Homophobic Summer of invocations at Dallas City Hall - Stealth homophobia. Update.
Our Gay City Council members are the Uvalde Cops when it comes to homophobia.
Update: Dallas Observer has run an article on this.
While Pride flags were flying outside City Hall, anti-Gay Christians were doing invocations inside. (Update 1: Additional links to homophobic materials.)
From June 8, 2022 to Sept. 7, 2022 there were 8 city council meetings, the majority were those clearly done by persons from homophobic churches and Christian institutions.
We are going to review them in reverse order.
9/7/2022 Invocation
The last one was by Russell Freeman of Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church in Allen, Texas invited by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson to give the invocation on Sept. 7, 2022 and effusively praises him saying, “He has the honor of introducing …”.
This is Russell Freeman’s lecture on homosexuality and the Bible and how it is contrary to God, on YouTube. I believe this is one of the lessons given at the Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church by him.
Just in case they decided to pull the video from YouTube I had it archived at the Internet Archive. They are still saying it is not ready for playback this morning 9/11/2022.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220909171727/
This is his webpage at the energy company he works for.
https://www.hillwood.com/About/Leadership/RussellFreeman.aspx
Freeman is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Southwestern Seminary Foundation, a foundation established for the benefit of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he serves as Chairman of the Investment Committee for the board. He is an active member of Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church, serving on the Pastoral Advisory Council, Personnel Committee and as an adult Bible teacher. [Boldface added.]
The Cottonwood Creek Church is creepy on its own without Freeman. This is a class given recently at Cottonwood Creek Church on how to be an anti-Gay Christian with your LGBTQ child.
https://cottonwoodcreek.org/event/uncommon-love-bible-study/2021-10-14/
Quoting from the page:
“Uncommon Love: God’s Heart for Christian Parents of Gay Kids” is an 11-week Bible study that offers a Christ-centered approach to maintaining and deepening your relationship with your LGBTQ child of any age without compromising your faith and values. [Boldface added.]
They had the author of this book, Mary Comm give the class. She has a webpage where the intention of her book and this class is made very clear.
http://marycomm.com/consulting/resources/uncommon-love-bible-study/
The book is really poisonous since it is about how to be anti-Gay, but with a mask of civility, towards your children.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has an extensive anti-Gay background. They are on the worst list at campus pride.
https://www.campuspride.org/worstlist/
Incidentally you will find Dallas Baptist Univ., Baylor, and Dallas Theological Seminary on this list also.
Quoting the above document.
In the spirit of Christ, Christian’s should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography.
It is saved at the Internet Archive also.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220303065509/https://swbts.edu/beliefs/
Code of conduct prohibits students is at this link:
https://swbts.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Code-of-Conduct-07.20.21.pdf
Quoting the code in the list of “prohibited behavior.”
4. The engagement in a lifestyle contrary to Biblical standards including, but not limited to, heterosexual misconduct, homosexual or bisexual behavior, transgenderism or any other form of sexual misconduct.
8/24/2022 Invocation
City Council member Cara Mendelsohn of District 12 invited Rochia Green of Denison Ministries to give the invocation.
It is an organization run by Jim Denison in Dallas, named after him evidently, and has a large staff.
Jim Denison is the type of homophobe that saw an opportunity with the recent monkeypox outbreak to push an anti-Gay agenda.
Here Jim Denison talks about monkeypox and Gays in this May 24, 2022 article.
In the article found with the above link, Jim Denison complains that he might unjustly be called homophobic and then wishes his readers to consider the following when they think about monkeypox.
· Homosexuality is not God’s design for us.
· God loves all of us, whatever our sexual orientation.
· We are all broken sexually.
· And no one is beyond his redeeming and transforming grace (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:9–11).
Looking at the date of this article, you can see that Denison didn’t waste any time exploiting monkeypox. I would also point out that when people like this have influence in local government is it any wonder that things might have been more aggressive in Dallas County in responding to monkeypox than it was. I don’t know, but when these currents are circulating through their connections in government, I think the question can be raised. Though the response to monkeypox might be what it is because of a slow to respond government.
The following is a tweet he did.
The following anti-Gay post is dated May 2, 2022.
https://www.denisonforum.org/resources/what-does-the-bible-say-about-homosexuality/
He does a lot of writing about homosexuality.
https://www.denisonforum.org/?s=homosexual
A sample of his articles.
Opposes effort against bullying in schools.
https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/day-of-silence-supports-homosexuals-in-school/
This is a May 2, 2022 article, “What does the Bible Say about homosexuality.”
https://www.denisonforum.org/resources/what-does-the-bible-say-about-homosexuality/
This is the webpage for his book.
https://www.thecomingtsunami.com
Not surprising he is favorably considered by the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
8/10/2022 Invocation
Dallas City Council member Jaynie Schultz District 11 invited Nick Pitts to give the invocation. The strange thing was that links to Nick Pitts’ articles at the Denison Forum seemed to have disappeared. I did some sleuthing and found them on the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive can be a bit slow on loading pages, so be patient.
In this article Nick Pitts isn’t happy that an Evangelical church in San Francisco had become more accepting of Gays.
This article is in defense of trying to supposed therapy to make Gays straight.
Here Nick Pitts expresses his opposition to Gay marriage.
6/22/2022 and 8/3/2022 Invocations
On 6/22/2022 City Council member Adam Bazaldua Disitrict 7 had Jesse Perez, Pastor of Victory Outreach of Dallas give the invocation, and on 8/3/2022 had Mando Perico, Associate Pastor of Victory Outreach of Dallas give the invocation.
The Victory Outreach of Dallas is really anti-Gay and appears to be a part of a global anti-Gay denomination.
This is their position paper on their beliefs online for the whole denomination. You can download it.
https://victoryoutreach.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/victory-outreach-beliefs-document.pdf
What does it say about Gays? The word “homosexual” appears 44 times in the document. Here are some examples from the above document. On page 1.
Here are some prime examples of how faithful God is to forgive sin and to what extent He will pardon the wrongdoer: The Corinthians were involved in swindling, thievery, idolatry, drunkenness, sexual immorality (including prostitution and homosexuality), and yet by the grace of God their sins were washed away and they were set apart as saints for God’s kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9-11). [Boldface added.]
Page 28 is devoted to their “position on homosexuality.” It basically states that homosexuality is condemned in the Bible and is contrary to Christianity.
A quote from page 28.
While studies have been conducted to show that homosexuals are born gay, many psychiatrists and psychologists affirm that almost every case of homosexuality involves patients who have had very negative childhood experiences. In actuality, homosexuality is a behavior and preference – not a condition – and this means it is curable. There have been numerous testimonies of those who were once gay, but have been changed forever from their former lifestyle through the power of God in Christ Jesus. Real change is possible for the gay person, but much like drug or alcohol addiction, sexual addiction and homosexual orientation requires a person to be determined to say no to his/her vice, …
6/8/2022 Invocation
On 6/8/2022 City Council meeting, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson had the president of Dallas Baptist University give the invocation.
If you go to this LGBT group which investigates and reports on universities, Campus Pride,
https://www.campuspride.org/
You will see a table for the “Worst List,” the “Absolute Worst Campuses for LGBTQ Youth.”
https://www.campuspride.org/worstlist/
And on that list is Dallas Baptist University and an explanation why.
SUMMARY
With these anti-Gay institutions being given prestige and credibility by the Mayor of Dallas and Dallas City Council members by being chosen to give invocations we see how superficial the supposed support for the rights of the Gay community is in Dallas.
Also, the total absence of a response to this enabling of homophobes by the Dallas City council by Gay Dallas City Council members and the lack of reporting about it by the local Gay paper, shows how superficial and ineffectual the local Gay establishment is in defending our rights.
A previous post on invocations at City Hall.
This is the link to the petition to get a Human Rights Commission at Change.org https://chng.it/XrsMZ9P8cR Please sign and share. With groups and individuals like these in Dallas we need a human rights commission.
Videos on Dallas Baptist Church and Victory Outreach of Dallas.
The language is quite interesting. One of the reviews for Mary Comm's book claims one woman's son has been "transformed from SSA". Cute way to phrase conversion therapy, no?