I expect the Exodus sorts to ail along for about another ten years. As all they stand for crumbles away.

In addition to the many parallels to the battle over marriage today, there was also a very comparable illustration of “compassion”.

The constable likes Tevye. He has compassion for him. He doesn’t really want to see Tevye hurt too much.

But he still roughs up Tevye’s family and drives him out of his home. He had to. There were orders, you see.

This is very much like the “compassion” and “love” that anti-gays have. They don’t really exactly want to hurt us – or not as individuals. But they will continue to seek to harm our lives, deny our freedoms, and destroy our spirits. They have to. There are biblical commandments, you see.

Don’t assume rationality. In church politics, sympathy can change anything. I can image Exodus taking them out of pity. Or maybe Exodus just liked the idea of more influence. It’s not clear to me that these orgs DID ANYTHING other than write mission statements.

“Because most of these churches did not request removal, it became virtually impossible to keep our list accurately updated.”

If you can’t keep your membership accurate, that means you’re not talking to your members. And if their mission is equipping churches, they’re cleary not doing it.

What I can do, however, is to imagine that as a gay man I want to do the same or equivalent things to heterosexual people as they – or rather some of them – want to do to us.

I try to persuade them that their natural sexuality is “wrong” or “bad” or “sick”, and I try to drive a wedge between them and their families by telling them that they should blame their parents for it.

I want to stop them from forming meaningful sexual relationships, and I fight tooth and nail to stop them from having any relationships that they do form from being given any kind of social or legal recognition.

I want them to get their heterosexuality “cured”, and when that fails, as it invariably does, I tell them that God demands that they lead lives of perpetual sexual abstinence, and that if they do ever meet anyone who could potentially be their heterosexual lover they must turn and make a run for it.

If they obstinately refuse all offers of a “cure” or “treatment” for their heterosexuality and insist on living their lives as they see fit, then I want them to be discriminated against in various ways. For example, I want to prevent them from earning a living, or at least from following their chosen trade or profession. I might want to deprive them of their medical insurance.

If students show signs of emerging heterosexuality, or are suspected for whatever reason of being heterosexual, I’ll fight to the last ditch to scotch any efforts to prevent them from being bullied.

And so on and so forth. I call it “true compassion”.

It makes me feel mean, small-minded, spiteful and cruel. It makes me sick.

A gay Christian can conceivably point to the Nicene Crede or the Apostles’ Creed and affirm that they agree with the beliefs expressed therein. A gay Christian can also point to Romans 10:9 and honestly say that they have met both of the requirements for “salvation” that is listed there. Anyone who still argues that point is trying to make an extremely specialized definition for the word “Christian.”

Similarly, a gay person who says they care about marriage can demonstrate this by how they handle their romantic relationships with fidelity, honesty, and many other virtues. Anyone who wishes to doubt the claims based on such evidence is again using a specialized meaning of what it means to care about marriage and others should be suspiscious of that specialized meaning.

What evidence can groups like the above really give to support their claims for compassion? All they offer is their “support” if gay people choose the path that such groups say we should take? That’s conditional support, which is a very different thing from compassion.

And many of these groups also like to spread stereotypes and lies about gay people and so-called “gay activists.” That’s the antithesis of compassion.

The comparison you’re making is like comparing apples and bicycles. They’re not even both fruit.

O.K., I’ll try … Sorry, no, can’t do it.