Oct. 7, 2004
Bigotry is an ugly word, but most of us are guilty of it in some form or another. Whether we're willing to admit it or not, most people harbor prejudice against somebody because of what they are, rather than who they are.
For the majority of people, bigotry is a character defect that we try to work on. For Phil Burress, it's been a career.
Burress is the Cincinnati activist who's leading the campaign in favor of Issue 1, an amendment to Ohio's constitution that would prohibit same-sex marriages or civil unions and keep unmarried partners from receiving the legal benefits thereof.
Burress also testified in favor of Ohio's Defense of Marriage Act, passed earlier this year to strengthen the state's policy against same-sex unions. In 1993, he spearheaded the successful fight in Cincinnati to pass a charter amendment that made it illegal to enact or enforce any law protecting gays from discrimination.
Burress would have you believe that his career crusade against gays and lesbians is motivated not by hate but by Christian love.
That isn't true. If it were, Burress would apply Biblical teachings to everyone, not just those whose sexual orientation is different than his.
Burress is a schoolyard bully with a grudge against gay people.
"Activists promoting a self-destructive, same-sex lifestyle have aligned themselves with sympathetic, tyrannical judges to do the unthinkable'redefine' the Divine truth of marriage as the union of one man and one woman," says the website of Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage, Burress's pro-Issue 1 organization.
But if the "Divine truth of marriage" is to be found in the Bible, Burress has quite a bit of explaining to do.
He wouldn't talk about it this week, but Burress told the Dispatch earlier this year that he's on his third marriage. His first two were destroyed by his admitted addiction to pornography. He shared this with the Dispatch in hopes of promoting himself as a redeemed sinner.
But according to the doctrine that Burress would have the rest of us live by, he's not redeemed at all. In fact, he's mocking the institution of marriage.
The Gospels don't record Jesus saying anything about homosexuality, but they do quote Jesus speaking very specifically to the issue of divorce and remarriage.
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her," Jesus said, according to the 10th chapter of Mark, Verse 11. Jesus says the same thing in Matthew 5:32 and Luke 16:18.
However, Burress doesn't like to talk about life as a practicing adulterer.
When asked about it this week, Burress refused to say how he reconciles his own lifestyle choice with his purported religious faith.
Maybe he's been so busy telling other people to live by the Bible that he hasn't found time to read it himself.
The Bible aside, I think most of us would be happy for Burress if he's found true love. It doesn't seem too much to ask for him to allow his fellow Ohioans to do the same.
But Burress's tolerance for nontraditional marriage doesn't extend beyond his own. Through Issue 1, he now seeks to further dehumanize gays and lesbians, and to do so in the name of God.
According to the polls, the issue will pass easily on Nov. 2. If so, it won't just be hate-mongers voting for it. A lot of decent people will vote for Issue 1 because they think it's the right thing to do, because they've been convinced it's what Jesus would do.
Truth is, we don't know what Jesus would think of gay marriage. We only know what he'd think of a hypocrite like Phil Burress.
-Dan Williamson
