Hypocrisy + bigotry = ?

Dennis, a fellow blogger, has a post concerning Lindsay Urwin, Bishop of Horsham (Church of England). Lindsay had recently expressed support for the breakaway (former) Diocese of San Joaquin in the US.

Regarding the Bishop of Horsham
Back in 1993 I was working for an English MP. While most of my time that spring was spent in London, a few weekends I went and stayed with a friend in Brighton. That friend was a priest in a small parish outside of Brighton. His friend Lindsay was also a priest in the Diocese of Chichester and was the "missioner" of the diocese.

Lindsay was 37 or so at the time and a good looking man for his age (being 38 myself now that seems like a silly thing to say but it was how I saw things as a 23 year old back then).

We hooked up twice in Holy Week of 1993. I fell for him in one of those puppy dog crushes newly out gay men sometimes have.

My friend warned me that Lindsay had a reputation for "teahouses" (by which he meant frequenting public restrooms). His advice was "don't fall for Lindsay. He wants to be a bishop". At this point Lindsay had even been a candidate to be a bishop in some other country (I think some island in the Pacific Ocean or somewhere in Africa, I don't remember). My friend's point was that Lindsay was a man who kept his sexuality hidden because he wanted a miter.

I took his advice and dropped my interest in Lindsay.

Soon after that I returned to the US.

Two years later Lindsay became the youngest bishop in the Church of England at 39. He had a chance to speak for the place of gays and lesbians. Instead, I am told, he got scared. Some time after Lindsay became a bishop, my friend told me, the political satire magazine Private Eye made a crack about a new young bishop who had once pulled pints as a bartender in a gay bar in Australia. This supposedly scared Lindsay to some degree.

I -would- leave this alone.

I would avoid outing a man who I know is well liked and charming.

But he continues to offer support for homophobes who do not want gay men in the church. The issue is not who he is interested in. It is hypocrisy that is the issue here.

I know that Lindsay, even then, was vehemently opposed to women's ordination. But instead of changing his mind as he saw how effective women priests really are in England and in America, he has not only hardened his stance against women in ministry, he has actually thrown in his lot to support homophobes in America.

Here is a link to a gathering of homophobes he joined in Fort Worth, Texas this year.

Here is a link to him signing a letter of support for the anti-gay ex-bishop of San Joaquin. And Here is another, showing how he has given aid and comfort to people who oppose the role of gays and lesbians in the church.

I have rarely believed in outing people. My one exception has been when it publicly exposed someone who has deliberately worked against the rights of his own.

The time has come to out Lindsay. The letter was the last straw.

If there are requests for more information I'll post it. Lindsay is a gay man. At least he was when we fooled around.

He has thrown in his lot and gotten some notoriety from lending support to bigots. They deserve to know more about him. I am willing to share more information about him.

After this latest effort to support the opponents of gays and lesbians in the Episcopal Church the Bishop of Horsham needs to apologize to gays and lesbians in the church. He needs to be honest to the people that he has joined on the right. Perhaps he should even now take a stand for the kind of equality that would recognize the role of other gay men (besides him) to be bishops in Anglican churches.

Lies and hypocrisy are hardly the basis to build a ministry in the church upon. Time for honesty, please.

If you feel that it is wrong for me to out a hypocrite please feel free to say so. I am willing to listen to that argument. But I sincerely believe that it is time to stand for honesty.