A Secret Gay Millionaire's Club?

September 15, 2010

Pastor Paul Blair
Fairview Baptist Church
Edmund, Oklahoma

Dear Pastor Blair,

I'm dropping you a note to introduce myself after we were both featured in the Kern-Novotny story this AM on CNN. I'm writing you in hopes of building bridges, not burning them. More than anything, I would like to try and put some fears to rest for you and clear up some mistaken information.

You and I are on opposite sides of a political race, but we have many things in common. We're people of faith -- my parents were both ordained ministers who spent their adult lives in the Lord's service as Disciples of Christ missionary schoolteachers as well as in secular schools. I myself attend Hollywood United Methodist.

You and I also have strong Oklahoma roots -- my mother was born and raised in OKC, my parents went to Bible college at Phillips, and my mother keeps ties there. While I live in California now, I remember well summers spent at my grandmother's Oklahoma City home -- the sticky heat, the tornadoes, and of course the wonderful people I met and called friends.

It's really hard for me -- after spending much of my own adult life fighting for human rights for Christians, Jews, Muslims, gay and straight alike -- to hear from Sally that I'm a greater threat to America than terrorism: Really? While pursuing a career in acting and writing, I've followed my parents' example of being of Christian service and have done my best to help feed and clothe the needy, lend financial support to women in impoverished countries across the globe, keep gay youth from being beaten up for honestly living who they are, and help America's seniors and veterans live in dignity. As best as I am able, through my many human failings and imperfections, I take marching orders from Christ and his teachings. I know nothing of terrorism or actions that would harm others.

I understand that for many Christians, someone being gay (or transgender, like Brittany) and living it openly is in contrast to teachings they hold dear. It would be unuseful of me to pitch a general fit about this -- again, I'm looking to build bridges, not burn them -- but I wish that instead of jumping so quickly to inflammatory rhetoric, my fellow Christians would look at people's actions, compare those actions to Christ's instructions, and draw conclusions that way. It would serve us ALL better.

I tell myself Sally doesn't realize how the things (many of them half-truths or fabrications) she has said about gay and lesbian people can not merely hurt feelings, but stir the fires of bigotry and violence. We witness gay people in America harmed every day simply for existing -- teased, beaten, killed in vivid and ghastly ways. I can't believe any sincere Christian would condone these outrageous acts. But there seems to be a disconnect for some of my brethren as far as seeing how their hyperbolic speech can (and clearly does) foment decidedly un-Christian action from those who hear or read it.

I'm grateful Sally posted a statement on her website last week distancing herself from Charlie Meadow of OCPAC's pointedly insulting comments about Brittany. Sally showed class, and it was an admirable first step. I wish it didn't run in direct contrast to her own statement of a few weeks ago urging supporters to "get the word out" about Brittany's transgender status, but I'm happy to see Sally publicly turn toward more civil discourse.

As far as the race itself -- as I said in the CNN piece, while I'm heavily involved in LGBT politics, I'm unaware of any secret group of gay millionaires looking to buy/influence elections around the country. Certainly there are organized advocacy groups, and I participate in them -- EQCA, The Task Force, etc. But everything is above board, and contributions are clearly disclosed.

I myself watched as out-of-state contributions from the Church of Latter Day Saints, the Catholics and others fell like an avalanche on the Prop 8 race here in California in 2008, their financial clout burying what messaging and advertising we in-state LGBT people were able to air to support our own rights. It was as if they ripped our freedoms out from under our feet. It felt plain awful.

I cannot speak for Brittany. But I assure you, as her largest out-of-state contributor at this point, while it makes for a convenient target, there is simply NO boogeyman effort afoot to buy or unfairly influence this election. That's made-up rhetoric. There are only individuals like myself who have an interest in not seeing LGBT people maligned and harmed, and who have a personal stake in the welfare of the citizens of Oklahoma and, specifically, House District 84.

I will toss out a soft challenge here, and suggest that for Sally to continue to claim the existence of some coordinated campaign against her or other socially conservative candidates would show her to be dishonest. I sincerely hope she will refrain from spreading that sort of inciting misinformation and stick to issues, as Brittany has likewise vowed to.

I welcome your feedback on any and all of this. Again, we're on opposite sides of a political race but I stand beside you as a Christian in wanting the best for all God's children, including the good people of District 84.

Sincerely,

Ben Patrick Johnson
Executive Director, The Ben Patrick Johnson Foundation
Board Member, Equality California Institute

cc: Brittany Novotny, Sally Kern, AvaDale Johnson (my mother)