Zarin Gracey, Dallas City Council member, thinks charm compensates for homophobia.
I explain to him that it doesn’t. A Facebook encounter.
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The Facebook Encounter. A post of Zarin Gracey.
On May 18, 2024 Coffee and Politics had a post of a picture of Tony Morris and Zarin D. Gracy. On May 21, 2024, I had the following comment.
Zarin Gracey is a member of a prominently anti-Gay church. The fact that he is on the city council shows that this is not a good city for LGBT.
With the following link.
Zarin Gracey is the Executive Pastor of Concord Church whose senior pastor is Bryan L. Carter, a nationally prominent homophobe. He has even made the New York Times with his anti-Gay policies. Carter campaigned against same-sex marriage not just in churches, but any type of marriage, civil or religious, by any governmental unit or church. He is active in campaigning against the LGBT. The above post had extensive documentation. Gracey is a supporting part of a church which is nationally prominent in opposing the rights of the LGBT.
I have done a post specifically on Bryan L Carter since the Dallas Morning News reported on him as if he was a hero and also without mentioning his homophobia.
https://dallasgayliberation.substack.com/p/bigot-bryan-carter-nationally-prominent
The Dallas Morning News regularly omits information about whether an institution or individual is homophobic, and in one case, misrepresents them as not being homophobic. The following is a directory post with links to individual posts about the Dallas Morning News omissions of homophobia.
https://dallasgayliberation.substack.com/p/dallas-morning-news-stealth-homophobia-e21
Responses from others.
Before discussing the exchange I got some other reactions. I am going to review them before going on to the exchange with Gracey.
A DeNita L. Quinn stated:
Edward H. Sebesta This is not true! Stop spreading lies.
I had responded to Quinn with the following post, but I see that somehow it has been deleted from the current Facebook post. I do screen captures though, both jpg’s and pdf’s, since the Internet Archive doesn’t work with Facebook.
My reply was:
DeNita L. Quinn I use facts and evidence to support my assertions, and not slander and name calling which you evidently think is an argument.
I had in my reply this link.
Bryan Carter has recently got a big achievement award from the African American Museum in Fair Park. I haven’t gotten around to writing it up. The head of the board of trustees for the African American Museum is the notorious Vonceil Jones Hill who was against an AIDs billboard for safe sex directed towards African American men.
A post about Bryan Carter evidently was to hot to be allowed and it was removed.
Another Response
Akilah S. Wallace asked:
Why are you calling Concord anti-Gay? I read the points in the article. Is it only because the pastor won’t marry same-sex couples?
Notice the word “only” used here as if refusing to marry same-sex couples wasn’t sufficient to be labeled anti-Gay.
Marriage is vital for Gay people when they get older. It ensures inheritance and blocks relatives from stealing. It means you get to visit them in the hospital and relatives can’t deny you access to your loved one. Also, you can keep homophobic relatives and the type of Christian relatives who think a hospital is an opportunity to “save” you from harassing your loved one. If one of you dies, the other is in charge of the funeral arrangements, instead of relatives denying you any involvement and expressing their homophobia.
Persons like Akilah S. Wallace really don’t take our humanity seriously.
This is the subtle and poisonous homophobia which is pernicious as that of people like Robert Jeffress. It is pernicious since people often don’t recognize it as such and so it shapes peoples thinking that the humanity of the LGBT is trivial.
Wallace is also misrepresenting what the post explained. Rev. Carter was against anyone marrying a same-sex couple and any government granting a marriage license. It isn’t that he won’t marry anyone, he doesn’t want anyone else to marry a Gay couple either, whether a religious person or the Justice of the Peace.
Further, the article pointed out Bryan L. Carter’s extensive involvement with anti-Gay groups, such as Family Life. From my report on Gracey.
A lot of people think that if you aren’t snarling your homophobia it is okay. Also Wallace is trying to minimize Bryan L. Carter’s by omission Carter’s homophobia. The following was just a part of the documentation about Bryan L. Carter. I share it here as an example of what Wallace was over looking.
Family Life
https://www.familylife.com/about-us/bryan-carter/
He is a member of the Board of Directors of Family Life.
https://www.familylife.com/about-us/board-of-directors/
The following is a search link for their website on homosexuality. I counted quickly 65 articles.
https://www.familylife.com/?s=homosexual
Some titles you will find on their page:
Does the Bible Say Much About Homosexuality? The author wants you to know, “It’s one of the reasons God destroyed the most infamous cities in the Bible (Sodom and Gomorrah).”
Evidently Alan Chambers talks about “his deliverance from homosexuality.”
https://www.familylife.com/podcast/familylife-today/breaking-the-pattern-of-homosexuality/
Evidently hunger for acceptance “lured” Alan Chambers.
https://www.familylife.com/podcast/familylife-today/alans-story-part-2/
“Help! My Child is a Homosexual” I should do a podcast, “Help! My friend is an idiot.”
https://www.familylife.com/podcast/familylife-today/help-my-child-is-a-homosexual/
“Preparing Your Teen for LGBT Discussions”
“Questions to Ask Your Teen About LGBT Issues.”
This was my response to Akilah S. Wallace for which I got no response from Wallace.
Akilah S. Wallace That is a part. The big issue however was that Bryan Carter campaigned against Gays getting married any place else or just with a civil ceremony. He wanted to press his religious beliefs upon everyone else outside his church.
When a church doesn't want to marry Gay people, their religious beliefs are anti-Gay, but there are so many churches like that, they aren't worth writing about. I also don't think that Gays should be that concerned about being accepted into straight people's religion and their god.
When a person from a prejudiced church is elected, then there is an issue of it impacting public policy. Though I mention the NY Times article in this post, it isn't the only thing, and extensive documentation is added.
And it had this link at the end.
https://dallasgayliberation.substack.com/p/bigot-bryan-carter-nationally-prominent
My concern with elected officials is not just a theoretical speculation. Vonciel Jones Hill was nominated for a DART board position by three Dallas City Council members.
This is the link to the report. Even the Stonewall Dems and the Dallas Voice did alerts about here when she was nominated for the DART board.
Conversation with Zarin Gracey.
Gracy had a response.
Edward H. Sebesta I’d love to meet you.
I responded.
Zarin D Gracey To meet you or any member of your church or denomination as anything else but an opponent would be to disrespect my marriage and my spouse. The fact that you don't recognize this, is because prejudiced people do not respect the humanity of Gays. Likely it is also because since you primarily encounter the local LGBT leadership which doesn't really take their own humanity seriously either, you have this expectation of me.
Gracey then told me that if I didn’t meet him, it would be wrong for me to post about him.
Edward H. Sebesta like I said, I'd love to meet you but I understand your position. I'm sorry you feel that way. That's not who I am. I would ask then, since you don't want to meet me, that you not post or form opinions of me without knowing me. To do so, is to, in a sense, do to me what you say I'm doing to you.
This response is sort of a double talk, “I understand your position,” but Gracey states that I am not supposed to post.
Also, whether I meet him, or find him affable or not, he is an Executive Pastor in a church provides a platform for a nationally prominent homophobic minister. Gracey has agency in supporting this platform as Executive Pastor.
Also, if he is involved with any homophobic organization or takes a homophobic action, he is going to get reported whether I decide to smooze with him over drinks (maybe coffee) or not.
However, notice the word “opinion.” His statement implies that I don’t do factual reporting. I really emphasize having documentation in my posts and links so the reader can read my sources for themselves.
This was my response:
Zarin D Gracey This went to slander straight away. I do factual reports. The fact is you are a member of Concord Church, and not just a member, but according to the webpage of the church, an Executive Pastor. You support a church that has agency against the Gay community. You are engaged in misdirection. I am of course interested in correcting any factual error. I will continue on reporting the facts, regardless of whether anyone puts on the rainment of victimhood or not.
His response was:
Edward H. Sebesta invitation remains open.
Of course I won’t meet with him. I take the humanity of the LGBT seriously.
Earlier Cyndy Walker had this comment about my comment about Gracey.
She is the admin of Coffee and Politics 101
Zarin D Gracey do you want to address this comment public ally or privately?
Zarin Gracey responded.
Coffee and Politics 101 thanks. I did. He said he didn't want to meet so (unless i misread his response). . . My religion is about relationship and if he isn't interested in building relationship so we can make this world better, then I'm not interested in debating slanted articles with misinformed people (self included). If we can't build relationship, we're just angry people. 😔
This is a slander and a misdirection. Exactly how was my article “slanted,” and how am I “misinformed.” Gracey doesn’t answer any specifics of the article or presenting facts, but instead attacking me, I am “just angry people.” In debating this is called, “Poisoning the well,” where when you can’t win the debate on the facts of the issue, you attack the character of your opponent. So Gracey here is being toxic.
The issue at hand is the homophobia of his church. Gracey is engaged in misdirection to make it an issue of “building relationships” and the implication is that I am thus against “building relationships” because I won’t meet with him. By this stratagem he shifts the topic from the homophobic record of Bryan Carter who he enables, to me being a bad person who is angry, i.e. irrational.
I don’t have relationships with homophobia. The trouble with the LGBT in Dallas is that they don’t get angry over homophobia.
Summary
The fact that Zarin Gracey thinks his response will be credible, is because the LGBT leadership of Dallas is lacking. He knows that they won’t criticize him, and the Stonewall Dems have endorsed him already.
https://dallasgayliberation.substack.com/p/stonewall-democrats-career-politics
When the local leadership gives Royce West a free pass when West voted for the anti-drag bill, should it be any wonder that Gracey feels that he need not be concerned over the issue of homophobia.
https://dallasgayliberation.substack.com/p/collection-of-royce-west-posts
When local Gay Christians rejoice over crumbs, how seriously concerned should religious people be over their homophobic theology.
https://dallasgayliberation.substack.com/p/responding-to-united-methodist-church
The local leadership swept the history of the 2010 Dallas Bath house police raid under the rug.
There are no Dallas city council representatives supporting getting a Human Rights Commission: Not Chad West, Omar Narvaez, or Zarin Gracey.
Given the so-called leadership of the Dallas LGBT, Zarin Gracey feels every bit empowered to just brush off reporting of his homophobia with the flimsiest of reasons.
My response to those who would not allow Gays to get married by the Justic of the Peace.
Just for the record, I am one of the bad Gays.
