The Houston Area Pastor Council — one version of essentially the same group (along with the Texas Pastor Council and U.S. Pastor Council) headed by Houston hate-meister Dave Welch — is rallying his troops again as an election day nears. But it’s fair to ask whether the nakedly anti-gay hysteria Welch promotes is fading as an effective political weapon, at least in local elections.
Texas voters will go to the polls Nov. 5 for elections in some cities and to weigh in on proposed state constitutional amendments. Welch’s group is particularly focused on city elections in Houston.
Houston voters will decide whether to re-elect Annise Parker to a third term as mayor. Welch has been particularly vicious in his attacks on Parker, who is openly lesbian. He calls gay people a “morally depraved special interest group” and Parker a “sodomite.” He was one of the leaders of a group of social conservatives who warned of a “gay takeover” of Houston’s City Hall if Parker were elected mayor in 2009. He later cited her election as evidence that Houston is a “sin-sick city.”
To further his anti-gay crusade against Parker, Welch is pointing to the San Antonio City Council’s passage in September of an ordinance barring housing and employment discrimination against lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered (LGBT) people. In an essay and email to Pastor Council supporters today, Welch calls the San Antonio measure “the most aggressive ordinance in Texas elevating ‘sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ to protected status.” (Never mind that San Antonio simply joined other major Texas cities with similar ordinances.) Among his claims is that the ordinance forces Christian business owners to choose between “violating their faith convictions” and discriminating against gay people. He also argues that the ordinance “requires all businesses — including ones owned by Christians — to allow men in women’s restrooms and locker rooms, and vice versa” — a claim PolitiFact Texas found to be false.
Now Welch is warning that Mayor Parker has called for passage of a similar ordinance in Houston. He writes:
“The bottom line is that the Christians of San Antonio gave the mayor and city council the authority to do this by their neglect of the simple act of voting and choosing godly leaders. They didn’t show up when it really counted, so they had no real influence when it was needed. …
The only question for us is…will Christians eligible to vote in Houston be found faithful by ALL going and voting for candidates who respect God’s moral laws?”
Welch’s arrogant comments suggest that the Houston voters who elected Parker to office in 2009 (and re-elected her in 2011) can’t be good Christians or other people of faith. We suppose he would say the same for voters in Pflugerville near Austin, who last May re-elected two local school board members despite efforts by religious-right groups to defeat them because of their support for giving domestic partners of school district employees access to health insurance.
The Dave Welches of this world are struggling to hold back the tide of history. They long for a past in which all they had to do was point a finger and shout “sodomite” or “gay takeover” to destroy someone. But now they’re losing, even in Texas.
As noted, lots of other Texas cities have anti-discrimination ordinances similar to San Antonio’s. And now that Annise Parker has served nearly two terms, it’s harder to argue that electing her will cause storms of fire and brimstone (or whatever bad thing was supposed to happen).
More and more, the anti-gay groups are fighting a battle that is all but over. Either they will fade away, or they will become incresingly desperate and militant, a la Westboro Baptist Church.
Or worse, Operation Rescue (and those they tacitly endorse but distance themselves from when the arson and murder makes the frontpages).
Remember, keeping them from harassing, torturing and murdering those they don’t like is infringing on their religious liberty.
“History” is irrelevant to moral and spiritual Truth. As a pro-Religious Right Christian evangelical from outside Texas I can assure you we do not long for any “past”. The “past” had all too many of its own problems: poverty, disease, isolation and racism just being the most obvious. What we want is the establishment of Godly standards of conduct as the norm guiding our society and civil government.
The opponents of acceptance for sodomy are indeed losing in America, but this is because of the falling from New Testament Biblical morality on sexual matters that has occurred in the 50 years of radical elites bashing Godly standards.
@Hartmut, you wickedly bear false witness by alleging the pro-life, pro-Family Christian ministry Operation Rescue “endorses” domestic terrorism. It does no such thing but pro-abortion and anti-Christ militants insist there is a link to smear Bible believers, just as they do in linking anti-sodomy groups to “gaybashing” and youth suicide which is a slanderous lie from the pit of Hell.
BTW, abortionists are not just people they don’t “like”. They are murderers of preborn babies. I myself am on the record saying Scott Roeder and “dr” George Tiller are both wicked men but Tiller is worse, because he murdered innocents. As for the Satanic hoax that it was not really murder because some godless “constitution” legalized it and Killer Tiller lived in America- God DAMN that lie. America is part of the Creation of God no matter what scribble of words its “founding fathers” or “Justices” may vomit out of their lethal pens. God made the whole WORLD and is Lord over it all and owns every body, thus His Law supersedes man’s laws in determining what murder is- in EVERY nation and on the High Seas and in Outer Space.
A pro-Family, anti-sodomy Bible Believer who is a PROUD Religious-Political EXTREMIST like the Lord Jesus was, & understands the “Religious Right” are VERY much Religious as well as political: without the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of believers there would be no Christian political action.