer from depression and loneliness.
Today I speak and fight for what’s right and for all LGBT pepople, not just here in Chicago, but across the entire nation.
Jason L. Cozart
Chicago
What happened to the Pride flags?
I would like to say first off that this year’s Pride celebration was a success and everyone had a good time.
But this being said, I have a couple of concerns about it.
What happened to all the flags that normally adorn the posts along Cedar Springs Road? In years past, a person would swell with pride to see all the flags on display.
I was very disappointed this year not to see them.
I had company in from out of town, and one of their first questions was, "Where is Dallas’ pride? Where are the flags?"
One more question: What happened to the lights on our beautiful Legacy of Hope Monument? Are we already allowing this to become another forgotten piece of artwork?
Come on Dallas, we are better than this!
Earl Rodriguez
Dallas
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 2, 2009.