Nov 11, 2005  |  By: JASMYNE CANNICK  | COMMENTS     

NO SINGLE PROTEST I have participated in has garnered as much attention as the “Outing Black Pastors” campaign that I did with my colleague Keith Boykin.

It was a simple idea hatched in a casual conversation of black gay activists while in Washington, D.C. Frustrated with the increasing number of attacks on same-gender loving people by black pastors, we decided to take action.

The action in this case was calling out black pastors on their hypocrisy as it relates to gay issues and their relationship to the current Bush administration.

Each day for one week, we profiled a black pastor, highlighting his relationship with the Bush administration, recent homophobic gay comments, and ending with the question: Is this pastor gay?

Starting with mega-church pastors Eddie Long and T.D. Jakes, we included profiles of other prominent ministers, including Los Angeles’ Noel Jones and Charles Blake, D.C.’s Willie Wilson, Chicago’s Gregory Daniels, New Orleans’ Paul Morton, Georgia’s Creflo Dollar, and ended with a profile of ex-gay gospel singer Donnie Mclurkin.

For the record, there is nothing wrong with asking a question. My experience has shown that the people who are the most adamant on certain issues also tend to be dealing with their own issues. People who are comfortable with who they are usually don’t care as much about what other people are doing.

Which led me to an obvious question: Are these pastor’s gay?

REMEMBER THAT DESPITE all of his racist rhetoric, former senator segregationist Strom Thurmond, now dead, fathered a black daughter to everyone’s surprise.

Conservative pundit and frequent GOP candidate Alan Keyes caused a stir during the 2004 Republican convention by labeling Vice President Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter a “selfish hedonist.” Alan Keyes’ daughter Maya is a lesbian.

Being able to point out the hypocrisy on our issues is why we have a democracy.

I have received more than 1,000 e-mails regarding this campaign, and they continue to come in. While a good number are positive, I’ve also received threats on my life for “bringing harm to a man of God.”

And if the e-mail wasn’t a threat, I was blasted for speaking badly about men of God and put on notice that I was on a direct path to hell, as opposed to a more scenic route.

Must we be reminded that anyone can claim to be a man of God? Jim Jones said he was a man of God and because of him, 913 people, many of whom were black, died in a mass murder-suicide.

President Bush claims he was called upon by God to lead this country and look at where we are today. Rev. Craig Ward of the Brookins African Methodist Episcopal Church considers himself a man of God, but he was still arrested in Oakland for trying to negotiate a $20 oral sex act.

TO DATE, OUR campaign never specifically “outed” anyone’s sexual orientation or secret sex lives. But we did expose in depth the ties that certain black pastors have with the Bush administration, which is equally dangerous and harmful to black people.

To bring about change, sometimes you have to deviate from traditional methods.

We pushed the envelope and brought the discussion of homophobia in the black church and President Bush’s “faith-based initiative” to mainstream black America. Had we simply complained about yet another black preacher spewing anti-gay hate, we wouldn’t have garnered as much attention.

This campaign was a way to challenge the authority of people using God to oppress. It sent a clear message that we’re tired of the hypocrisy about same-gender loving people, and we’re willing to take this conversation into mainstream black America.

I feel especially duty bound to take up the issue of homophobic black pastors so they can redeem themselves before it’s too late and go to heaven with me and everyone else, including lesbian and gay men who’ve earned a place up there.