The Gayly Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 21, No. 14, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 15, 2003 Page: 4 of 24
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4 • the gayly Oklahoman • July 15.2003
Utters to the
EDITOR
Dear Editors,
I've lived in OKC a lot of years now.
I have brothers in Tulsa and Chicago.
We're three gay brothers who are very
close. This year the Tulsa, OKC, and Chi-
cago Pride Parades and rallies were held
on consecutive weekends. I attended all
three. The Chicago weekend coincides
with my youngest brother's birthday.
Last Sunday at the Chicago Pride Parade
(I don't know how we got so unlucky)
we got behind, get this, gay Republicans.
Gay Republicans! Isn't that an oxy-mo-
ron?
The Chicago Parade (3 hours) was
largely a political statement. Half of the
Parade was elected officials (including a
Republican) and candidates. The Gover-
nor of Illinois walked the route shaking
hands.
The big downer of the day were the
guys in front of us. They actually booed
elected officials who support gay rights
because they were Democrats. They had
four ice chests of beer and the more they
drank, they more obnoxious they be-
came. Finally, when they started chant-
ing, "Bush, Bush, Bush," in disbelief I
actually heard myself yelling, "Kate!
Kate! Kate!"
Now I've heard a lot of derogatory
remarks over the years. "You live in
Oklahoma? Oh, you poor thing." Well,
let me tell you that I've never come across
a gay Okie as clueless as the men who
crossed my path in Illinois!
BL Phillips
Editors,
When the Supreme Court came out
with its ruling on the Texas sodomy case,
the "religious" right, conservative poli-
ticians and Supreme Court justices who,
while decrying the decision as based
more on politics than law, bewailed what
they call relative morality among other
catchy and scary unsubstantial phrases.
They try to condemn the ruling
based on their knowledge of history and
the lack of this knowledge on the part of
liberals, while actually ignoring history
(there was no prohibiton in the Christian
church against same sex love until well
into the 14th century, which would indi-
cate a longer standing acceptance of it
than the 600 years of inconsistent con-
demnation).
In light of the recent visit of Billy
Graham to Oklahoma City, the witness
offered by his honor the mayor and the
subsequent calls for a Christian nation, a
return to (what) religion in America and
the judging of others as less than godly
or American for not buyng it, I thought
it was time to bring a statement of Billy
Graham to the attention of those who
might have missed it.
In the Daily Oklahoman there is an
Ask Dr. Billy Graham column that appears
in the section of the paper that has the
T.V. schedule, Ann Landers and Miss
Manners. There the Reverend answers
questions sent in by the faithful who
might need a little clarification on some
fuzzy areas of theology. A few years back
(not many since I have not been in this burg
that long and I kept this Q and A) a wom-
an wrote concerned in that in Leviticus it
stated because someone committed a par-
ticular sin ( something straight people
would be more inclined to do than gays or
lesbians) they were not to be allowed into
the sanctuary. The questioner was con-
cerned because a relative she loved had
committed that sin and would probably
return to Jesus if she could get him to
church, but this Levitical admonition
would not allow her to bring him, and his
potential salvation would be severely cur-
tailed.
Billy said that admonition was from
part of the bible that did not apply to
Christians.
WHOA!
Billy actually stated that Christians
could pick and choose what sections they
held to?
Who makes that choice? Since this Lev-
itical proscription would obviously apply
to a larger majority than the often misap-
plied "Do not lie with a man as with a
women" targets (and it appears very close
to it), it seems to me that the majority can
dismiss parts of the Bible that could apply
to them while holding a chosen minority
to ones that do not. Not only is this a little
on the side of situational application and
relative moralism, but it also ignores St.
Paul's warning in Galatians that you can-
not pick and choose what Biblical laws you
consider worth following. You either fol-
low them all, or you follow none. Even he
was referring to what is now considered
the Old Testament (that part of the Bible
quoted more often by so called Christians
than the New Testament that one would
assume Christians would have a greater
interest in quoting).
And here's Rev. Graham saying some
parts of the Bible can be ignored. Most of
those who condemn gays and lesbians, the
Supreme Court decision,most liberals and
people with open minds hold the Bible as
inerrant and therefore something that must
be followed to the letter even if that letter
is used only to raise money rather than save
souls. Yet here is their hero saying in print
that parts of the Old Testament are irrele-
vant. It appears to me that those who are
most vocal in their condemnations and
who are accusing pvpryone they do not
agree with of being relative in laws and
morals are blind to their own fault.
Of course they may be so busy con-
demning others, they forgot the Rev. Gra-
ham said that.
Who is actually being relative here?
Joe Quiglee
Letter to the Editor
As Chair of the Oklahoma Libertarian
Party, I'd like to say thanks to everyone
who signed our petition for ballot access,
whether it was at the Gay Pride Festival,
the rally to celebrate the Supreme Court
decision on sodomy, or elsewhere.
We Libertarians have always been
made to feel welcome, but never more so
than at the Festival, where not only was
there a higher percentage of people will-
ing to sign our petition than we have ex-
erienced elsewhere, but also there was a
igher rate of registered voters than at al-
most any other event.
This link, www.oklp.org/
OKLPNews.pdf, will take you to our news-
letter, which for this issue has the Pride
Festival as our lead story. (You do need
Adobe Acrobat to view it.)
Thanks again to everyone who
signed.
Chris Powell, Chair
Oklahoma Libertarian Party
To The Editor:
First of all, let me congratulate Pride
Network, Inc. on a very successful week-
end, with all of the wonderful activities
in the park and a very outstanding pa-
rade. Special thanks to all of those who
participated in many ways. Hats off to
our great County Commissioner Jim
Roth for marching in the parade. The
man is courageous and deserves our full
support for this, as well as his enthusi-
asm and his integrity in office. You know
there must've been fifty or so different
groups that marched and provided floats
in the parade and I think it was the best
ever. Of all the Gay clubs in OKC it seems
there were only four represented in the
parade: Sisters, Partners, Finishline and
Copa. Where were the others? I, for one,
was very disappointed not to see the oth-
ers represented in the parade. One club's
employees were telling everyone that it
wasn't going to be much this year and
they weren't participating because every-
thing went to 39th Street. Shame on you,
and the others who refused to participate
for whatever reason! You should've been
there, that is, if you are a part of this com-
munity. Maybe next year you can get
your act together and get over your pet-
ty jealousy and bickering. It was great
to see three churches represented: First
Unitarian Church, Cathedral of Hope
and Church of the Open Arms. I hope
you remember that you saw Stonewall
Democrats marching! Where were the
Log Cabin Republicans? I guess they got
lost or forgot what day it was or some-
thing. That brings me to another saluta-
tion: To Cimarron Alliance: you are just
the absolute greatest and I, for one, just
want to say how appreciative I am of you
and all that you do for our community!!!
You know, one of my friends tried to tell
me that we "gays" make it hard on our-
selves because of issues, like the banners,
the city council was guilty and the may-
or was innocent, my gosh, doesn't any-
one follow the news, who do you think
was leading the other side besides the
mayor, please! These "gay Republican"
types don't seem to get the message that
their own party platform says we are an
abomination to God. My goodness it's
pretty simple don't you think? The may-
or is is a Republican. Wake up out there,
get up on the issues, and then vote!!!
Hooray for OGLPC, they do such a great
job for all of us! Anyway, I know next
year we can look forward to an even big-
ger Pride Parade and I hope some of this
might sink in.
Respectfully submitted, Mike Green
Editor,
The recent decision of the United
States Supreme Court to invalidate the
sodomy laws of the states was neither
surprising, or unanticipated. There have
been many, myself included, who felt
that once the right case came along and
worked it's way to the high court the jus-
tices would have no choice except to de-
_(continued on page 20)
gayly Oklahoman
s’— 1 1 \
Vol. 21, Issue 14 • July 15, 2003
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Hawkins, Don. The Gayly Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 21, No. 14, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 15, 2003, newspaper, July 15, 2003; Oklahoma City, Okla.. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc825160/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.