Tuesday the top decision making apparatus in the United Methodist Church, the second largest denomination in U.S. Protestant circles after the Southern Baptist Convention, determined that performing same-sex unions constitutes a defrockable violation of church law. The nine judges of the Methodists' Judicial Council arrived at this discriminatory decision in Dallas, Texas.

This most recent announcement of Methodist methodology, following last week's anti-homosexual declaration by Anglican bishops meeting in Canterbury, England, signals the second such outburst by entrenched homophobic reactionaries within mainstream Protestantism, those who rigorously refuse to validate or to sanctify same-sex relationships.

Last March the 16th century-style United Methodist ecclesiastical trial in Nebraska of the Reverend Jimmy Creech determined that Creech was not guilty of having violated the church's Book of Discipline. In the wake of Tuesday's denominational decision, however, were the Reverend Creech once again to ritually bless another same-sex couple, he'd be liable to a penalty that evokes such sado-masochistic images as a "charge of disobedience."

Wednesday morning between 10 and 11am on C-Span, the Family Research Council (FRC) held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. in a concerted effort to show that same-sex love and affection stand in extreme disfavor in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Taking part in the press conference were a Catholic Priest, an Orthodox Rabbi, and several zealous Protestant fundamentalist parsons. Three African American preachers were trotted out in an attempt to drive home a moot point, namely that homosexuality is not a race. But after "making" this point they went on to dangerously insist that persons bonding with their own gender are not eligible, therefore, or in need of legal protections from the violence resulting from anti-gay prejudices and hatreds they themselves perpetually and busily inflame.

The Gay and Lesbian-Bashing Clergymen Included:

Rev. Thomas Morrow, Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.;
Rabbi Yehuda Levin, Union of Orthodox Rabbis of U.S. & Canada, Brooklyn, N.Y.;
Bishop Harold Ray of Redemptive Life Fellowship, West Palm Beach, Fl.
Victor Stanley of Calvary Baptist Church, Woodbridge, Va;
Rev. Robert McFarland of Excel Ministries, Washington, D.C.;
Rev. J. Philip Ashey of Church of the Apostles Episcopal Church, Fairfax, Va;
Anthony Falzarano, Transformation Ex-Gay Ministries, Washington, D.C. .

To counter what the Human Rights Campaign called this "assault on gay Americans" and to let the public know that many proud, openly gay people are also people of faith, the HRC then hosted a noon press conference which, in the same room, followed that of the Family Research Council.

The Human Rights Campaign's press conference included the following speakers:

David M. Smith, HRC Senior Strategist and Communications Director
Reverend Doctor C. Welton Gaddy, Executive Director, Interfaith Alliance, Southern Baptist Minister
Winnie Stachelberg, HRC Political Director
Reverend Meg Riley, Unitarian Universalists Association
Rabbi Marc Israel, Religious Action Center for Reformed Judaism
Reverend Doctor Pat Conover, United Church of Christ
Kim I. Mills, HRC Education Director
Tracey Conaty, Communications Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Charles L. Cox, Executive Director, Dignity USA
Tracey St. Pierre, Human Rights Campaign, Former Ex-gay

Both press conferences were scheduled by C-Span for Wednesday evening viewing as well.