By Bob Allen
In a Nov. 29 letter to the editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, the chairman of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights commended a church recently kicked out of the Kentucky Baptist Convention over homosexuality.
George Stinson, chairman of the commission authorized to investigate complaints of discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations, commended Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., for “affirming the worth and dignity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people” for “continued efforts to include LGBT people in the life of your community.”
“As stewards of our state’s civil rights heritage, we see the rights of LGBT people to work, live and participate fully in society as a logical progression in our continued pursuit of equality,” Stinson said. “The inclusion that LGBT people seek today is comparable to the women’s suffrage movement, the dismantling of Jim Crow and so many other human-rights efforts in the life of our nation.”
Crescent Hill, a progressive congregation that for decades had close ties with neighboring Southern Baptist Theological Seminary prior to the “conservative resurgence” in the Southern Baptist Convention, was voted out of the Kentucky Baptist Convention Nov. 11 for publicly announcing a “welcoming and affirming” stance on homosexuality.
A convention leader said Crescent Hill’s “affirmation of the sin of homosexuality” is inconsistent with the group’s purpose of missions and evangelism.
Stinson, a real estate developer planning to open a gay-friendly boutique hotel near downtown Louisville in 2015, said as a government body, the commission is “obligated to respect the freedoms of speech, religion and association that are the rights of individuals and groups in our society.”
“One lesson of the 50-plus year history of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights is that change is never easy and progress often has a price,” Stinson said. “We know the process has not been easy and you have lost both friends and resources in living your beliefs.”
“A letter cannot assuage that reality, but we want you to know that many who have labored in the field for human equality stand with you, and your sacrifice has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated,” he said. “We commend your courage and compassion in standing for your principles, and we know someday that courage and compassion will be vindicated.”
Kentucky’s Commission on Human Rights was created in 1960 “to encourage fair treatment, foster mutual understanding and respect and discourage discrimination against any racial or ethnic group or its members.” In 1966 it was given statutory authority to enforce the newly passed Kentucky Civil Rights Act, the first law to make discrimination illegal south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Today the commission’s mandate is to “safeguard all individuals within the state from discrimination because of familial status, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age 40 and over, or because of the person’s status as a qualified individual with a disability.”
The commission is also mandated to educate the public about laws against discrimination and the benefits of equality.
Kentucky Baptists’ decision to oust Crescent Hill coincided with the launch of a series of television and radio commercials aimed at persuading people to consider attending church.
“What we’ve done is to make it easy for our churches and associations to take to the airwaves; to let the unchurched know the joy of being a part of kind, caring Kentucky Baptist congregations,” KBC Executive Director Paul Chitwood said in a press release.
A Nov. 13 editorial in the Courier-Journal, however, said Crescent Hill is perhaps “better off, having been blackballed” by a group that “has moved hard right, espousing a harsh, fundamentalist doctrine.”
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