Badpuppy Gay Today

Monday, 02 June 1997

"My appeal to the ministers is, 'Don't let this split us up.' Satan is certainly an ace at doing that," said the Reverend W. Lee Grady, a 62-year old retiring Seventh Day Adventist, in San Rafael, California.

The Novato clergyman had, during first reports, quit his seat on an association of regional religious leaders--The Novato Ministerial Association-- after learning a fellow-clergyperson--of his specific faith-- happens also to be a lesbian. "This lady," he told listeners, if she were living a clean life, my goodness, she would be welcome like all of us."

Following these outbursts which became public in the local press, the minister of 40 years was first reported as resigning his post as a Marin County Sheriff's chaplain. Sheriff Robert Doyle said if the minister hadn't resigned he'd have been swiftly removed from the program. The Sheriff seemed to hold no special grudges against the minister, however, who seemed, he said, a nice man otherwise.

"The bottom line is, he made some public comments which were contrary to our program, "the Sheriff assured reporters, "He will be out."

Two other ministers walked out on the religious association along with Grady. The remaining ministers on the association later left the meeting from which Grady and his cohorts had exited, but waited until after a majority supported the lesbian clergywoman's right to remain.

On the one hand, the Reverend Grady realizes he isn't engaged in love making. "Our action," he said, speaking for himself and the other dissenting ministers, "is not an action of love. It is an action of hoping that individuals who walk in this way will see their sin and turn around," Grady told his colleagues.

The problem the You-Satan, Me-God-style cleric faced was that by publicly going up against a lesbian minister he violated the "philosophy" of the Marin County Sheriff's office, specifically a code forswearing discrimination based on sexual orientation.

But the Reverend Grady, exhibiting classic homophobic symptoms, decided to sue on first amendment grounds, namely that his rights to communicate his religious beliefs--including those about same-sex love-- have been violated.

"I was standing up for what probably 80 to 90 percent of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish denominations in America stand for concerning this particular lifestyle among its clergy, said Grady."

"This isn't saying God doesn't love a person like that (italics by GayToday)" said the professional minister of the Gospel, "God loves all of us, but he wants us to walk in his way. This lifestyle is not in harmony with his teaching, which I am bound as a minister of the gospel to preach."

In later reports following Grady's suit against the Marin Sheriff's Department it was clear the Sheriff had asked Grady to resign or to face being removed. Between the reports Grady had gone on the offensive.

"There's a church state issue at stake," said the Seventh Day Adventist preacher, "Here's a top man of a law enforcement agency telling what a church man can speak or not speak."

The unruffled Martin County Sheriff, however, is sticking to his first-made decisions. If the Reverend Grady fails at last to win in court, Satan-- as reflected in his worldview-- will have triumphed in this round.