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it strongly confirms what I wrote above. Terry repeatedly affirms his love and care for Jamiel, together with his anger and hurt over the Out Magazine episode.

The interview Terry gave attempted to demonstrate that he was a loving parent and anything that happened to his son must have happened before he took him in. He calls his son's story filled with fraud and deceit and says he is no longer welcome in his home. Did you read the interview given by his son? His son had nothing but compliments for his father.

Randall Terry is an admitted fraud, and this obviously embarrassed him beyond belief, given his anti-gay activities. As I said earlier, I will go with the Vice-President's reaction, and if one of my children were gay (which they are not), I would hope my response would be that of Mr. Cheney's. I think God understands love over hate any day of the week.

Randall Terry quote: "First of all, I love my son. Jamiel is incredibly gifted. He is articulate and handsome. He sings like an angel, he plays the piano, he's a great cook, and he's a great debater. He would make a powerful lawyer and a formidable politician. People like him. I love him. I've poured 16 years of my life into him."

What's fascinating here is that Randall Terry's praise for his son is expressed in exactly the terms in which the father himself would like to be seen: as articulate, handsome, a singer and pianist (Randall himself writes songs and plays the piano very well), a debater, a potentially "formidable" politician. It's apparent that Randall not only loves his son: he identifies with him.

This is always a potent combination. Many heart-wrenching father-son conflicts turn on just that point: that he father and the son identify with each other, and thus are grieved beyond all telling by failures and shortfalls.

Randall divorced his wife of 19 years, Cindy, and then married a much younger woman who had been his political campaign secretary, all the while soliciting tons of money from the Christian community touting his leadership in defending "the sanctity of the marriage covenant." There ya go: "fraud." Then we learn that his adopted son Jamiel lived a "double life" and sold the tale of his sexual misconduct with other males to Out, a magazine that cynically capitalizes on sexual exposes.

This is all shameful and repugnant. Yet I still say that all the moral failure, pain and shame does not refute the persistence of love and the power of hoped-for healing.

I can see that this father and son love each other. That's why the failures hurt so bad.