Kirkepiscatoid: Just another reason I'm glad I don't live in the city limits of Kirksville

Just another reason I'm glad I don't live in the city limits of Kirksville

Sometimes, I feel bad that I don't live within the city limits of Kirksville, because I wish I could help my friends that run for city council with my vote. This morning, I'm kind of glad I'm out of the loop. Click here to see the video on the lone vote against adding the words "sexual orientation" to the Kirksville city rental code. What makes this a bigger eye-roller for me is that this councilman is also a Baptist minister. (The big thought of, "Thanks be to God that this dude is not MY clergy," rolls through my mind...)

I am particularly intrigued that he compares "discriminating against homosexuals" as no different than "discriminating against people with pets." There are TWO legit reasons to discriminate in rental property: That the renters are tearing up your house, or that they are breaking the law in your rental house. Even though I am a pet owner, I understand perfectly and agree that pets create wear and tear on your house. I have the rug stains and the scratch marks and the chewed up rugs to prove it. But I am not sure exactly how GLBT people tear up your house, I missed the memo on that. Also, last time I checked, Missouri got the "consenual varied sex acts" off the books as part of the sodomy laws, so I don't see anything illegal about it. So no matter how this councilman feels about homosexuality in a personal sense, um....what's the problem here?

Last time I checked, gay money is just as green as straight money. I am curious if he would refuse "known gay money" from his offering plate. I hope he at least is consistent.

I have a modest proposal for the councilman. If he is in the rental business, or ever goes in the rental business, I suggest he have his renters sign a sexual code policy and outline specifically which sex acts will be prohibited on his property. I also suggest he have them leave a heftier deposit so if any sexual activities damage his house, they will be covered. Perhaps a maximum nookie limit (similar to the Kirksville city rental ordinance prohibiting anything over three pets) is in order for the next city council meeting. He may not want to rent to dancers, card-players, movie-watchers, or liquor-drinkers, while we're at it. Hell, that might be legit. ALL those things could tear up the house!

I am sorry his denomination tends not to believe in "creeds" (even though they are derived from Biblical texts). If they did, I would remind him of the vow I took in my own Baptismal Covenant, "to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves." But he did not sign on to that one, so I will not hold his feet to it. I just don't understand how some folks think the "gay cooties" will harm them. I have yet to find one thing any homosexual person ever did in my presence that has ever harmed my straightness. I'm pretty sure gays haven't caused the economy to tank, and I'm dead certain that more heterosexuals have trashed rental property and committed crimes in rental property in Kirksville than gays ever will, just by sheer numbers. I have not found a single thing that any homosexual has done that has ever interfered with my relationship with God. I can seem to mess that one up just fine by myself. Maybe I'm just just naive and don't get it, in his world, but ok...whatever.

I admire that you wish to "walk like Christ." But on this topic, I'm afraid he didn't say squat about it. So it sounds to me that this is less about your emulation of Christ than it is about Old Testament law (which bewilders me somewhat, since evangelicals like to point out Christ FREED us from the law), and about Paul's letters. Many learned Biblical historians disagree on what Paul was talking about in his letters on those topics. Many believe he was actually referring to the Roman practice of pederasty, not a committed homosexual relationship, and some other forms of homosexual exploitation and abuse. So I would submit there is room for disagreement in human interpretation here. Which brings us back to Jesus, who didn't say "boo" about the topic. This makes me strongly feel "we're on our own, here," so what you say, to my heart and mind, sounds an awful lot like "hiding behind Daddy's pant leg" and going "Yeah, so there."

Sir...believe what you wish. This is America and you have that right. Vote your conscience and let your record (and your interviews) speak for themselves, and if you choose to run for re-election, it wil be your cross to bear. You might discover that "most people in Kirksville" do not feel the way you do, that perhaps most people in Kirksville are not bothered by this with regards to renting property. I have a hunch that, as a long-time native of the area, people may well have strong and varied moral opinions about homosexuality, but probably not so strong when it comes to collecting Ben Franklins every month from a renter. But please consider what's Caesar's and what's God's.

6 comments:

PseudoPiskie said... March 7, 2009 at 2:40:00 PM CST: Poor dude should find a gay couple to be his tenants. They might fix up the place, make the yard a show place and give the guy a better reputation.
Kirkepiscatoid said... March 7, 2009 at 2:54:00 PM CST: Yeah, I hear you! I would be a FAR trashier tenant, with my dogs, dust, and clutter, than any gay couple I personally know! On the "neat and tidy" scale, I am a 2.5. The average gay couple is like 7.5...and he wants to keep them OUT! (rolls eyes)
Leonard said... March 7, 2009 at 7:29:00 PM CST: "to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves."

Now there is a thought. But, it ofcourse requires thinking...I mean thinking it out...thinking about paying attention to others...actually noticing others...I wonder how many LGBT Christians sat like lumps on the pews listening to the Reverend pontificate Gods LOVE (knowing full well the good Reverend didn´t know jack about the topic).

Oh well, it´s not over until the Fruitcake rots!
Kirkepiscatoid said... March 7, 2009 at 9:13:00 PM CST: I wondered about that too, Leonardo. Also I was thinking about the word "serve" in that line in the Baptismal Covenant. I'll bet a lot of people with that mindset have not given much thought to "serving" their GLBT neighbors.
Anonymous said... March 18, 2009 at 5:10:00 PM CDT: Thank you for posting this. Otherwise, I would have missed it. Pastor Rodgerson got me a little upset with his smugness, so even though it is a little late, I posted a comment to his interview on the KTVO website. Know that was foolish. One cannot argue with someone who thinks he knows the mind of God, and regards himself as a divine spokesperson. Still, one must be do something. Is there not a old saying that all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing?
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Anyway, I have a personal testimony to give, which would have been inappropriate on KTVO's web page. Course it is equally inappropriate here. But I need to write it, and I do think of you as a friend. You can safely ignore the following, but I need to tell the story of one of my son's friends, Alan.

Alan was born in one of the poorest sections of the Bronx. Was abandoned shortly after birth. Was placed in an orphanage. Luckily, a childless, middle-aged couple adopted him. As soon as they began to collect their Social Security checks, they moved to Florida so Alan could attend better schools. He was smart. Got himself accepted at Florida State, put himself through with scholarships, part-time jobs, and ROTC. He majored in religion. After graduation he become the minister of a small Baptist congregation. But he also became more and more aware of his gay sexual orientation. Finally he could not live with the hypocrisy of preaching against gays, so he gave up his ministry.

He turned to his second "love", the military. Joined the army. Was commissioned an officer - not as a chaplain, but as a frontline officer. He was good at this. Over the years, he rose through the ranks - became a Major. Was assigned to military intelligence. Was working in the Pentagon, developing a system of Biometric identification, when he was sent to Iraq to test a prototype Bio-metric ID system. While riding in the streets of Bagdad, his Humvee hit an IED. He was killed instantly.

The little black church in Florida has a heartbreaking memorial service for him. Was (but is no longer) online. Watching it, I cried like a baby. The burial itself was at Arlington. That too was online. Since his parents were dead, a distant cousin, one he had never met, received the flag that had draped his coffin. His military death benefits were left to a friend, with instructions on how to disburse the money - some to the Florida church, but most of it to establish scholarships for minority youth.

After the ceremony at Arlington, his friends gather at a DC restaurant/bar, a place where they used to hang out with Alan. A reporter from the Washington Post was there, was working on a story about his life. She was told about the small black church, his love of the army, his military career, etc. She was told also about his gayness - that he was a member of various gay rights organization - in fact, he was an officer in one that supported gays in the military, protecting their rights, offering them legal help. She was told that he had been looking forward to retiring from the Army in a few years so that, for the first time in his life, he could live as an openly gay man. When the article appeared in the paper the next day, nothing was said about his gayness. The reporter commented to my son that she did not want to damage Alan's reputation - wanted to preserve his "privacy". After all, according to Pastor Rodgerson, he is an "abomination".

By the way, you can see a photo of Alan, by going to a journal entry made by Patrick, my son's housemate at:

http://spoonu.livejournal.com/105090.html
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Sorry for this. Sorry for hijacking your blog. But I really needed to write this.
Kirkepiscatoid said... March 18, 2009 at 8:46:00 PM CDT: No hijacking whatsoever. It's a truly wonderful story--albeit poignant and sad. Alan was an amazing fellow.