Kris Mineau of the Massachusetts Family Institute Uses His Opposition Of Casino
Gambling to Once Again Grandstand on Same-Sex Marriage
I was happy taking a well-deserved break from politics and trying to actually enjoy this Holiday Season, but something really got my dander up. No, this isn't another "wake up and open your eyes" blog post about MassEquality and Marc Solomon (the wrong person to lead the new organization), this is about something that really matters. And this "something" will keep LGBT people from achieving Full Equality unless we and our allies force society to recognize that regarding the LGBT community and these attacks that "enough is enough!"
Check out yesterday's MyFoxBoston Report, Religious Leaders unite Against Casino Gambling. It seems that "Religious Leader" Kris Mineau has joined with some Massachusetts Clergy to oppose Governor Patrick's Casino Gambling Proposal. But somehow, the Associated Press found it appropriate to make the "angle" of this story about gay marriage--how anti-gay clergy like Bishop Gilbert A. Thompson of the Black Ministerial Alliance have united with the pro-gay Reverend Aida Fernadez of the United Methodist Church and others to oppose these casinos.
Of course it just wouldn't be right to read an article that quotes commentary about "gambling, social ills, addictions, personal bankruptcy, spousal abuse, desertion and crime" without including something about gay marriage. And of course, this article's angle quickly turned into a "spin" which pulled those pro-gay clergy right into its trap where they soon provided quotations that continue the demonization of LGBT people...
I was not surprised to read that Bishop Gilbert Thompson said, "to say there is such thing as a gay Christian is saying there's an honest thief" but I was surprised to read that Reverend Fernandez defended him with the old, "He is entitled to his opinion..." Human beings, especially Americans have done a great job looking for excuses to explain away bigotry and "the right to one's opinion" is one of the lamest. I may have the Constitutional right to be prejudiced and to voice my prejudice to any one of many different groups, ethnic, racial or class, but I also have a "social" responsibility not to.
We need to make sure that we all stop making excuses. When pro-gay marriage Episcopal Minister William Bradbury spoke about casino gambling, he said, "the shared opposition to casino gambling has something in common with the sharp differences over gay marriage because it's all rooted in what clergy think is best for families." Once again, choosing a milktoast, equivocating posturing to confirm that our lives, our relationships, our loves, our families, our "salvation" and the morality of our existence are somehow open to debate and inevitable disagreement.
I hope our pro-gay clergy take heed and be careful about whom they get in bed with. These associations historically prove to usually discredit the "good" guys moreso than enlighten the bad ones. I mean really...Kris Mineau ???? Didn't another group of pro-gays once join forces with him? I can't remember...
Tom Lang, Co-Director KnowThyNeighbor
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