By Ed Oliver
October 16, 2000

Speaking at Lexington’s First Parish Unitarian Church yesterday, homosexual Congressman Barney Frank labeled those who believe homosexuality is a choice, as “morons,” and “hypocrites,” who are disguising their prejudice. 

Ironically, Frank was there as the keynote speaker for a friendly sounding seminar called “Respecting Differences.” 

Last week the American Family Association went to federal court in Boston to try to block the co-sponsorship of the program by Lexington’s schools, saying it was promoting a particular religious message in the sanctuary of the lead sponsor, the Unitarian Church. Attorneys defending school officials said there was no evidence that any part of the program would take place in the church’s sanctuary.

Surrounded by trappings of spirituality in the sanctuary yesterday, Frank delivered his message from the pulpit, which coincided with the Unitarian Church’s point of view on the subject of homosexuality.  Public school teachers who attended Frank’s speech, as well as a gay photo exhibit in the church and a religious panel’s discussion afterward, earned professional development points necessary for certification.

Frank didn’t disappoint the faithful. “At one time our opponents were more honest. They did not like people who were gay, and said so,” said Frank to the full house of homosexuals, Unitarians and educators.

But, “Homophobes have changed their rhetoric. Their argument now is you can’t allow rational discussion in the schools because you will be promoting homosexuality. How do you promote homosexuality? How do you take people who aren’t homosexuals and make them into one? This notion is, in fact, stupid.”

Continuing, Frank ridiculed the idea of a 15-year-old choosing to be a homosexual. “What moron thinks it happens that way?” he asked. “People really do believe you can convert teenagers from heterosexuals to homosexuals by having this discussion!” 

Frank said he doesn’t know anybody who chose homosexuality, and that it is something people discover by themselves. 

Frank urged people to take this argument to opponents on an intellectual level. “Take the argument to them. ‘What is it you don’t like about us?’ Most will say you are promoting homosexuality. That is a hypocritical argument that disguises their prejudice.”

Frank painted a psychological profile of his “opponents,” as people “driven to distraction by the fact that many more people are aware that homosexuals are in their midst, and the American people aren’t as homophobic as they are supposed to be.” He also said opponents fear that homosexuals are having fun.

Contrasting himself to heterosexuals who sin, Frank quipped, “Adultery made it into the Ten Commandments--I didn’t.”

Frank said he wanted to assure any who might think otherwise, “Do not worry, the chances of homosexuality will not increase because of the curriculum.”

After Frank’s speech, there was a discussion about “safer schools” and “more inclusive communities” by a panel of local clergy. Most of the comments were supportive of homosexuality.

Reverend Judith Brain from the UCC/Pilgrim Congregational Church suggested that the Bible is a primary weapon of “intolerance” against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people.

“We need to learn to read the Bible in a new way,” she said.

Pastor Christopher Haydon of Trinity Covenant Church objected to Barney Frank’s comments however by saying, “I am neither dumb, nor deceptive.” He defended those who speak out of sincere religious conviction, saying, “It does not serve the cause of safety in the schools to label those who disagree as haters and bigots.”

Haydon was a fish-out-of-water on the panel of nine clergy. The other eight offered no moral objection to the homosexual lifestyle. One Rabbi even said he was a member of the homosexual activist group PFLAG and pumped his fist triumphantly in the air when he said he was from Barney Frank’s district.

Haydon however, diplomatically said that he must be faithful to God first. He said that means he must uphold, as painful as it is, that homosexuality is a moral choice. “I must say that your lifestyle choice is morally wrong. I don’t expect that perspective to denigrate you in any way, nor do I expect you to do that to me,” he said to the homosexuals in the audience. 

One member of the audience asked Haydon what he opposes about homosexuality. Haydon answered that he does not believe there is a gay gene. He said he knows people who are ex-gays who are now married heterosexuals. ”I disagree with Barney Frank,” he added.

Of the other eight clergy, only Fr. James O’Donahue seemed to stray from the party line when he asked how it was possible to have a discussion of homosexuality in school because there would always have to be leaders of the discussion. “Leaders manipulate,” he said. 

O’Donahue also said he sensed a certain amount of smugness upon entering the Unitarian Church, which proclaims they are a “welcoming church,” that does not discriminate. “We all have our little discriminations,” he said. He joined the ranks of the politically correct however, by reading from his church’s new “Catechism,” which says homosexuals do not choose their lifestyle.

Earlier in the day at a worship service, Rev. William Murray, President of Meadville/Lombard Theological School, which is a Unitarian seminary in Chicago, gave a sermon that helps explain the revolutionary mindset of the church--a mindset that is willing to accept and promote alternatives to the traditional family. 

Murray, who commented that the apostle Paul was “by far not one of my favorite people,” said, “The genius of our faith is that having no creed, we are open to new ideas.” He said logic and reason need to be applied to religion to arrive at truth. He said that social justice requires more than charitable works, but the “need to change the structure of society.” 

Outside the church, a small band of protesters held signs protesting the homosexual issue in the schools. Bob Bennett, who has eight children, told Massachusetts News, “This has nothing to do with hate or intolerance. It’s our responsibility and our right to teach our children. Parents are co-opted by the schools on these issues because when we think they are at the appropriate age, we won’t be able to tell them what is right or wrong. The school already has.”
 

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