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 Church Cancels Funeral After Discovering
Decorated Vet Was Gay
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: August 10, 2007 - 3:00 pm ET
(Dallas, Texas) A mega-church in Arlington,
Texas has reportedly cancelled at the last minute a funeral service for a Navy
veteran who died while awaiting a heart transplant after learning he was gay.
Cecil Sinclair died on Monday. He was 46.
A native of Fort Worth, Sinclair was a Navy
veteran who served in Desert Storm helping rescuers find downed pilots.
Most recently he had been in failing health. Six
years ago he developed a heart condition and was on a list for a
transplant. On Monday he died of complications following surgery intended
to keep him alive until a new heart became available.
Sinclair was not a member of any church.
His brother was a member of High Point Church and when Sinclair's health
began to fail members of the congregation prayed for him.
The nondenominational church is led by the Rev.
Gary Simons, the brother-in-law of televangelist Joel Osteen.
When Sinclair died High Point offered to host a
funeral.
But the offer suddenly and at the last minute was
rescinded, the Dallas Morning News reports, when the church discovered Sinclair
was gay.
Sinclair's sexuality came to light, the paper
reports, when the family submitted photographs of Sinclair's life that it wanted
to display at the funeral.
Among the pictures where photo's of Sinclair
hugging and his partner, Paul Wagner.
"Some of those photos had very strong
homosexual images of kissing and hugging," Simons told the Morning News.
"My ministry associates were taken aback."
Sinclair's mother told the paper that the church
never contacted her or Wagner about their decision to cancel the service. She
said she learned of it late Wednesday when Sinclair's brother Lee called
her.
"We could have reached a compromise,"
she said. "That was never attempted."
The church did offer to pay for a funeral at
another location but the family turned it down. Instead the service was
held Thursday night at a local funeral home.
©365Gay.com 2007
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