Tsk, tsk, tsk …
I’m just going to let this particular little ditty speak for itself …
(Johnson City, Tennessee) The minister of a Baptist church has been charged with indecent exposure and driving under the influence, and police officers say he propositioned them.
Tommy Tester, 58, of Bristol, Va., was wearing a skirt when he was arrested last week after allegedly urinating in front of children at a car wash, police said.
Police also said Tester offered to perform oral sex on officers who were sent to the scene.
Authorities identified Tester as the minister of Gospel Baptist Church in Bristol and an employee of Christian radio station WZAP-AM in Bristol.
There was no immediate response Tuesday to calls to the church and Tester’s home.
WZAP issued a statement Monday asking for prayers and saying Tester had been suspended during an investigation.
“We pray this matter can be quickly resolved,” WZAP owner Al Morris said in the statement.
Tester was released on $1,000 bail. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 25. ~ 365.com
Sigh.
The more this happens, the more I chuckle to myself and think … And we gays are the ones with the issues?
Please Advise: this post is not meant to say that all members of the Christian faith are wacked out. I am a spiritual person myself and I do share many of the same Christian beliefs as others. What I have issue with aren’t the many Christians out there who preach love for every human being, but those Christians who preach hate against homosexuality all while simultaneously exposing themselves to little children, engaging in illicit sexual encounters with the same sex and dabbling in drugs.
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baptist church, tommy tester, indecent exposure, 365gay.com
August 1st, 2007 at 3:04 pm
I’m going to have to take issue with this snippet. This is one Christian out of millions perhaps billions. Aren’t you doing the same thing by pitting us “against” “them”. It’s like me taking an article about a gay person that robs a bank and putting in my Christian site and saying see I told you.
August 1st, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Ouch. KD - relax hon. I don’t agree with anyone engaging in this sort of behavior - gay or straight. What I have an issue with is that these kind of ministers who speak out against the evils of homosexuality and then end up getting caught doing something shady on the side. I know plenty of wonderful Christians who preach love for all people and don’t do things such as this. But I am not a Christian site. I am a GLBT site. And I have a responsibility to post these kinds of stories to show the hypocrisy that exists. If this minister wasn’t one of the people out there saying bad things about homosexuals, I wouldn’t care if he wore a skirt or not. You don’t see me saying all Christians are Bible waving crazy people, and then go and quote the Bible on the side - do you? Wouldn’t that be the same thing? I don’t make blanket statements about people to hide my own issues. I think you are taking this way too personal and missing the point …
“It’s like me taking an article about a gay person that robs a bank and putting in my Christian site and saying see I told you.” - Unfortunately, this happens way too often. Billions of religious sites do this all the time …
August 1st, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Just because everyone does it doesn’t make it right nor does it mean you should do it.
Okay maybe I missed something. Is this guys some sort of anti-gay advocate? I’m not up on these things which of course makes it different.
I never said you should be a Christian site that wasn’t my point. It just seemed like some random post like look at the Christians. Unless of course this guy is some big ole hypocrite which is completely different.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Hypocrites! There are plenty to go around and worthy of being mocked. I don’t know enough about Minister Tester to pick on him in my comment. I do feel a bit sad for him, though.
August 1st, 2007 at 8:32 pm
<p>”I’m not up on these things which of course makes it different.”</p>
That’s the point, you aren’t up on these issues and you clearly aren’t aware at how often homosexuality is viciously attacked by the Christian right. It’s always good to look things that you aren’t privy to on a regular basis before commenting …
<p>If you had read my blog on a regular basis you would know that I don’t post things simply to poke fun at people without making a point or some kind of statment related to GLBT issues.</p>
August 2nd, 2007 at 11:10 am
I don’t read this post as being something meant to showcase all Christians. The first sentence stating he is a Baptist minister tells you that he has preached against homosexuality. The Baptist denomination ministers are notorious for doing it. I see this as more of a “let those without sin cast the first stone” intent. It should be brought to light, and Lyndsey did that without making any sort of umbrella statement about Christians in general.
August 2nd, 2007 at 4:26 pm
I wonder how many of this person’s “problems” stem from being forced to repress his sexual orientation and/or gender identity because of the faith community to which he belongs?
Oh, and as far as monolithically equating Baptists with homophobia, take a look at the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists (www.wabaptists.org) and the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America (www.bpfna.org), particularly their Statement on Justice and Sexual Orientation.
August 2nd, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Allyson - who said this person’s problems stem from being forced to repress his sexual orientation? I make no claim to that at all. What I am pointing out here, and have clearly failed to articulate due to some of these comments, is that this particular minister has preached against homosexual in his past all while hiding the fact that he liked to dress in skirts, do drugs and urinate in front of little kids.
What is hypocritcal is the fact that he says homosexuals are the ones with the issues, when clearly he has some issues of his own he needs to sort out. Whether or not they are do to having repress his homosexuality or not, I have no idea. Who know’s if he’s even gay. He’s just a guy with some pretty serious issues who needs to stop saying that homosexuals are messed up and take a good hard look at himself. Ted Haggard ring a bell? Am I in bizarro world here? How is this not getting across …
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Lyndsey, I wasn’t making a claim either…just wondering. My feeling is that religiously-based homophobia forces LGBT people who belong to religious communities that practice it into unhealthy ways of expressing their sexual orientation or gender identity. That was my own experience, anyway, and I wonder sometimes if I am unique in that way.
As to whether he’s gay or not, the article does state he offered to perform oral sex on the law enforcement officers who arrested him. But then again, I suppose he could be like Ted Haggard, who is (or at least was pronounced) “100% heterosexual.”
I wasn’t trying to challenge anything you wrote, Lyndsey, and I agree that his hypocrisy warrants comment. I was just wondering aloud (or rather in print) if homophobic religious communities should share in some of the blame for behavior like Haggard’s and Tester’s.
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Allyson - Thank you for clarifying. I took your first remark as being sarcastic, and it clearly wasn’t meant to be. I agree with you on that wholeheartedly, only I can’t speak to it since I have not experienced it myself.
I don’t know if he’s gay or acting out or what. Basically, he’s got issues. And I know that you weren’t in this case, but it’s okay if you were challenging what I wrote, that’s what a forum like this is all about.
What was your experience with the situation? You touch on it, but I would be interested in hearing more about it.
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Thanks for asking, Lyndsey. Here’s my story, in a nutshell.
I became involved in evangelical churches in my late teens; by that time I was already working hard to suppress a feminine gender identity. (I’ve commented here before, but I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned that I’m trans yet–I am.) This was at the height of the Promise Keepers movement, and the phrase “man of God” had become a very powerful code-phrase in the churches I attended. It meant God’s ideal for a male, everything he wanted and expected a person born with a certain set of genitalia to become. In retrospect, I can see how these faith communities used words like these to enforce conformity and maintain unjust power structures.
On a personal level, I’m just beginning to connect with how much those words *hurt*. I wanted so badly to be that man of God all the books and men’s Bible study groups and sermons trumpeted…but I had a secret curse that was holding me down, and it kept me from ever successfully acting the “man of God” part for long. Though I never really allowed this thought to form fully in my mind, I knew subconsciously that the secret curse was a woman–the woman I felt I was and felt compelled to be. And so, in response, I developed a “holy” disgust for all things feminine, and systematically worked to purge femininity from my life. It’s ironic that interior purge this led to a thirst for femininity *outside* myself, one that was so powerful it manifested in an almost uncontrollable impulse toward pornography–perhaps the ultimate abasement and perversion of femininity.
So, this is what I mean by religiously-based homophobia forcing LGBT people who belong to religious communities that practice it into unhealthy ways of expressing their sexual orientation or gender identity. Does it all make any sense?
August 2nd, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Allyson - Thank you so much for sharing that. It’s very eye opening to see thing from a different side such as my own. Yes, it makes perfect sense, especially the way the phrase “man of God” affected you so much. I’m a firm believer that God doesn’t make mistakes. Therefore he created you and I the way he did for a reason. If only for us to learn to love ourselves the way we are.