Arlington Church refuses funeral for Gay Veteran

Per the Dallas Morning News comes this story about High Point Church in Arlington refusing to hold a funeral service for a veteran because he is gay:

"An Arlington church volunteered to host a funeral Thursday, then reneged on the invitation when it became clear the dead man's homosexuality would be identified in the service...

'Some of those photos had very strong homosexual images of kissing and hugging,' [Rev. Gary Simons] said. My ministry associates were taken aback. And then, he said, the family asked to have its own people officiate the service. 'We had no control over the format of the memorial,' Mr. Simons said."

Kissing and hugging?! It's a clear threat to civilization as we know it, send in the SWAT team!

Seriously, what did they think was going to happen? Is it not common for funerals to have displayed pictures of the deceased with loved ones? Well Sherlocks of High Point, if you are going to have a funeral for a gay man, some of the loved ones in the pictures are going to be GAY! And they are liable to be doing everything that straight couples do. And pssst, you know what? Some of the attendees might be, surely you see this coming, GAY! As long as the pictures pass the standards of decorum applied to pictures at other funerals, and the attendees behave themselves, what is the problem? Oh right, your twisted view of the world considers homosexuality to be morally equivalent to theft and murder:

"The pastor said that he could imagine a similar situation involving a different sin. Perhaps a mother who is a member of the church loses a son who is a thief or murderer, Mr. Simons said. The church would surely volunteer to hold a service, he said.

'But I don't think the mother would submit photos of her son murdering someone,' he said. 'That's a red light going off.'"

Oh there's a red light going off, but it isn't the one the good pastor thinks. It's the one in all the logic meters reading that comment. And just for the record, let's see who the man is that Jesus' servant is slandering here:

"[Cecil Sinclair], 46, died Monday. He was a native of Fort Worth, a Navy veteran who served in Desert Storm helping rescuers find downed pilots, and a singer in the Turtle Creek Chorale, said his mother, Eva Bowers. He did not belong to a church. "

A veteran who risked his life to rescue other men in uniform, singer in the choir...compared to a thief and murderer because of who he loved. You should be ashamed of yourself Mr. Simons.

And before you hit us with claptrap like:

"We tried to do the very best of our ability to express the love of Christ."

Let me remind you that Christ ate with the lepers and prostitutes, and said "judge not lest ye be judged". He would not have approved of, to quote Roy Zimmerman, "a narrow misogynistic, antisemitic, homophobic interpretation of his life and teachings". Jesus did not express his love by saying "I'll only show compassion for you and your loved ones if you live as I desire you to."

To the Church's credit, it did offer to pay for another facility for the funeral. Small consolation for those members of Mr. Sinclair's family who turned to their church for support, and whose pain was ignored because they didn't grieve for the death of someone on the Church's approved lifestyle list.