Texas Gov Tells Gay Vets To Leave State
Kelly
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Re-electing Rick Perry seems to be religious obligation now
By Bud Kennedy
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
>Later in the school library, Perry was
>asked in a news conference how he
>would tell Texas gay and lesbian war
>veterans that they can't come home from
>war in Iraq and get married.
>
>Perry said if they don't like Texas law,
>they can just leave.
>
>"I'm going to say Texas has made a
>decision on marriage," he said, "and if
>there's a state with more lenient views
>than Texas, then maybe that's where
>they should live."
So now we see Gov. Rick Perry's secret weapon.
To prove that his re-election campaign still has a prayer, he'll team up
with TV preachers.
At an event that was part state-government ceremony and part healing
revival, Perry stood coiffure-to-coiffure with one of the darlings of
TV-religion Sunday, then signed into law a bill protecting the unborn.
The Calvary Cathedral International church in Fort Worth was careful not
to let Perry campaign inside. Instead, he spoke next door in the school
gym against a giant backdrop of a white Christian warrior.
On an all-star lineup of political preachers, Perry shared top billing
with Daystar TV personality Rod Parsley, here from Ohio to help organize
500 Texas ministers for the upcoming political campaign.
Later, Parsley took his pitch and his new activist book, Silent No More,
inside the church.
And I do mean pitch.
"This book comes with DVDs that sell for $60!" he shouted in the middle
of the evening sermon long after Perry had left. "With the book, that's
$80" -- he whirled and pointed at the crowd -- "except for you!
"I'm going to give you all three DVDs absolutely free when you get the
book!"
Out of nowhere, ushers suddenly appeared carrying plastic-wrapped
book-and-DVD sets.
They rushed around the sanctuary grabbing the $20 bills that churchgoers
waved wildly.
"There you are, son!" Parsley said as a little boy came down an aisle
with an outstretched $20 for the set. "Grow up and preach the gospel!"
He didn't say which gospel.
Preacher Parsley's book-and-DVD bargain capped a long day of various
kinds of campaigns at Calvary Cathedral and its spinoff school, Calvary
Christian Academy.
Caught between serving a politicking candidate and its mission of
serving God, the church and school managed to weather a tempest of
conflicting principles and protests.
Perry ostensibly came for a state-government ceremony open to the
public, enacting a law requiring parental approval before a minor
daughter can get an abortion.
But the setting and purpose became issues when Perry's campaign and the
Tarrant County Republican Party mistakenly announced that the signing
would be in the church and invited "pro-family, Christian friends. ...
We really need for you to help us turn out a very large crowd. We may
also film part of this to be used later for TV."
The gym crowd of about 1,000 included about 150 ministers. Many are
already aligned with Perry's campaign in a new religious activist
network, the Texas Restoration Project.
The ministers say they want to restore Texas' "Judeo-Christian
heritage." But the project also seems timed to restore Perry to the
Governor's Mansion.
Oddly, the children who will now be born thanks to the Parental Consent
Act seemed almost forgotten.
Preacher after preacher saved his biggest load of steam for bashing the
newest political boogeyman: gay marriage.
Perry also ceremonially endorsed the already passed resolution calling a
November election on a definition-of-marriage constitutional amendment.
Preaching from behind the official seal of the governor of Texas,
Parsley said gay Americans cause 60 percent of syphilis cases and live
barely half as long as heterosexual Americans. He argued against
"sacrificing our children on the altar of the sexual lust of a few."
Later in the school library, Perry was asked in a news conference how he
would tell Texas gay and lesbian war veterans that they can't come home
from war in Iraq and get married.
Perry said if they don't like Texas law, they can just leave.
"I'm going to say Texas has made a decision on marriage," he said, "and
if there's a state with more lenient views than Texas, then maybe that's
where they should live."
In other words, Texas now welcomes politicking TV preachers from Ohio,
but not our own native sons and daughters who might want to live
lawfully in commitment with legal recognition.
What's next?
The Rick Perry Prayer Cloth?
Bud Kennedy's Column Appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
(817) 390-7538 b...@budkennedy.com
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Kelly
Washington DC
Texas governor suggests gay veterans should leave state
Gay groups demand Perry apologize
By STEVE KOVAL
June 8, 2005 10:55 AM
Texas Gov. Rick Perry suggested that gay veterans unhappy with the
proposed anti-gay constitutional amendment should move elsewhere.
"I'm going to say Texas has made a decision on marriage and if there's a
state with more lenient views than Texas, then maybe that's where they
should live," the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Perry said Sunday.
Perry's comments were in response to a question during a news conference
about what he would tell gay war veterans returning from Iraq.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a group for gays in the military,
today joined calls by the Lesbian & Gay Rights Lobby of Texas for Perry
to apologize.
"More than 66,000 lesbian and gay veterans make their home in Texas,"
said Sharra E. Greer, SLDN's director of law and policy. "Their service
has defended the freedom of every Texan, including Governor Perry. The
governor's remarks dishonor their service and he should immediately
apologize. We should be thanking these brave men and women, not asking
them to leave."
Col. Paul W. Dodd, a retired Army Chaplain and SLDN honorary board
member who now lives in Texas, said in a statement, "Gays and lesbians
have defended our country since the American Revolution."
"Governor Perry's remarks were outrageous and offensive and do not
reflect the views of fair-minded Texans who value the service of our men
and women in uniform. It is past time that those who fight for freedom
abroad be afforded those same liberties here at home," Dodd said.
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