Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition

Washington, DC -- Mel White is a homosexual preacher who apparently considers himself the "Gay Gandhi." His civil disobedience group is known as Soulforce, and it routinely conducts Operation Rescue-like demonstrations to protest Protestant and Catholic opposition to homosexuality.

In July of this year, Soulforce protesters were arrested outside a Denver convention center for blocking the entrance to the annual meeting of the Episcopal General Convention. The Episcopalians still correctly reject homosexuality as a violation of biblical morality.

On Monday, White’s uncivil disobedience group protested outside the annual meeting of the U.S. Catholic Bishops at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

Earlier this month, White wrote a letter to the Bishops asking them to overturn the Church’s centuries-old opposition to homosexuality. In his Nov. 9 letter to the Bishops, White said, "Vatican teachings about homosexuality lead to wasted lives, ruined relationships, discrimination, suffering, and even death."

In reply, Bishop Joseph Fiorenza responded that the Bishops had to abide by the church’s teachings that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." The Catechism of the Catholic Church also declares that homosexual acts are "contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved."

What was White’s response to Fiorenza? "That’s not an answer. When you say you’re against violence but use the very hate language that causes it."

Mel White’s statements give us more reason than ever to oppose the passage of pro-homosexual hate crimes laws. He has unwittingly telegraphed the true intentions of those who want hate crimes laws passed: These laws will eventually be used to criminalize free speech!

Let’s examine White’s flawed logic. It goes like this: A church denomination that has a policy against homosexuality is forcing homosexuals into living wasted lives, suffering ruined relationships, discrimination, and death. And to speak out against homosexuality is "hate language" that "causes" violence against homosexuals. In White’s tortured mind, if one speaks out against homosexuality, he is creating a situation that leads to violence and the killing of homosexuals.

If sermonizing against homosexuality equals murder, then our nation’s pastors are in danger of losing their right to preach against homosexuality from the Bible. If White and his homosexual allies succeed in getting hate crimes laws passed, we can foresee the day when a pastor or priest is arrested and fined for preaching from Romans 1.

While the Gay Gandhi continues to lobby for sodomy in our nation’s churches, those of us who value free speech and biblical truth should remain steadfast against his efforts. We should also continue expressing our opposition to hate crimes laws that would criminalize our right to preach against a sexual behavior that God forbids. We cannot--indeed will not--compromise on this issue.

Traditional Values Coalition is an inter-denominational public policy organization comprising over 43,000 member churches. For more information call Christy Moore at (202) 547-8570. TVC, 139 C Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. Web address: www.traditionalvalues.org.