Revised Mar. 23, 2005
Earlier this month, American Family Association propaganda service AgapePress profiled James Hartline, an HIV-positive exgay activist.
Hartline claimed to be battling "taxpayer-funded gay bathhouses" in San Diego, but AgapePress offered no substantiation for the accusation.
As portrayed by AgapePress, Hartline seems to have nothing balanced or constructive to say about gay people. Instead, he says, "I’m very much involved in going around and educating churches and civic groups on the destruction within the homosexual community and how that’s affecting our families and our children."
Instead of blaming his own, specific, unsafe activities for his illness, Hartline says AIDS is one of "the consequences of our sin."
On Mar. 13, the owner of a San Diego gay nightclub died. This oddly mobilized Hartline, who apparently foresaw an opportunity to put his contempt for God’s mercy on display.
According to the San Diego Union Tribune, Hartline said he engaged in four discussions with Catholic bishop Robert Brom, successfully conning the bishop to single out the alleged sin of nightclub owner John McCusker as different from all others, and to deny McCusker’s family a Catholic funeral.
By Mar. 22, says the Union-Trib, public and mainstream Christian ridicule forced the bishop to apologize and to reverse his decision — to the dismay of Hartline and other religious-rightists.
(Google search for ex-gay activist James Hartline)
I wonder if he had contracted HIV from straight sex, would he be preaching about the dangers of heterosexuality.
I would hope someone would see his message should be one against promiscuity. I’ve never seen someone catch HIV just because they were gay.
Is someone going to monitor him–a la Martha Stewart–to ensure that he doesn’t engage in homosex from now on?
Let’s get something–uh–straight. The only reason that the American anti-Family Assassination is trotting this version of Guckert/Gannon out is because they want money.
Regan,
You mention young people a lot, so you might be interested in a book I’m reading right now called “Hurt”, by Chap Clark. He’s a Christian author but the book is intended as a resource for anyone working with teens (particularly mid-adolescents) today.
His chapter on sexuality is SO right on the money, and fits with my experience of how laissez-faire and even jaded high school kids are about sex. Rather than becoming a source of joy for all ages as some seemed to forsee, it has lost all mystery and connection to loving relationship. In the minds of teenagers generally, it has been stripped of all sacredness, and become one more occasion for today’s adolescent to attempt to put off his/her enduring feelings of abandonment.
“Since conducting this study, I have had a difficult time watching television, going to movies, and driving by billboards on the freeway. I was aware of the sexual nature of our culture, but I now see it in a new light, in regard to the developmental needs and lives of our children and adolescents. I cannot help but lament the fact that we have lost any hope of maintaining sexual innocence and sanctity for the current generation.”
I have noticed the same problem generally. Kids soaked in shows like “The Simpsons”, which presumes an adult understanding of history and society in order to appreciate the irony in the humour, have developed a callousness where nothing is sacred. I spent some time telling a class of 13/14 year-olds about Auchwitz, and even before the lesson was over, one of the kids thought it would be humourous to draw a swaztika on his hand.
Regan,
The book doesn’t spend any time addressing homosexuality as a particular issue. It purposefully avoids “issues”, being much more general in scope. Also, it is not intended for kids to read, but for the adults in their lives.
As for pressure, Clark devotes an entire chapter to stress and busyness, which is fascinating and, again, concurs with my experience. So many of my kids sit there like zombies because many of them REGULARLY don’t go to bed until after midnight.
It’s just so different from my experience growing up – I realise now how sheltered I was. My parents MADE me go to bed at 9. I had no TV in my room. I didn’t get a part time job until the very end of school/university (getting a part-time job turns out to be one of the strongest predictors for poor performance and destructive behaviours while in school). Some of these kids buy a chocolate bar and soft drink for their lunch! I was so naive, I didn’t know the meaning of half of the words these kids use when I was older than them.
I really don’t know what’s going to happen when this generation reaches adulthood. With the lack of critical thinking skills, I see further expansion of pseudo-science and ideological politicisation, not less. With the lack of community and family, I see an enormous drawcard for cults and special interest groups that know how to take advantage of that. If this is the pendulum at one extreme, I can’t imagine the havoc it will cause when it swings back. God help us.
American Family Association propaganda service AgapePress profiles James Hartline, an HIV-positive exgay activist.
And the financial relationship between pseudoAgapePress and Hartline is–what?
Interesting question, Raj — since my own time is limited, I encourage you or others to look further.
It seems that James Hartline was the source of the information that led the RC Bishop of San Diego to refuse a Christian burial to gay nightclub owner John McCusker.
The Bishop has since apologised to Mr McCusker’s family for his hasty decision.
More details here
I just found a posting by James Hartline and a photo. In the photo he looks skinny and haggard. In the Posting he says that he was involved in the homosexual lifestyle for over 30 years until he was saved from sin 3 years ago (hmmm… after 30 years of sinning and you tend to slow down anyway) and he BELIEVES GOD WILL HEAL HIS HIV. His email reply address is SaintJamesHartline @ something or other… ….
The poor man. Dementia? Manic Episode? He must really be suffering, and if he isn’t now, you know he will be…
Thanks, Jimbo.
There’s an article with a lot of great information about Hartline at https://www.sdnewsnotes.com/ed/articles/2003/1003rk.htm.
In it, Hartline mentions that when he was in prison for 19 years, he “was strapped down in rubber rooms, [and] injected with medications against [his] will.” If you ask me, he never should have been let out of those rubber rooms. Unfortunately, churches have always mistaken the profoundly mentally ill for prophets.
For some reason, the URL didn’t come through in my last post. Here’s another try: its at www[dot]sdnewsnotes[dot]com[slash]ed[slash]articles[slash]2003[slash]1003rk.htm
Here’s how to type live links in your comments:
<a href=”https://www.yourlinkhere.com”>words of your choice here</a>
Moderator’s note:
I have deleted Greg’s vague rant about sexual orientation being unnatural, “against all religions” and incompatible with reproduction.
Greg’s comment was off-topic, unsubstantiated, and materially untrue.
To be fair, however, a number of comments from gay-tolerant commenters have been just as disrespectful of XGW resources.
I do not wish for XGW to become (or remain) a repository of cynical rants and namecalling, regardless of the commenter’s particular bias (gay-tolerant or antigay).
So… I plan to begin pruning old comments (weeks old, or older) that do not contribute factually, thoughtfully and/or constructively to the topic of each post.
Pro-exgay comments remain welcome — they simply need to be thoughtful, constructive, and (ideally) well-substantiated. And they need to be on-topic.
Occasionally, however, I may retain some commenters’ antigay rants if they help reveal the true motives and agendas of specific antigay political activists.
greg | April 11, 2005 02:36 PM
If your parents were gay you wouldn’t be here.
Thanks, Greg. Since you seem to be a “Besserwisser” (German for “know-it-all”) I have to admit that I’m surprised you’ve apparently never heard of in vitro fertilization. Penile/vaginal sex hasn’t been require for conception for–what? 30 years? Maybe longer.
James Hartline watch page: https://www.hillquest.com/community/jhartline.html
Latest article on him at WorldNetDaily:
https://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45879