In
this Issue:
 Elton
John and Tim Rice’s AIDA
Fewer than 10 tickets available!
Hope for Peace & Justice Presents
an Uptown Player Production
Special One-Time Benefit Performance
This Sunday, February 19th
7pm | Trinity River Arts Center
Support Hope for Peace & Justice on this special night. The cast of AIDA
has donated a special performance to Hope for Peace & Justice. By purchasing
your ticket to AIDA through Hope for Peace & Justice, you help us raise money
for important campaigns, programs and workshops. Your $50 ticket includes an
invitation to a pre-show dessert reception.
With
only 10 tickets left, seating is limited!
Click
here to buy your tickets
Music
by: Elton John
Lyrics by: Tim Rice
Book by Linda Woolverton , Robert Falls and David Henry Falls
Aida
is a contemporary musical take on the grand classic tale
of forbidden love between a soldier and an enslaved princess – a
love that condemns them to death, but ultimately transcends
the vast cultural differences between the two warring nations,
heralding an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity.
Directed
by Doug Miller
Music Direction by Scott Eckert
Choreography by Vicki Squires
Click
here to buy your tickets
Commentary:
Baptist Pastor Deserves Justice Too
By Rev. Michael Piazza
 I
should probably begin with a confession of my sin: I took
secret delight when I read that the Rev. Lonnie Latham,
the Pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church, was caught soliciting
an Oklahoma City police officer for sex. Rev. Latham
had been a typical Baptist pastor when it came to the issue
of homosexuality, until his arrest outside the Habana Inn.
There
is much that could be said about hypocrisy and the leading
of a double life. It is a sad reality for many religious
fundamentalists, and it is destructive in many ways and
on many levels. However, I want to call us to support Rev.
Latham. Of course, we should pray for him and for his family,
who are suffering right now. We should probably hope that,
in his pain, he recognizes the pain that he has caused
so many lesbian and gay people in his congregation and
his state. He helped to create a culture in which his “sin” is
seen as the most reprehensible. There was never any question
that he would have to resign. He created a community that
is virulent in their homophobia. If he had solicited a woman,
like Jimmy Swaggart did some years ago, he might have been
able to repent and hang on to his position. His own preaching
helped to ensure that his dismissal would be swift and complete.
We should pray for his family, because he will no longer
be able to provide for them as a Baptist preacher.
However, there is another way in which we should be supportive.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people should demand
that the Oklahoma City District Attorney drop all charges
and apologize to Lonnie Latham for a false arrest that destroyed
his life. However we may feel about his soliciting a person
for sex, what he did was not illegal. If inviting another
adult to engage in sex in the privacy of your hotel room
were illegal, the bars in every hotel in America would be
filled with vice cops. How many thousands of times each night
do heterosexual men invite women to have sex? Regardless
of the morality of that reality, no one gets arrested. In
fact, women get hit on by men in almost every setting imaginable,
and, while obnoxious and even offensive, it is not a crime.
Click
here to send a letter to the District Attorney
Despite
our secret delight that Rev. Latham’s hypocrisy
has been exposed, we must not allow this injustice to stand.
With the Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas (2004),
gay sex became just as legal in this country as heterosexual
sex. Still, gay men are being entrapped and arrested in parks
for solicitation. Why aren’t they arresting every heterosexual
man who ever hits on a woman in a park or at the grocery
store? I am not suggesting that we support public solicitation
for sex; I am calling us not to fail to insist on equal rights
and equal treatment.
Recently, a young professional man came by our offices looking
for help because his life was in danger of being destroyed.
He is a closeted gay man who was approached by an undercover
officer in a Dallas, Texas park. While we might debate the
morality of his behavior, what we cannot allow is the continued
entrapment and arrest of gay men while heterosexual men do
the exact same thing without the fear of arrest.
Progressive people of faith are all too silent about this
abuse of power, because we have allowed the sex-negative
preaching of the fundamentalists to make us ashamed. I am
not talking about underage sex, paying for sex, or even public
sex. What I am talking about is the fact that it is no more
illegal for one man to ask another man to have sex than it
is for a man to ask a woman. Our publications ridiculed the
hypocrisy of the Rev. Lonnie Latham, but we missed the more
important issue: LGBT people are still experiencing harassment
by police. Equal rights will never be ours until we recognize
discrimination even in those places that we would just as
soon ignore. We must stand up for victims, even when we secretly
take some delight in their exposure. If we do not, then our
own hypocrisy begins to rival that of Rev. Latham.
Related Links:
DA:
Drop Charges against Rev. Latham
Text
of Lawrence v. Texas (2004)
Amnesty
Report of Police Abuse against GLBT people
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Hope
for Peace & Justice
needs your support to continue to provide a progressive,
religious response to the Religious Right. Donations,
at any amount, are greatly appreciated. Click here to Donate to H4PJ |
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Hope
for Peace & Justice
in 2006
Retreat yields goals for H4PJ
Recently,
the staff of Hope for Peace & Justice, along
with several members of the H4PJ Board of Directors, participated
in a retreat to plan and begin developing programming for
2006. H4PJ is poised for growth in the year ahead and aims
to accomplish the following:
- Develop Peacemaker training curricula and programs
to train key leaders of faith communities in conflict resolution
techniques so that people will again turn to churches,
synagogues and mosques as places to find peace.
- Launch 100 local H4PJ chapters in 100 communities by
the end of 2006 so that H4PJ can train grassroots activists
for local peace and justice issues.
- Partner
with the Cathedral Orders to develop a guide for individuals,
churches and other organizations to “think
green.”
- Raise $2.5 million from national supporters to build
the Interfaith Peace Chapel.
Hope
for Peace & Justice
needs your support today to meet these goals. If you would
like to volunteer, please email Program Director, Shelley
Hamilton at shelley.hamilton@h4pj.org.
You can also support H4PJ by making a financial contribution. Click
here to donate to H4PJ.
H4PJ Dallas Mixer: Monday Night with Mike
Monday, March 6 | 5pm-7pm | Minc Lounge
Next month’s Monday
Night with Mike will be held March
6 at Minc in Dallas. The event will begin at 5pm and last
until around 7pm. Minc is located at 813 Exposition.
Monday
Night with Mike is a free event. Everyone is invited!
This is a great way to meet new people that are passionate
about our issues.
Michael Piazza, President of Hope for Peace & Justice,
will speak about current issues and H4PJ. Please mark your
calendar for this special event on March 6.
Remember to invite your friends and family!
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