President Bush’s ‘Compassionate Homophobia’
On June 21, President Bush addressed the Southern Baptist Convention at its annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn. Praising the convention’s support for the Federal Marriage Amendment, the president said: “Southern Baptists are practicing compassion by defending the family and the sacred institution of marriage.”
Reverend Steven Baines, an elder in the Disciples of Christ and member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force National Religious Leadership Roundtable responded with disappointment that the president and leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention continue to present their discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans in the guise of compassion.”
“The president’s speech failed to explain how a Federal Marriage Amendment that would block thousands of American families from the protections they need for their stability and security can be seen as an act of compassion; just as the Southern Baptist Convention has failed to explain how supporting this discrimination contributes to its Christian witness. There is nothing Christian about discrimination.
“Instead of dressing up their bigotry as ‘compassionate homophobia’ the president and the Southern Baptist Convention can show real compassion by guaranteeing full equality for same-sex couples and their families. This would be more in line with the ethic of compassion for the marginalized and oppressed that is the foundation of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures the president claims to revere so strongly.”
First convened in 1998, the National Religious Leadership Roundtable of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is an interfaith collaboration of more than forty denominations and faith-related organizations.