However, a piece he wrote on World Net Daily attracted my attention. Kind of a drop, huh Matt. You were on news programs a while back and now you are on birther central.
Barber's piece, unoriginaliy named The 'gay' deathstyle, leaves nothing to the imagination as to what it's about. Just a silly combination of bastardized statistics backed by Biblical verses. It's nothing new from Barber. But the following caught my attention:
Another problem lies in the fact that far too many Christians have contributed to the dilemma by failing to speak truth, in love, on the issue of homosexuality (pastors with "gay" congregants and family members, I'm talking to you). Nobody likes to be unfairly labeled a hater, "homophobe" or bigot, but fear of such attacks offers no justification for failing to speak truth in love.
And that's the galling feature of folks like Barber. They claim to speak in love as long as they don't have to answer about how they choose to speak.
For the benefit of everyone, allow me to recap the ways in which Barber speaks the truth in love to the lgbt community.
For those not familiar with Barber, in 2005, he lost his job at AllState Insurance in part for penning an anti-gay column. Since that time, the story was spun that he was fired due to his beliefs and he has parlayed that narrative into cinchy gigs with Concerned Women for America, the Liberty Counsel, and a book deal. However, like all religious right stories of gay persecution, there are details omitted (such as Barber using AllState Insurance equipment to write his column or him identifying himself as an employee of AllState in the same column).
The irony is that in that column, Barber cited the discredited work of Paul Cameron - "many people are shocked to learn that the average life expectancy of a homosexual male is only about 45 years old – 30 years younger than that of a heterosexual male."
Then let's talk about his words.
1. Barber described lgbt relationships as “one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love."
2. And then this is why he felt that lgbt-inclusive anti-discrimination laws are a bad idea: “Imagine, if you will, a 280 lb linebacker who likes to wear a dress and high heels and lipstick, you know comes to church wanting a job at the front desk as a receptionist and they turn him away because they don’t feel that that represents their values or the image that they’re trying to hold at that church, under ENDA they could be held accountable for discrimination against that individual.”
3. In September of last year, he emphasized that folks speaking against homosexuality focus on the "ick factor" of gay sex, or talk about gay sex extensively.
4. In June of last year, he criticized Home Depot for daring to acknowledge that same-sex households exist.
5. Slurred the name of an Obama appointee in a pitiful attempt to be clever.
Sorry Matt but if these are examples of you speaking the truth in love, I think I will take my chances with your hate. Of course, I think I and the rest of the lgbt community have done just that.
