An Open Letter to Pat Robertson from Dr. Mel White

(faxed to Robertson on 1/25/96)

Dear Pat,

There is a growing spirit of intolerance in our land. Since the 1600s, when fundamentalist Christians chased Roger Williams to Rhode Island and burned 'witches' at the stake in Salem, similar cycles of intolerance have littered the nation with broken bodies and ruined dreams. Now, it's happening again. And that's why we're writing you.

We are convinced that your relentless campaign against homosexuality is a primary cause of the growing spirit of intolerance towards lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans. We have monitored every 700 Club broadcast since you came to visit me in the Virginia Beach City Jail in March, 1995. And though you condemn violence, we are also convinced that your false and inflammatory anti-homosexual rhetoric leads indirectly to the very violence you condemn.

Jamie Nabozny, 20, of Minneapolis, Minnesota

By Jeff Walsh

As a teenager, Jamie Nabozny tried to kill himself just so he wouldn't have to go to school.

From seventh to eleventh grade at Ashland Middle and Ashland High Schools in Wisconsin, Nabozny was: harassed, spit on, mock-raped while other students laughed, urinated on, called a "fag" by a teacher and kicked repeatedly in the stomach by his fellow students. He eventually dropped out of school.

One gay man's journey to find God, and himself

By Jeff Walsh

A newsgroup for gay and lesbian youth seeking help is constantly flooded with questions of how to balance sexuality and spirituality. The struggle to balance the two proves fatal for many teens, and it almost killed Mel White.

White, 55, is now the Minister of Justice for the Metropolitan Community Churches nationwide. As late as 1991, Dr. White's resume read like an entry out of Who's Who in the Religious Right. He wrote speeches for Ollie North, was a ghostwriter on a book for Jerry Falwell, worked with Jim Bakker and Pat Robertson and walked along the beach with Billy Graham.

Latest journal entries.

out of the flames's picture

i just want to be seen and heard, please, please

I am so fucking angry i am shaking with rage. i can't even sit still. I am just in total break down mode. i know if i cut right now i would go way too far and most likely end up leaving forever. I don't even know what i am angry about!? I just want to be seen! thats why i don't eat, becasue i am never seen! i just want to be seen for what i am! i don't give a fuck what i look like as long as i am seen! nobody sees me anymore, i am problems, issuses.

desert13's picture

Sightings

In a valiant effort to avoid narcissism and talk about someone other than myself, I'm going to describe the life of Andrew, a crush of mine.

adbak's picture

You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown

On the way back home, I noticed something all to common in my town. You see, Carmel is a bedroom community, meaning that people sleep here yet work elsewhere for the most part. A side effect is empty streets, save for the people emptying from the high school after the aforementioned play. It was 9:30 on a Friday night, yet Carmel was a ghostown. Sometimes I just want to move.

Damnit, I can't remember this really good quote from "Sure Thing." So instead, I'll substitute something another.

out of the flames's picture

my parents

lets see...hmmm
well they don't accept me at all. they can't even look at me anymore. They cringe at my rainbow bracelet, the word CASTRO is like scary to them. I hate the feeling of not being loved. They think crazy things like my school did this to me, it is not fair. Nothing is fair anymore, i think the phrase has lost all meaning. They are always trying to change me, they won't let me form my own identity.

erroltheturtle's picture

time-travelling antarctic creatures

depression really is anger without enthusiasm. this one bloke i really was in love with, who of course didnt like me at all, ran away a bloody few hundred kilometres to a cultural abyss for uni. should i be upset, i dont know anymore. but today, maybe not long ago, he got in the car on the way to glorious where-i'm-not town. its like high-school love of my life, gone running away, probably oblivious completely.

vel's picture

Frustration

Lets get this clear, I am a go getter. I pretty much see something I want and I go for it, I see something I think needs to be done and I do it. I'm ambitious. And it pisses me off and makes me so frustrated to be closeted to the majority of my peers. I mean, I can't stand up for myself when I want to, I can't say something I am really feeling, and what's worse, I can't just be silent - I have to lie! I have to say "yes, blah blah blah, I would like to see that [horrible aweful terrible unrealistic] movie.... yes I don't mind that [sexist demeaning sick] song that you wanted to listen to. Because if I disagree I would have to explain myself and I'm (insert mocking tone here) too afraid.

hol's picture

to be your exoskeleton

Happy Endings Are All Alike. It


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