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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 16, 1999
HRC DENOUNCES DIVISIVE ANTI-GAY RESOLUTION AT SOUTHERN
BAPTIST CONVENTION
SBC Wrong To Further Poison The Climate Against Gays As Hate
Crimes Increase, Says HRC
WASHINGTON -- The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) today
passed a resolution that condemned an official proclamation
by President Clinton that declared June 1999 "Gay and
Lesbian Pride Month." The SBC also passed a resolution
demanding a recall on James Hormel's recess appointment as
the ambassador to Luxembourg. The mean-spirited resolutions
are a gratuitous attack on gay and lesbian Americans,
furthering an atmosphere of mistrust and intolerance at a
time when hate crimes are on the rise, according to HRC.
"The resolution is wholly lacking in anything akin to
spirituality rooted in love. In the aftermath of Columbine
and the murders of people like Matthew Shepard, James Byrd
and Cassie Bernall, you would think the Southern Baptists
would be focused on ways to heal our communities, not divide
them," said HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch. "The
role of spiritual leaders should be to build safe, common
ground in troubled times. But this resolution pits one group
of people against another and singles out gay and lesbian
Americans for discrimination."
The Rev. Wiley Drake of First Southern Baptist Church in
Buena Park, Calif., submitted the resolution disapproving of
Clinton's proclamation. The resolution says "that any
proclamation which acts to affirm, approve or endorse
homosexual behavior is contrary to God's law. And, be it
further resolved that we discourage all Americans from
observing this month in any way, other than to pray for the
repentance and salvation of those caught up in this sinful
lifestyle."
The SBC is upset over Clinton's June 11 proclamation that
praised the gay and lesbian fight for equality and
commemorated the "Stonewall Uprising". In a written
statement, Clinton made history, becoming the first
president to proclaim June "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month." "I
encourage all Americans to observe this month with
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that
celebrate our diversity, and to remember throughout the year
the gay and lesbian Americans whose many and varied
contributions have enriched our national life," the
president wrote.
"We are tremendously gratified that President Clinton has
used the honor and authority of his office to recognize the
significance of one of our community's most cherished and
historic events," said Birch. "This proclamation is a
testament to the nearly 30 years of hard work by activists
and it certainly gives us something to be proud of in this
year's Pride celebrations."
The SBC also passed a resolution calling for the recall of
Ambassador James Hormel. Hormel, a supremely qualified
nominee, was denied a Senate vote because he is gay. Clinton
nominated Hormel in 1997. The nomination was approved by the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee last fall but had been
stalled by several senators who raised objections to his
support for lesbian and gay equal rights. The right-wing
campaign to stop Hormel's nomination was led by Sens. James
Inhofe, R-Okla., Bob Smith, R-N.H., and Tim Hutchison,
R-Ark.
Hormel is a prominent civic leader and former diplomat. He
served as an alternate U.S. representative to the United
Nations General Assembly and as a member of the U.S.
delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission. His
supporters include Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del.; Orrin Hatch,
R-Utah; Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; as well as Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright and former Reagan administration
Secretary of State George Shultz.
The anti-gay resolutions are the latest in a series of
Southern Baptist Convention anti-gay initiatives and
activities. The SBC launched an ill-fated boycott against
Disney in June, 1997. Among the factors contributing to
their decision were Disney's willingness to allow gay people
to visit its theme parks and its policy of extending equal
benefits to the domestic partners of its gay and lesbian
employees.
The denomination was founded in 1845 when the Baptist
churches in the South withdrew from the national Baptist
body called the General Missionary Convention. The split was
caused when the Convention supported and biblically
justified the right of its members to own slaves. Over a
hundred years after the fact, in 1995, the Southern Baptist
Convention formally repented their history of bigotry and
oppression based on race.
"We look forward to the day when the Southern Baptist
Convention will repent their homophobia, and learn that
among the greatest of sins is hate," said Birch. The renewed
SBC attack on gay people comes at a time when hate crimes
are becoming more lethal.
A recent survey released by the National Coalition of
Anti-Violence Programs showed an alarming increase in the
brutality of hate crimes with an unprecedented rise in the
use of weapons in the assaults. Hate crimes based on sexual
orientation were up 8 percent in 1997, according to the
latest FBI statistics. Sexual orientation was the third
highest category of hate crimes behind race and religion and
represented 14 percent of all hate crimes reported.
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest national lesbian and
gay political organization, with members throughout the
country, effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign
support, and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and
gay Americans can be open, honest, and safe at home, at
work, and in the community.
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