The Priest Who Went to Jail

This morning on "The View" the ladies spent the first 20 minutes or so discussing the passage of Proposition 8. The first words out of Elizabeth Hasselbeck's mouth were about the "priest who was jailed for speaking out against homosexuality." Sherri Shepard immediately chimed in, reiterating her fears about how - if gay marriage is allowed - somehow priests were now going to be thrown into jail for dissing gay people from the pulpit.

This was their justification for supporting a gay marriage ban.


Instead of starting off the conversation with the subject of, say, I don't know, 18,000 married gay couples having their constitutionally granted equal rights stripped away, they started off with the story of one priest, in Sweden - which was never mentioned, by the way - getting arrested for using his church as a vessel for inflammatory hate speech.

And this cuts straight to the heart of the problem. This topic is so huge, so far reaching, with so many different points to focus upon - and yet two of the four women on this television show panel - which undoubtedly helps shape public opinion - choose to focus on this one scare tactic story about something that happened in another country, with different laws, to one man.

What about all the scary stories that have already happened - not maybe, but did - concerning the thousands and thousands of gay couples and families who have been ripped down the middle, denied visiting rights to their dying loved ones, loosing their homes due to lack of protection from tax laws, loosing custody of beloved children?

We could go on and on and on with truly scary stories about what has already happened to our good and loving gay fellow citizens, right here in this country. These same people that are probably friends with Elizabeth Hasselbeck and Sheri Shepard, who lovingly teach their children, care for them as doctors and nurses, fight for them in court, represent them in the government, deliver their mail, cook their food...

And yet the "scary story" they choose to focus on is about one priest, in another country, spewing vitriolic divisive hate speech from the pulpit of a church and, in accordance to that country's laws, is punished in kind. And how this may or may not happen here.

Elizabeth and Sheri are not alone, as we all well know. There are 5 million people in the state of California alone that would gladly chose to focus on this "scary priest" story, and all the other similar scare tactics, before they will focus on the history of bigotry and hatred - even violent crime and murder - that has been perpetrated about the gay and lesbian community in this country for generation after generation.

Now, here's the real gay truth about the "priest who went to jail."

Where did I find it? From the "LifeSiteNews" website. Here's how they described themselves, with the "scary priest story" immediately following.

The service was originally started by Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), a Canadian national pro-life organization headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Campaign Life Coalition, founded in 1978, was one of the first pro-life organizations to emphasize the international dimension of attacks on life and family. Along with a few other groups it pioneered pro-life lobbying at United Nations conferences. CLC president, Jim Hughes, is currently also vice-president of the International Right to Life Federation.



Swedish Pastor Sentenced to Month in Prison for Preaching Against Homosexuality

STOCKHOLM, July 5, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Ake Green, the pastor of a Swedish Pentecostal church in Kalmar, Sweden, has been sentenced to one month in prison by a Swedish court, for inciting hatred against homosexuals. Green was prosecuted in January for "hate speech against homosexuals" for a sermon he preached last summer citing Biblical references to homosexuality.

During a sermon in 2003, Green described homosexuality as "abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumour in the body of society".

Sweden passed an equivalent to Canada's Bill C-250 last year -- a "hate crimes" law that forbids criticism of homosexuality. In a WorldNetDaily article, the author quotes from the church newspaper Kyrkans Tidning, in which the prosecutor in the case, Kjell Yngvesson, justifies the arrest of pastor Green: "One may have whatever religion one wishes, but this is an attack on all fronts against homosexuals. Collecting Bible cites on this topic as he (Pastor Green) does makes this hate speech."