Many years ago, a pastor from a South Anchorage church volunteered at the runaway shelter (now defunct) where I was employed. Everyone was so impressed that he would volunteer his off-time just to help disadvantaged teens. However, as I started to talk to him, I became increasingly concerned. He seemed especially obsessive about sexuality, which caused alarm bells to go off. He was also rabidly, frighteningly intolerant of LGBT issues. I mentioned that the Bible clearly states that all love comes from God. I couldn't understand how he could have a problem with two adults in love. He actually stated that "homosexuality" is sick and abnormal. As a matter of fact, he claimed that it was much more normal for an adult to be attracted to a child of the opposite sex than it was for two adults of the same sex to be attracted to each other.
The alarm bells became screaming sirens.
I told management about our conversation, but he was highly connected and I was only 23 so I was asked to resign. Sure enough, two months later he was quietly fired for making sexual advances towards the girls.
The point of this story is NOT that I believe the clergy are any more prone to sexual deviancy. As a matter of fact, many studies show that just like the gay community, clergy are no more prone to deviancy than anyone else.
The point is to show that there are reasons for rabid homophobia and in this case, the hatred of gays is itself a cover for the homophobe's sexual dysfunction.
Fast forward to 1992--I went to the most horrific meetings I've ever attended...they were the Anchorage Assembly meetings where the public testimony occurred in reference to the Ordinance against discrimination based on sexual orientation. Jerry Prevo's Anchorage Baptist Temple bussed several hundred people in to testify and I've never seen so many lies, so much hatred and so many ignorant people in one place at one time.
While some of them may have fallen into that first type of homophobe, my observation is that most of them probably fell into other, more common categories.
There's the most researched type of homophobe...the one who is stuck in the closet. A study done by the Department of Psychology at the University of Georgia showed, through traditional methods of determining arousal in males, that "Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies."
At those meetings in 1992, I believe most of the folks fell into the most common category of homophobe, one born of ignorance and segregation.
A study done by the Pew Research Center in 2007 determined that those who knew gay people...had friends or family members who identified as "gay"...were more likely to be accepting.
"An analysis of survey results suggests that familiarity is closely linked to tolerance," Pew said in a statement.
"Overall, those who say they have a family member or close friend who is gay are more than twice as likely to support gay marriage as those who don't -- 55 percent to 25 percent."
(For those who say that this is "evidence" that LGBT folks are "safe" if they come out of the closet, they have no way of knowing WHY someone may be homophobic--if it's because of ignorance or denial. While one could bring the desired result if they revealed their orientation, the other could have the opposite effect.)
Last of all, when it comes to homophobia we don't have to wonder about Jerry Prevo. He's in a completely different category. For him, homophobia is just one of many ambition-satisfying, fund-raising tools.
--In the early 1990s, Prevo milked that Ordinance through week after week of hatred-laced sermons. Reportedly, this was to achieve maximum effect in the donation basket. It obviously worked because, once again, he's using the same strategy for the 2009 Ordinance.
--Speaking of strategy, Prevo jumped on board the Palin/Samaritan's Purse bandwagon when it became obvious their "charity run" was going to be a media blitz. (Friends in rural Alaska tell me they'd heard nothing from him before or since.)
--For an earlier example, Mel Green's brilliant piece from May 29th also revealed Prevo's unbridled ambition in the 1980's when he supported apartheid in South Africa to benefit big business in the U.S.
We don't know if Jerry Prevo is truly a racist, a homophobe, or just a calculating opportunist. The truth is, it just doesn't matter. What we DO know is that Jerry Prevo does whatever is good for Jerry Prevo and his very profitable, tax-exempt business, the Anchorage Baptist Temple.
He's the farthest thing from a "Reverend" I've ever seen.
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