I'm not willing to tailor my citizenship to the homo-haters' discomfort with the advancing

(OKLAHOMA CITY) This Friday and Saturday, March 7th and 8th, there will be a Sexual Identity and Spirituality Conference on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma sponsored by GATE (Gay Alliance for Tolerance and Equality), a UCO student organization, and co-sponsored by several open and affirming churches, including Church of the Open Arms, Cathedral of Hope, and Mayflower Congregational.

You can get more details at http://www.PFLAGokc.org .

But what many of you may not know is that Pastor Paul Blair of Fairview Baptist Church of Edmond (http://fairviewbaptistedmond.org/) is not very happy with the idea of a religious conference, advertised in the Oklahoman and Oklahoma Gazette, that endorses the right of GLBT citizens to lead their own lives in security, both mental and spiritual, as they go about their daily lives of earning a living, paying taxes, and contributing to a healthy society. He claims the sponsoring liberal churches have "turned away from the Word of God" and are turning to the "commandments of men."

As an atheist myself I'm not going to engage in the battle of dueling bible verses or the cafeteria food fight of slinging zinging scriptural one-liners across the sanctuary.

I'm willing to support the right of free speech and the free exercise of religion as long as that observance stays in private or in one's house of worship, but I'm not willing to have religious dogma moved into civil law where it restricts the recognition of my taxpayer status to equal, unprejudiced protection of the laws.

I'm not willing to allow the use of religion to promote social suppression of a minority group.

I'm not willing to lower my aspirations in order to accommodate the limits imposed by the homophobically prejudiced who are unable to recognize that just as slavery, mixed-race marriage, and the suppression of women is no longer acceptable under civil law, so too will the rights of GLBT citizens be recognized under, yes, the legislative laws of men AND women, not the Bronze Age Old Testament god of blood and retribution.

Pastor Blair has been networking the gospel vine to raise money for a very expensive Oklahoman counter-advertisement, hoping that it will run Friday or Saturday. He's also asking for advice as to locating any "ex-gay" ministry in the Oklahoma City area that would advise about "counseling homosexuals out of that lifestyle."

What harm has any gay man or woman done to Pastor Blair that he and his friends should raise such a large sum of money in order to intimidate others? Does he really think there are not other more legitimate needs in this state such as clothing the naked and feeding the hungry? Aren't these issues the real "truth" he should be ministering to as his bible tells him over and over?

The great American abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, said "Without the church, slavery could not continue." I'm not so naive as to think that homophobia would evaporate without the church. But I do think that without the willful ignorance of people such as Paul Blair and his friends, this country would make great progress in the recognition of equality under the law for all its citizens.

James Nimmo
Oklahoma City, OK

Writer's note: The original email from Paster Paul Blair appears below for your information.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
From: (Pastor Paul Blair) advisoryboard [at] reclaimoklahoma.org
To: advisoryboard [at] reclaimoklahoma.org
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008
Subject: Urgent Response Needed - Request from Pastor Paul Blair

EXTREMELY URGENT - IMMEDIATE RESPONSE NEEDED
Brethren,

The Minutemen were famous for being able to respond to a threat in a minute's time. We are challenged to do the same now.

I returned from Israel late Friday night and was greeted by a half page advertisement in the Oklahoman:

"Religious Leaders Support Gay Pride".

This advertisement was promoting and supporting a "Sexual Identity and Spirituality Conference" being held on the campus of UCO this Friday night and Saturday. The advertisement in the paper is sponsored by 8 liberal churches that have forsaken the Word of God and teach for doctrine the commandments of men.

Every lie that is not refuted will eventually become accepted as truth. This bold play must be met with a bolder response of truth.

I have attached a 1/2 page response. (Please feel free to offer suggestions as you read it) It would cost us $4487.88 with our discount to run it this Friday or Saturday. But we need to act quickly. If 30 pastors were willing to support this and add their name to the letter, it would only cost us $150 each to run this ad. If we had 50, then the cost would be less than $100.

Please contact as many friends as you have in the ministry and see if they would be willing to share in the cost of a response advertisement. We don't have time to delay. I will need to contact the Oklahoman by Wednesday morning if we are to place this ad by Friday or Saturday.

They had 8 names, my prayer is that we can quickly respond with ten times that number. It's up to us. We can either act or remain silent.

Also, are any of you aware of a local group that works with counseling homosexuals out of that lifestyle? It would be even better to have fliers printed (we will do that in our church at our cost) to hand out to those on campus attending this event. We could distribute gospel tracts and fliers.

WHAT SAY YOU?

Pastor Paul Blair