New York Times accidentally sanitizes bigoted pastor

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Patrick Wooden

Those who are against marriage equality are constantly pushing this "victim complex," i.e. claiming that they are being unfairly vilified for their opposition to marriage equality.

This is a lie. It's not their opposition to marriage equality, per se, but the distortions they engage in to fight marriage equality.

And unfortunately, often times, the media is their ally in how it frames the argument.

A perfect example of this sad fact is a recent New York Times article, Churches split over gay marriage. All in all, it is an excellent article which makes a good point in showing that the fight of marriage equality is not necessarily a fight which pits the gay community on one side and the religious community on the other. The article demonstrates that religious beliefs dictates both sides of the issue.

However, it also sugarcoats the reputation of a certain North Carolina minister:

At a black Pentecostal church in Raleigh, N.C., the Rev. Patrick Wooden entered the sanctuary on Sunday to a standing ovation, exulting that God’s “high hand” had led voters last week to pass a statewide amendment banning same-sex marriage. He took to the pulpit and denounced President Obama for taking a stand “in support of sin,” and “in opposition to the biblical model of marriage.”

. . .On Sunday, after Pastor Wooden quieted the standing ovation in his sanctuary in Raleigh, a sea of pink hats and dresses in honor of Mother’s Day, he went into a sermon that portrayed the fight for the same-sex marriage amendment as a divinely ordained cause.

Quoting from Exodus, he said God had led people to the polls with a “high hand,” just as God led the Israelites out of Egypt. Mr. Obama went “against God,” the pastor said. He invoked the New Testament passage from Romans in which men turn away from women and burn in their lust, “men with men.”

Pastor Wooden’s 3,000-member congregation, the Upper Room Church of God in Christ, is part of an African-American denomination that declared in 2004 that it would “never allow” or bless same-sex unions. The declaration cited passages from Scripture: that God created “the woman for the man,” (I Corinthians 11:9), and that “marriage is honorable” (Hebrews 13:4).

Pastor Wooden was in the forefront of the political fight over the marriage amendment in North Carolina, serving on the executive committee for the campaign and voicing radio advertisements heard around the state. He said that he had been raised by a single mother, and that he believed children needed both a mother and a father.

Those of us who know Wooden know that this isn't the only thing he said in regards to the gay community. He has made deliberately untrue comments regarding gay men and sex:







To omit - and I think this was by accident by the writer - Wooden's history of demonizing the gay community via slander and the bearing of false witness is serious mistake on two accounts. For one, it sanitizes Wooden as a simple pastor rather than exposing the entirety his homophobic animus and the article misses a chance to delve into a key complaint by the lgbtq community in regards to those who oppose marriage equality, i.e.  that they are quick to vilify us amongst each other, but in front of the press, they act innocent as lambs.