Gay Marriage in America
by Jeremy Pinson

Today I watched a disgusting display of hate and bigotry by none other than the Reverend William Owens of the Coalition of African American Pastors speaking at the National Press Club against the president's stance on gay marriage.

Reverend Owens decried the ungodly nature of those who enjoy same-sex relations. He said gays were "that way" likely due to being molested as children and insinuated gays were prone to being child molesters. He denied any relation between the struggle for equality by the LGBT community and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. In general, he just sounded like another ignorant bigot from the south.

I am bisexual and am quite certain my sexual preferences developed as an adolescent had no relation whatsoever to my being molested as a small child. I most certainly would never victimize a child and am disgusted by the very suggestion my sexual preference would lead me to do so. I have encountered hate from my peers in prison, in the community, and have been hurt when good friends are "disappointed" when they learn of my sexuality. Ignorance is as destructive as evil.

Reverend Owns, who grew up in the segregated south, should be ashamed of his display of bigotry calling for two Americas. And his so-called "defense of marriage" as a "union between one man and one woman" being Biblically mandated is faulty too. What about polygamy? Did not Abraham and other Biblical figures have multiple wives? Is polygamy just? I'm sure that the good reverend would struggle to answer such Biblical contradictions, just as white so-called Christians who also used the Bible to justify their stance on racial superiority or inferiority did. But what was false then is false now, and it is men like Reverend Owens who use the Bible to hate, incite divisiveness, and condemn others who turn me away from all religions.

No man has the right to hate another, to deny basic human decency and dignity to another, to deny the rights of the majority to the minority and certainly not to use religion as an instrument of oppression.

Reverend Owens should remind himself that Jesus taught charity and love, not hate and oppression. Or at least, keep his stupid mouth shut if he doesn't have anything constructive to say in the public forum.