Subject: Happy Valentines Day!
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 00:36:43 -0500 (EST)

"c.c.watch" Commentary--

RING SOME BELLS & LIGHT SOME CANDLES ON VALENTINE=92S DAY!

A  letter to the Editor of the Chicago Tribune last month sounded all too
dishonestly familiar.=20

It said, in part: "Like millions of others, Mr. [Pat] Robertson believes =
that
homosexual behavior is morally wrong and violates the biblical principles
fundamental to Christian belief. At the same time, however, that belief i=
s
balanced by the same love and compassion that Mr. Robertson has exhibited
daily for 35 years through his international ministry. Mr. Robertson cond=
emns
violence aimed at anyone-- including homosexuals. He told his national TV
audience, 'We abhor violence against homosexuals. We would counsel strong=
ly
in relation to homosexuality that you could hold your religious beliefs
without beating people up and being violent.' "

That letter was written by Gene Kapp, Vice President for  Public relation=
s of
Robertson=92s Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach, Virginia =
-- in
response to someone who had deigned to criticize "religious leaders like =
Pat
Robertson, while at the same time distorting their deeply held religious
beliefs about homosexuality."

Mr. Kapp, of course, left out a few very important facts.

Pat Robertson -- founder, president and boss of the Christian Coalition, =
by
the way -- made that statement nearly two years ago! It was made under
duress, as a way of ending a twenty-three day fast by MCC Minister of Jus=
tice
and Reconciliation Mel White. Kapp was very much involved in that
embarrassing incident and, like his boss, very happy when it was over. RI=
NG
ANY BELLS, GENE?=20

We remember! Two years ago, Dr. Mel White -- formerly Robertson's
 ghostwriter ("America's Date with Destiny") -- tried repeatedly to meet =
with
Robertson to ask him to tone down the anti-homosexual pronouncements and
programming on The 700 Club.  To make a long story short, White finally
showed up at Pat's doorstep in Virginia Beach on Valentine's Day and was
arrested for trespassing.  The MCC minister subsequently spent twenty-thr=
ee
days in jail, fasting and waiting for his former boss.  When Robertson sh=
owed
up for a brief jailhouse meeting, he agreed to renounce violence against
homosexuals on The 700 Club. He did so -- per the above infamous statemen=
t
  -- on March 10, 1995.=20

A year later, absolutely nothing had changed. Mel White and others had
 monitored every single 700 Club broadcast and could prove that Pat
Robertson's campaign against lesbian and gay Americans continued unabated.
White wanted everybody to see for themselves.  To that end he put togethe=
r a
brilliant 30-minute video* that both illustrates the toxic rhetoric and
responds to it with forthright truth, Biblical documentation, and loving
grace. He and his life-partner Gary Nixon went back to Virginia Beach las=
t
February and -- at their own expense -- held a forum to show the video to=
 the
local community. Happy Valentine=92s Day!

Over the past months, White and Nixon have shared that tape with numerous
organizations and individuals  -- also dogging Robertson at the GOP
convention in San Diego last summer and demonstrating outside of the
Christian Coalition=92s annual =93Road to Victory=94 conference at the Wa=
shington
Hilton in September. The good news is that many more people are now aware=
 of
the Pat Robertson agenda. The bad news is that gay-bashing is still a sta=
ple
on The 700 Club. =20

On January 7, 1997, for example -- the second day of a 2-week telethon ca=
lled
"Crisis of Confusion" -- the target of the day was the all-destructive,
"anti-orthodox" multiculturalism. Pat told his followers that the two big=
gest
problems in America are homosexuality and abortion. There is a "malevolen=
t
force pushing this agenda" that is "perverse and evil." These are recurri=
ng
themes on The 700 Club, where Robertson & Company spare nothing to create
their distorted world of intolerance, fear and hatred.

But Pat Robertson has not heard the last of Mel White. And neither, for t=
hat
matter, has William Jefferson Clinton.=20

Mel White and Gary Nixon spent Inauguration Day in Washington. They did n=
ot,
however, dance at some inaugural ball or other high fallutin=92 extravaga=
nza
put on by the proverbial =93Gay Community.=94 They spent January 19-20th =
at
Dupont Circle leading a 24-Hour Fast and Prayer Vigil For Justice -- and
launching a four-year, nationwide Justice Candle Vigil.=20

=93LIGHT YOUR JUSTICE CANDLE,=94 White said, "that the President might se=
e the
light=85" The event was =93not a protest or a confrontation=94 against Cl=
inton.
 Candles were lit =93to honor your high office and to assure you that we
understand the difficulty you have in serving all Americans fairly.=94
Nonetheless, White urged the President =93not to sacrifice the rights of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered Americans again in his second t=
erm
for some 'greater political good=92  -- especially in view of the ongoing
campaign by Pat Robertson and the other religious and political extremist=
s.=94

Truth? Justice? Reconciliation? Rights? A four-year, nationwide,
non-megafunded Justice Candle Vigil?

This guy Mel White and his partner Gary Nixon have one hell of a lot of
nerve!

(And we wonder where they=92ll be THIS VALENTINE=92S DAY?)
______________________________________________________________

Copyright 1996 Public-Spirited Enterprises. All rights reserved. This art=
icle
may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. If it is quoted=
 or
referred to, please do give "c.c.watch" appropriate credit.

*You can order your own copy of Dr. Mel White's 30 minute video, "The
Rhetoric of Intolerance," by sending $5.55 - to cover the costs of
duplicating, packaging and mailing the video and a 12 page User's Guide -=
 to
'Video,' P.O. Box 4467, Laguna Beach, CA. 92652.