Petition Signers Against Same-Sex Marriage Exposed (posted to web by pro-gay pastor)

Local 6 (Florida) ^ | June 24, 2006

[Stoat]

Related To Story

• The Christ Church of Peace is publishing the names and addresses of the 400,000 people who support a ban on same-sex marriage. WJXT-TV image.

 

Petition Signers Against Same-Sex Marriage Exposed

 

POSTED: 9:40 am EDT June 23, 2006

UPDATED: 12:29 pm EDT June 23, 2006

 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Westside church is defending its Web site publishing of a list of Floridians who signed a petition against same-sex marriage, according to a WJXT-TV report.

  The Christ Church of Peace is publishing the names and addresses of the 400,000 people who support a ban on same-sex marriage, the report said.

  The church's pastor, who backs gay marriage, said he wants to add a new Christian voice to the debate about lifestyle his church believes should be legal.

The debate about gay marriage is a private one for many people, but those who signed a petition against the unions have been exposed. "I think it's a right of privacy. If you want it on (the Web site) you should put it on, not somebody else, " said Beverly Hughes.

The posting was an eyeopener for Michelle Chance-Sangthong, according to the WJXT-TV report. She committed to her partner, Toy, surrounded by more than 200 guests -- people she thought supported their union. "We were shocked and saddened to find the very same names that were the first on our guest book were also signatures on this petition that could prevent us from having equal rights," Chance-Sangthong said.

The publication started a debate for Chance-Sangthong, which one group hopes other people will have. "By desiring dialogue with other folk and by supporting all families, straight and gay," said the Rev. Gary Debusk of the Christ Church of Peace.

The amendment up for discussion reads that marriage is,"The legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife," and that, "No other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized." Currently, nearly half a million people have signed the petition and many have been vocal about the issue over the last few months.

"The same-sex marriage would subject our children to a vast, untested social experiment," said Bishop Victor Galeone of the Diocese of St. Augustine. The Christ Church of Peace said it wants to be the Christian voice supporting gay marriages -- a voice some of the church's members said isn't as loud, but just as important, WJXT-TV reported.

"I would at least like the option to become part of his family and him to become part of mine," said legal-gay-marriage advocate Andrew Grayot. Supporters of the new amendment said they need about 100,000 more signatures to get the amendment on the ballot in 2008.

[jwalburg]

Yes, even the Dali Lama was taking guff for coming out for normal marriage, much to the chagrin of leftists.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1619118/posts

[DBeers]

Thank you.

[Louis Foxwell]

I am a proud signatory to that petition. When I sign a petition I exoect my name to be made public. In so doing I am taking a public stand.
Bring it on, bung boys.

[zerosix]

CCW Permit, Life time NRA Member sticker on doors & Cars doesn't hurt either.

NRA sticker prominently on storm door, made my home the only one in our cul-de-sac NOT vandalized two weekends ago.

[DBeers]

Homosexual Agenda Ping!

If you oppose the homosexualization of society
-add yourself to the ping list!

To be included in or removed from the
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please FReepMail either DBeers or DirtyHarryY2k.

Free Republic homosexual agenda keyword search [ Add keyword = homosexualagenda to flag FR articles to this ping list ]

The church's pastor, who backs gay marriage, said he wants to add a new Christian voice to the debate about lifestyle his church believes should be legal.

Beside the delusion this "pastor" believes and promotes it should be noted that this effort is inspired by and hosted on the internet by the same homosexual sex inspired moonbats that attempt the same type of intimidation campaign in regards to the Massachusetts initiative.

[SandRat]

Sounds like you may have a poster that says "Insured by Smith & Wesson!"

My favorite is "How big does the barrel of a M1911A1 look? It all depends on which end of it you're staring in to."

[zerosix]

GOTTA LOVE IT!!!!

[little jeremiah]

Yes, I remember that well. I thought "Good for youl DL! I may not agree with you on many things, but he gets that one right"!

Buddhist teachings (from what I've read) frown on licentiousness, greed, and the like.

[Rosemont]

The Gay Left and All Communist Lawyers Union trying to intimidate their political opposition. It will fail.

[Stoat]

The Gay Left and All Communist Lawyers Union trying to intimidate their political opposition. It will fail.

I hope that you're right. ....but it will indeed intimidate those folks who aren't "in your face" activists and who have something to lose by having their names and addresses published in a hostile context.  People deserve to have their privacy protected when participating in the political process, unless they knowingly choose otherwise.

[oldironsides]

I saw some of my very Democrat relatives on that list. I am really proud of them.

[AliVeritas]

Had it been the other way around, you would bet the ACLU would be crying privacy (they endangered my job, i've been harassed and discriminated against... blahzeeblah).

[jmaroneps37]

This queer cheer leader nit wit has just "willie horton-ed"
the petition. Since the left basically lives in a fantasy world, this jerk doesn't realize that with 1100 new people coming to Florida a day, many of the new people might not have known about this drive. THEY DO NOW!
This is another log on the fire. The rat is toast in the Sunshine State. This will be on the 08 ballot and draw our people in large numbers.

[L.N. Smithee]

The guy behind this craven act, Pastor Gary DeBusk, is a piece of work. This is the most recent DeBusk bio on his church's website. More interesting, though, is the archived bio found on the site April 24, 2006, found here and cut-and-paste below (all bold from this point forward is mine).

---

Our pastor, Gary DeBusk, spent most of his life as a Southern Baptist minister,and as a closeted gay man. For some years he found the ministry to be a refuge from his personal struggle with sexual orientation. He attempted to repress and deny his true self in order to live as he felt he was "supposed to." The repression and denial led to feelings of depression, loneliness, fear and shame.

While closeted Gary was heterosexually married for twenty-two years. He has two sons from that marriage—one who is gay. In March 1998, Gary came out of the closet of shame to finally live a life of integrity and wholeness.

[snip]

In 1985 Pastor Gary and his family relocated to Jacksonville where he became pastor of the Hyde Park Baptist Church. It was during this period of his life that coping with his sexual repression became even more difficult. After just a short time in Jacksonville Gary explored the practical issues of leaving his marriage in order to come out. However, his wife pleaded with him to remain in the marriage. The pain of the closet, feelings of living a lie, intensified repressed sexual feelings, and the frequenting of local cruise spots led Gary to enter into therapy, and to seek a new direction in ministry.

[snip]

Unfortunately, Gary experienced what is all too common for many sexually repressed closeted gay men, entrapment by the police in a cruise spot. Gary's experience with the police finally led he and his wife to together make a decision of integrity to end the marriage. Gary would come out so that both he and his wife could get on with their individual lives. Or as Gary's attorney said, "You need to come out or it looks like God is pushing you out."

Upon coming out Gary found his way to St. Luke's Metropolitan Community Church where he successfully served on staff for nearly two years. In November 2000 Gary along with several other individuals decided it was time for a fresh spiritual voice in the GLBT community—and therefore CHRIST CHURCH OF PEACE was born...

---

The latest version of DeBusk's bio doesn't include that "entrapment by the police in a cruise spot" information. Hmmm, I wonder why. Like I said, the old bio is more interesting.

Also, check out the transcript from his June 16 appearance on CNN's American Morning. The interviewer, Miles O'Brien, did a surprisingly good job trying to nail him (video can be found here, at the blog for DeBusk's so-called "Know Thy Neighbor" project). DeBusk dissembles with the best of 'em.

---

MILES O'BRIEN: Pastor DeBusk, good to have you with us. What made you decide this was a good idea?

GARY DEBUSK, PASTOR, CHRIST CHURCH OF PEACE: Well, we're facing a constitutional amendment here in our state that would declare that marriage is only between one man and one woman, and also eliminate any kind of domestic partnerships. And a few months ago we found out what they were doing in Massachusetts, a similar kind of effort there. And we modeled them. And so we decided to take the names of the petition signers and to post them on our Web site, because we want to begin a dialogue with those who are opposed to equality and civil rights.

O'BRIEN: A lot of people, though, who have signed that petition are pretty angry about this. They feel as if this crosses the line of privacy. And essentially they say it almost has a malicious streak to it.

How do you respond to that?

DEBUSK: Well, again, that -- that is not at all our intent. And all of this is public information which was given to us by the supervisor of elections in each of the 67 counties in Florida. And it's hard for us to understand how someone can sign a petition and think they can do that under the cover of darkness in order to limit the rights of other tax-paying citizens.

O'BRIEN: Well I suppose, though, to come up with analogies here, how do you feel about people who post the names and addresses and phone numbers of doctors who perform abortions, for example? Do you feel that that's appropriate?

DEBUSK: Well, again, that's really off of the topic. What we're doing here...

O'BRIEN: No, no, no. It's actually a pretty good analogy here. It's a pretty good analogy here.

DEBUSK: Well, no.

O'BRIEN: And I'm asking you if you are consistent about this, because if you're going to put people's names out there, you should probably be consistent about it, correct?

DEBUSK: Well, again, that is not what I'm concerned with here, which is civil rights and equal rights. And we're tax-paying citizens in the state of Florida.

O'BRIEN: No, no, no. No, we're just -- we're just talking right now about a tactic of using people's names, personal information, putting it out on Web sites. And, you know, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander here, right?

DEBUSK: I understand what you're saying, but I would like to stay on topic, and the topic is equal rights and civil rights in Florida.

O'BRIEN: So just -- but just to get you on record, you would not agree with putting doctors who perform abortions, their information online?

DEBUSK: That's a whole other issue. It's the same kind of issue as people who have said, well, what about the names of your church members...

O'BRIEN: Well, no, no, no. But...

DEBUSK: ... what about the names of your church members...

O'BRIEN: So is the answer no? Is the answer no?

DEBUSK: Our church members have signed a petition that would limit the rights of other folks.

I might go ahead and say, in our state the dialogue that we want to have -- for instance, we had a couple in our church, a lesbian couple who had a civil union, a wedding a couple years ago. And they have discovered people on the list who attended their wedding. And they want to go to them and say, "We know you love us and we know you care about us. Can we dialogue about this?"

That's what we want to create.

O'BRIEN: Well...

DEBUSK: We've also found an individual who found her mother's name on the list...

O'BRIEN: But don't you think...

DEBUSK: ... and when she went to talk to her mother about it, her mother said, "I didn't understand that's what this petition was about. I thought it was to support." We've also found people...

O'BRIEN: Let's throw a little bit -- let's throw a little bit -- another thing in the pot here if I could, please. This comes from the Florida Family Policy Council, a conservative group, John Stemberger. "Imagine what would happen if a conservative church group posted online the home address of every gay-identified citizen in Florida?"

In other words...

DEBUSK: I understand what you're saying.

O'BRIEN: ... "It would be decried as a witch hunt and an un- Christian hateful attempt to mark gays like pedophiles... this appears to be the only tactic available to a small group of extremists who are losing in the market place of ideas of our representative democracy."

What do you say to that one?

DEBUSK: Again, what I'm saying is we have not signed a petition to limit the rights of other folks. And these folks are -- we're tax- paying citizens. And this would be the first time the Constitution in Florida would be amended to limit rights. The Constitution is there really to guarantee rights.

I might say this, too. An interesting issue that you might want to follow up on, a few years ago in Florida, the Constitution was amended to protect pregnant pigs. It's very interesting that now...

O'BRIEN: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You know what, Pastor? Pastor, you wanted to stay on topic and we're talking about pregnant pigs here now.

DEBUSK: I am.

O'BRIEN: Let me finish this up. I want to ask you one final question.

DEBUSK: And what I'm saying is...

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you one final question, if I could. Do you feel this is a Christian thing to do? Would Jesus do something like this?

DEBUSK: I can't answer about what Jesus would do, but I can say that I think we have to have dialogue. And that's what this is about. And it seems to me that it's pretty intimidating for a group of people to want to limit the rights of another group of people and just want them to sit back and do nothing about it.

O'BRIEN: Gary DeBusk.

DEBUSK: And so, again, this is equal rights and civil rights.

O'BRIEN: Thank you for your time, sir.

Gary DeBusk is pastor of the Christ Church of Peace.

And we appreciate your time.

DEBUSK: Thank you.

---

On the Christ Church of Peace site, DeBusk's sermons are posted. The same pretzel logic through which one could believe that scripture supports the notion homosexuality is tolerable for Christians is evident in DeBusk's own writings. Here's one from November 2005 entitled "We Are a Church":

---

At Christ Church of Peace we desire to become more and more diverse. We honor and respect differences. Not just differences in regards to sexual orientation and gender identity but in every way—life style, philosophy, political opinion, dog lovers and cat lovers...

[snip]

Sitting at the table together requires a certain degree of open-mindedness and a definite respect for the belief and the truth of others.

A part of CCOP’s vision is to be a tool for social change. It is inappropriate for a church to become involved in politics. It would be unacceptable for me to tell you who to vote for. Yet, at the same time it would be inappropriate and unacceptable for the church not to take a stand on social issues that involve injustice and inequality.

A few months ago I received an anonymous letter from an individual that does not want the church to take a stand on same-sex marriage stating that not everyone in the church is a democrat and believes in same-sex marriage. I have no doubt but that both these things are true; however, as far as I understand it, same-sex marriage is not a democrat or republican issue it is an equal rights issue, it is a social justice issue. And just as progressive churches have always stood on the side of justice and equality for all, so will Christ Church of Peace.

---

Hmmph. So much for honor and respecting differences and not getting involved in politics. But this is not surprising. Being a San Francisco native teaches you that the Gay-stapo plays dirty 24/7.

[DBeers]

Thanks for researching the background info on this activist.

[L.N. Smithee]

This queer cheer leader nit wit has just "willie horton-ed" the petition. Since the left basically lives in a fantasy world, this jerk doesn't realize that with 1100 new people coming to Florida a day, many of the new people might not have known about this drive. THEY DO NOW!

There are commenters on the blog for the project that lends credence to what you say -- some polite people wrote comments saying, in effect, 'Thanks for letting me know about the petition, I will sign it, and you can put my name and address on your site.'

However, keep in mind that gay radicals are notoriously efficient organizers. Whether this backfires on them remains to be seen.

[TheClintons-STILLAnti-American]

"So, when the pro-homosexual forces find themselves losing in the courts as well as the public square, they resort to bullying and intimidation tactics of desperation.....nothing new for the Left, of course..."

Same official strategies of Islam: Use the freedoms of the society you are seeking to destroy against them. No tactic is unacceptable in pursuit of the goal of complete domination.

Once again, the glaring commonalities between Islamofascism and Liberfascism on display.

[TheClintons-STILLAnti-American]

"I think the response is clear - contact the church and request your name be added to the list. I just did."

My response exactly: Where do I sign?

[MountainMenace]

http://www.christchurchofpeace.org/contacts.html

[welfareisslavery]

The names can be accessed at KnowThyNeighbor.org and ChristChurchofPeace.org. This is from their website. KnowThy Neighbor is a group from massachusetts where apparently they did the same thing. They have a fun little website and it is strictly left-wing homopolitico.