Earl Ofari Hutchinson
There mega-church black minister Bishop Eddie Long was in January 2004 with the Rev. Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in tow, leading a spirited march of thousands to the Atlanta gravesite of Dr. King. Long and the demonstrators marched to denounce gay marriage. The choice of King's site to make the hell fire and damnation point that gay marriage was sinful, degenerate, and against every Biblical precept was painful and insulting to see. The not so subtle implication was that King might well have stood with her and them in their gay bashing protest. Given King's relentless and uncompromising battle against discrimination during his life, this was beyond pure poppycock; it was well, insulting and painful to see.
But even though Long sullied King's name and legacy to torpedo gay rights, the Bishop seemingly was not a hypocrite when it came to denouncing gays. He was one of the biggest, best known, and virulent black evangelical attackers of gay marriage. Long had prominently touted then President George W. Bush's federal amendment banning gay marriage on his church Web site. Long's anti-gay phobia was so virulent that then NAACP president Julian Bond publicly declared he would not attend the funeral service of Coretta Scott King at Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. Why, because as Bond flatly said "I knew her attitude toward gay and lesbian rights. And I just couldn't imagine that she'd want to be in that church with a minister who was a raving homophobe. He obviously couldn't see himself there either.
For a brief moment, Long seemed to relent some from his sledgehammer bible quoting attacks on gays when he agreed to meet with Soulforce, a gay Christian lobby organization, at his church in 2008. Long's epiphany went no further than the one meeting and a pithy statement from him that there were "things about homosexuality that he needs to learn"
The question then is the accusations from the lengthening list of teen and young male adults who claim that Long bought and paid for their sexual favors true? They may well be phony as a nine dollar bill, a shakedown, or a dirty put up job to smear a prominent black minister that many blacks regard as a leader and advocate. But even if that turns out to be the case, there's another more compelling question. Did Long's long, open and relentless crusade against homosexuals tag he and many other anti-gay prominent black church leaders as narrow, bigoted, and hypocritical in championing the very discrimination that King and the civil rights movement waged a titanic battle against?
A big warning sign that the gay rights issue would inflame, polarize, and even energize blacks within and without the black pulpit came in 1997 when the Green Bay Packers perennial all-pro defensive end Reggie White, an ordained minister, touched off a firestorm of protest from gay groups with a rambling, hour- long talk to the Wisconsin legislature in which he took a huge swipe at gay rights and gay marriage. He later barnstormed through several Mid-Western cities pushing the anti-gay gospel at pro-family rallies.
Before his untimely death in 2005, White apologized for his anti-gay remarks, but he was unrepentant in his view about homosexuality. He was a conservative black minister and homosexuality, as with Long, still violated his biblical conception of the proper roles for men and women. In defying the canons of political correctness, White became the first celebrity black evangelical to say publicly what many black religious leaders said and believed privately. Few blacks joined in the loud chorus that condemned his remarks.
The same year the conservative Virginia based Alliance for Marriage corralled a handful of top black preachers to plop their name on the Alliance's letterhead and tout the Alliance's anti-gay rights agenda. The year before White's outburst, and the Alliance's rope in of black ministers like Long, a Pew Poll measured black attitudes toward gay marriage and found that blacks by an overwhelming margin opposed it. A CNN poll eight years later showed that anti-gay attitudes among blacks had not changed much since then. The substantial backing black voters gave California's anti-gay marriage measure, Proposition 8 and anti-gay marriage initiatives in other states, was ample proof of that
Gay rights, and especially gay marriage, advocates have had a big uphill battle to convince blacks that tolerance didn't begin and end with race alone. The Democrats and civil rights groups had no real defense against the anti-gay phobia among black Christian groups and blacks that weren't of the faith but still loathed gay marriage.
For years Long was a leader of the anti-gay pack. When confronted with the charge of sex pandering, he loudly declares he did nothing wrong, and is willing to confront his accusers to show them to be the liars and con artists they are. Long may just be right. The fact that the charges were leveled at him, a man of the pulpit who turned gay bashing into a growth industry in the pulpit, doesn't make him a hypocrite. But it doesn't make him a victim either.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He hosts a nationally broadcast political affairs radio talk show on Pacifica and KTYM Radio Los Angeles.
Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/earlhutchinson
Follow Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/earlhutchinson
Wallace Best, Ph.D.: Lessons from the Eddie Long Scandal
David A. Love: The Eddie Long Scandal: Betraying the Memory of MLK
Long must step down and he will not admit guilt because of the pending litigation.
Morally he abused his power to have sex with under aged boys. Legally he transported them across state lines and out of the country for sex. He hired then and abused then. People at the church covered it up and provided gifts to the boys.
ATLANTA – Futures soared in the derivatives trading of church abuse allegations (CAAs) on Wall Street today as investors took in the implications of three lawsuits being leveled against Megachurch pastor Bishop Eddie Long.
Long is accused of plying at least three angst-ridden urban youth, who had come to him for religious counsel, with gifts and then duping them into accepting his sexual advances as a milestone on their road to spiritual growth during his unfortunately named youth retreat, “LongFellows.”
[continues]
http://wineandexcrement.com/wall-street-bullish-on-church-abuse-scandals-after-georgia-megachurch-hit-with-multiple-lawsuits/2748/
I think it highly ironic, however. The religious right has long demonstrated that there is a great deal of money and power to be had when you sell homophobia to the masses. The whole anti gay industry is built upon the sands of homophobia, hatred, and wholly imaginary superiority-- and the ability to generate large bunches of money and power.
Here's the irony. These young men are also reaping the benefits of homophobia, and making money out of it. Long's lawyers are making money out of it. Everyone associated with it, with the possible exception of Mr. short, are going to make money out of it.
It almost makes me wish I weren't gay. Look how much money i can make hating gay people.
Oh well, i'll just have to settle for honesty and fighting this corruption of american ideals.
Yet these pseudo-Christians constantly refer back to the Old Testament as Absolute Authority. They do so to give biblical cover for their stone age, hateful beliefs and fascist tendencies. They conveniently forget that according to the Old Testament they worship, Jesus was a sinner who deserved to be put to death.
That is why Jesus called out the Tea Party "Christian Conservatives" and RepubiKlan bible thumping fanatics of His day, "Ye hypocrites. Ye Serpents. Woe to you blind guides! ... You brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell?
http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2010/09/photos-show-bishop-eddie-long-002646.php
He's a hypocrite, just l;ike every other right wingChristian, Jewish or other moralizer who is far too concerned with other people's lives.
But mostly, he's just a con man. He lives in a virtual palace, while his parishioners live where? Here's a photo of it. http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/btb/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/00-Photo-of-Bishop-Eddie-Longs-Estate-300x244.jpg.
But mostly, he appears to be an arrogant con man who has finally been caught up with. I certainly hope so.
“Give away all that you have and follow me!”
“It easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter thek ingdom of heaven.”
“Nice art collection, Benny. Lovely palace.”
Jesus! You gotta be kidding!
That's quite the leap you take, saying that it is all about the money. These boys have been manipulated into 'sinning' by the leader of their church who condemns that sin. I know a few men who were abused by the priest of a local parish. The lawsuit is justified.