HARVEY MILK AND JIM JONES KOOL-AID

Koinonia House
from the October 13, 2009 eNews issue

May 22 has officially become "Harvey Milk Day" in California. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Sunday to honor the state's first openly gay politician elected to office by having California school children annually celebrate the man's birthday. Milk is only the 2nd person in The Golden State, after naturalist John Muir, to get a day dedicated to his honor.

Tens of thousands of people from both sides of the issue contacted the governor's staff regarding this controversial bill. Conservative groups had rallied without success to persuade the governor to veto the bill as he did last year. New attention drawn to Harvey Milk by the Oscar-winning movie and plenty of pressure from GLTB activist groups apparently changed Schwarzenegger's mind, however.

Harvey Milk Day will not be a state holiday; banks will be open and the kids will still have to go to school. In their classrooms on that day, according to the new law, teachers will offer lessons "remembering the life of Harvey Milk, recognizing his accomplishments and familiarizing pupils with the contributions he made to this state." In other words, Harvey Milk's homosexual activism gets to be celebrated by an entire day set up in his honor, (while thousands of other historically significant Californians are comparatively ignored).

Geoff Kors, executive director of the huge gay-rights organization Equality California, has said his group would develop curriculum for schools and teachers to use on Milk's birthday.

Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who authored the legislation, said, "This will go a long way to better inform Californians as to the nature of the civil rights struggle in the LGBT community."

Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, was not so jubilant. "Under SB 572, schoolchildren could perform mock gay weddings, have cross-dressing contests, and have gay-pride parades right on campus. Why? Because 'Harvey Milk Gay Day' pressures schools to make children honor and support anything and everything that Milk believed in. The sky is the limit. And there's no parental consent in the bill."

No Hero For Children:
Regardless of what Californians may or may not believe about GLTB rights, Harvey Milk was a painfully poor person to teach unsuspecting school kids to honor. The real Harvey Milk was a guy with a bad temper, who freely had sex with teenagers and, according to his biographer, "had a penchant for young waifs with substance abuse problems." The movie about Harvey Milk also conveniently leaves out the fact that Milk was a big supporter of Jim Jones – that same Jim Jones, leader of Peoples Temple, who led over 900 people to their poisoned Kool-Aid deaths in Guyana merely nine days before Milk was slain.

According to Daniel J Flynn in City Journal:

"Milk occasionally spoke at Jones's San Francisco–based headquarters, promoted Jones through his newspaper columns, and defended the Peoples Temple from its growing legion of critics. Jones provided conscripted 'volunteers' for Milk's campaigns to distribute leaflets by the tens of thousands. Milk returned the favor by abusing his position of public trust on behalf of Jones's criminal endeavors."

Milk also willingly used deceit to move himself forward politically. In his last campaign, Milk's camera store was bombed with low-grade explosives.  Milk blamed the bombing on his political enemies, but biographer Randy Shilts notes that, "Years later friends hinted broadly that Harvey had more than a little foreknowledge that the explosions would happen."  That is, the bombs were a set up. "You gotta realize the campaign was sort of going slow, and, well . . ." one friend told Shilts.

It is also relevant to note that Milk was not shot to death because he was gay. He was not a martyr for the gay rights cause. Milk was shot because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time moments after Dan White shot Mayor George Moscone. In fact, White's own campaign manager was homosexual and White had donated money to support gay rights.

Yet, Sean Penn's Oscar-winning performance has done its job, whether or not that performance truly represented history at all. Harvey Milk Day has been signed into existence, and parents and teachers have a rough job ahead of them. If Harvey Milk is to be commemorated, perhaps the full truth about him should be told. If that's not what was intended, then perhaps the governor should be more picky in signing bills to honor any one man.

In addition to the Milk bill, Schwarzenegger signed a bill that expands funding to domestic violence programs aimed at GLTB communities, as well as another Leno bill that allows same-sex couples married before Prop 8 passed to retain their marriage status.  Same-sex couples wed out of state who move to California will also keep all their marriage rights except for the name "married". 

Related Links:

 • Drinking Harvey Milk’s Kool-Aid - City Journal
 • Governor OKs Harvey Milk Day, Marriage Bill - San Francisco Chronicle
 • Gov. Schwarzenegger Urged to Veto Bill Honoring Homosexual Activist - The Christian Post
 • Schwarzenegger Signs 478 Bills, Harvey Milk Day is Law - The Sacramento Bee

HARVEY MILK AND JIM JONES KOOL-AID

Conservative Christians learning to accept gays

By Stephanie Simon, Los Angeles Times

Alan Chambers directs Exodus International, widely described as the nation's largest ex-gay ministry. But when he addresses the group's Freedom Conference at Concordia University in Irvine later this month, Chambers won't celebrate successful "ex-gays."

Truth is, he's not sure he's ever met one.

With years of therapy, Chambers says, he has mostly conquered his own attraction to men; he's a husband and a father, and he identifies as straight. But lately, he has come to resent the term "ex-gay": It's too neat, implying a clean break with the past, when he still struggles at times with homosexual temptation. "By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete," Chambers said.

His personal denunciation of the term "ex-gay" is just one example of shifting ground in the polarizing debate on homosexuality.

Despite the fundamental gulf that divides them, gay-rights activists and those who see homosexuality as a sinful disorder are starting to reach agreement on some practical points.

Chambers and other Exodus leaders talk deliberately about a possible biological basis for homosexuality, in part to explain that no one can turn a switch and flip from gay to straight.

A leading conservative theologian outside the ex-gay movement recently echoed the view that homosexuality might not be a choice, but a matter of DNA. To the shock and anger of many of his constituents, the Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote that, "We should not be surprised (to find a genetic basis for sexual orientation)."

That's heretical to many conservative Christians. But it's a view increasingly embraced by the public at large; a Gallup Poll last month found that 42 percent of adults believe sexual orientation is present at birth. (Three decades ago, when Gallup first asked the question, just 13 percent held that view.)

Mohler's willingness to discuss the issue was welcomed by Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York psychiatrist who advocates for gay rights and has been a vocal critic of the movement. "I saw it as a sign of openness," Drescher said.

"Something's happening. And I think it's very positive," agreed Michael Bussee, who founded Exodus in 1976, only to fall in love with another man — a fellow ex-gay counselor.

Now a licensed family therapist in Riverside, Calif., Bussee regularly speaks out against ex-gay therapies and is scheduled to address the Ex-Gay Survivor's Conference at the University of California, Irvine, at the end of the month.

But Bussee put aside his protest agenda recently to endorse new guidelines to sexual identity therapy, co-written by two professors at conservative Christian colleges.

He and other gay activists still reject therapy aimed at "liberating" or "curing" gays. But Bussee is willing to acknowledge potential in therapy that does not promise change but instead offers patients help in managing their desires and modifying their behavior to match their religious values — even if that means a life of celibacy.

"It's about helping clients accept that they have these same-sex attractions and then allowing them the space, free from bias, to choose how they want to act," said Lee Beckstead, a gay psychologist in Salt Lake City who uses this approach.

The guidelines for this type of therapy — written by Warren Throckmorton of Grove City College and Mark Yarhouse of Regent University — have been endorsed by representatives on both the left and right. The list includes the provost of a conservative evangelical college and the psychiatrist whose gay-rights advocacy in the 1970s got homosexuality removed from the official medical list of mental disorders.

"What appeals to me is that it moves away from the total polarization (common in the field)," said Dr. Robert Spitzer, the psychiatrist.

"For many years, mental-health professionals have taken the view that since homosexuality is not a mental disorder, any attempt to change sexual orientation is unwise," said Spitzer, a Columbia University professor.

Some therapies are considered dangerous, and some rely on discredited psychological theories. "But for health-care professionals to tell someone they don't have the right to make an effort to bring their actions into harmony with their values is hubris," Spitzer said.

Activists on both sides caution that the rapprochement only goes so far.

Critics of Exodus note the group still sponsors speakers who attribute homosexuality to bad parenting and assert that gays and lesbians live short, unhappy lives.

And although Chambers has disavowed the term "ex-gay," his group's ads give the distinct impression that it's possible to leave homosexuality completely behind.

The Irvine conference, for instance, is being promoted with radio spots that talk of "sudden, radical and complete" transformation. (Chambers apologized for those ads in a recent interview, saying they were meant to urge church leaders to radically change the way they treat gays and lesbians, not to imply that conference-goers magically would transform their orientation.)

The American Psychological Association set up a task force this spring to revise the group's policy on sexual orientation therapy. The current policy is a decade old and fairly vague; it states that homosexuality is not a disorder and that therapists can't make false claims about their treatments.

The new policy, due early next year, must help psychologists uphold two ethical principles as they work with patients unhappy about their sexuality: "Respect for the autonomy and dignity of the patient, and a duty to do no harm," said Clinton Anderson, the association's director for lesbian, gay and bisexual concerns. "It's a balancing act."

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Conservative Christians learning to accept gays

Controversial Group Plans to Picket Falwell's Funeral

Anti-Gay Kansas Church Members Plan to Picket Falwell Funeral

By Sara Bonisteel

The controversial anti-homosexual Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., plans to "preach" at the funeral of Rev. Jerry Falwell, according to its Web site.

"WBC will preach at the memorial service of the corpulent false prophet Jerry Falwell, who spent his entire life prophesying lies and false doctrines like 'God loves everyone,'" reads a posting on Godhatesamerica.com.

The church cites a break with the Calvinist Baptist church as one reason they will attend the funeral in protest.

"Falwell warmly praised Christ-rejecting Jews, pedophile-condoning Catholics, money-grubbing compromisers, practicing fags like Mel White, and backsliders like Billy Graham and Robert Schuller, etc.," the site reads.

Last month, the group released a music video entitled "God Hates the World." Sung to the tune of "We Are the World," the song changes the chorus to: "God hates the world and all her people, you, every one, face a fiery day for your proud sinning. It’s too late to change His mind, you lived out your vain lives, storing up God’s wrath for all eternity."

The 70-member church, led by the Rev. Fred Phelps, has protested the military funerals of U.S. troops, believing that their deaths are God's punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality.

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Controversial Group Plans to Picket Falwell's Funeral

Jay Bakker's Sermon - 04-15-07 - Jesus vs. Religion (Randy McCain)

04-15-07 - Jesus vs. Religion (Randy McCain)

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Pastor Randy McCain of Open Door Church in Sherwood, AR spoke for us on Sunday. You might recognize Randy from episode 2 of the show. He did a wonderful job - the sermon is entitled "Jesus vs. Religion" .

Click here to view the Revolution Podcast page on iTunes.

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FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to:www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Jay Bakker's Sermon - 04-15-07 - Jesus vs. Religion (Randy McCain)