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Loading ...The book Palin wanted banned
Rev. Howard Bess is not gay. He was not raised by gay parents and does not have gay children. Bess did not grow up with a gay family next door and his best friend was not gay. Rev. Bess might not have had a horse in the GLBT rights race, but that did not stop him from becoming a trailblazer for the issue in the American Baptist church and Christian faith at large.
Rev. Bess has recently enjoyed some time in the spotlight thanks to vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s attempt to ban his book, Pastor, I Am Gay, from the Wasilla Public Library.The book, published in 1995, was received somewhat coldly in Alaska’s Mat-Su Valley, home to Rev. Bess and the soon to be Mayor of Wasilla Palin.
In fact, for a long time, the only places you could buy the book in Mat-Su were a barber shop and beauty salon. The book was also available at the Wasilla Public Library, a “problem” Palin infamously sought to solve. Wasilla’s librarian stood up to Mayor Palin’s rash and uninformed demands. The librarian was then fired by Palin only to be reinstated after the community objected loudly to the dismissal.
Rev. Bess’ book was just one of at least three books that then-Mayor Palin tried to yank off the shelf.
There has been some confusion regarding exactly what titles Palin sought to ban, but Rev. Bess has been told that Pastor, I Am Gay was among them, and he would be “flabbergasted” to hear otherwise. Pastor, I Am Gay had been openly ridiculed by the pastor of Palin’s church and Rev. Bess was fired from the newspaper column he had written for seven years. The fundamentalist outcry against Bess in Mat-Su was loud and local bookstores were afraid to carry the book. Sarah Palin and her church friends thought the book was obscene and that the public needed to be protected from its contents.
Pastor, I Am Gay is not an obscene book by any stretch.
It is the open and honest story of how Rev. Bess came to the conclusion that GLBT folk are just as blessed as everyone else and deserve to be fully included in the life and traditions of the church.
Rev. Bess admits his ignorance of issues regarding sexuality for much of his life. He discusses the first time a parishioner came out to him and details the personal introspection and experiences that brought him to his current understanding of the gay community and its place in this world.
Finding a copy of Pastor, I Am Gay today can be a chore. Most of the major booksellers are out-of-stock and the popular used book service list astronomical prices. Fireside Books in Palmer, Alaska still had copies as of press time.
Rev. Bess is happy to talk about Pastor, I Am Gay, but he matter-of-factly states that “the book has run its course.” Rev. Bess is most concerned that people learn about the beliefs of Sarah Palin and that her election would be “bad, bad news for the gay population.”
Bess describes Palin as a religious duelist, someone who sees everything as good vs. evil. Bess says that Palin and the churches she attends are “as anti-gay as they come.” He even described Palin, to Salon.com, as “…Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.”
Reverend Bess has been a crusader for GLBT equality in Alaska and his warnings should be heeded. Rev. Bess knows Sarah Palin and has struggled against her on behalf of more than one progressive cause. He has also fought against Palin for the rights of Mat-Su woman to have access to an abortion provider. Rev. Bess knows the GLBT community and its struggles. He has served as a regional director on PFLAG’s national board and has led the pro-gay fight in the American Baptist Church.
Rev. Bess has struggled for years to promoted gay equality and worries that the election of Sarah Palin could erode much of the work he has done. Bess has also expressed frustration and confusion toward members of the GLBT community who continue to support the McCain/Palin ticket. He states he was astounded by the Log Cabin Republican’s endorsement of the pair and that they obviously have little understanding of Sarah Palin and her beliefs.
Bess summarized his feelings towards Sarah Palin while talking to Salon.com, “this person’s election would be a disaster for the country and the world.”
Palin opposed civil equality for gay couples two years ago in Alaska. Thus far, I haven’t heard her state a different opinion.
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That is not true. Palin used her first veto as Governor to block a law that would have denied state employees that were gay benefits. That is a fact. Period. You may not like it, but it’s true. Palin is the ONLY candidate in this race whose excutive decision led to actual benefits being conferred to gay couples.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/08/palin-on-gay-ri.html
Goes to show you, Tom, how 365Gay has slid from a mediocre Web site, to bing a piss-poor unprofessional tabloid. As an IT professional, I’ve noted several problems with the functionality as well – bad links, missing page references, pages that never load… the sloppy writing and lack of proofreading only emphasizes the lack of professionalism here. While the story about this Reverend and his book are important to this election, the hack job they did on the article devalues the whole. I guess I should have expected this kind of fluffy slop when 365Gay.com was taken over by Logo.
According to snopes.com, which you should use to check wild rumors, there is no evidence that she tried to ban ANY book. And this one is not even on the false list that circulates listing a large number of books she ordered banned. Spreading false rumors just makes you look desparate. You should be more careful.
Does anyone proofread articles anymore? “By” instead of “Buy”? Mayor “Paling”? No quotes or italics to delineate the title of a book? What kind of show are you running here?
Whatever, the article gets the point across and conveys a clear message: Sarah Palin is BAD NEWS!
Although I agree that this article should become bigger, it needs serious grammar changes. There are misspellings all over the place. I know I am not perfect at grammar but bad writing turns people away, no matter what the subject is.
Wayne I believe you miss the point. Rev. Bess was not, and is not, the pastor at the church Sarah Palin attended. He is, however, a Baptist minister, author, and activist in the same geographic region that Sarah Pailn came from.
Rev. Bess has the unique perspective of having been in opposition to the policies of the Palin administration in Wasilla, AK; as such, he brings specific knowledge of how she approaches a problem to the discussion of her credibility and viability.
I believe the Reverend makes very good points that call for careful consideration. While the lemming mentality, i.e. “I’m an X so I only vote for X candidates”, is still common, and encouraged by the parties, I would hope that this article would at least give pause to someone who might be wavering.
Your point of Rev. Wright is a valid one. However, in the case of Rev. Bess, there is no direct connection so the comparison falls flat.
I believe both candidates are guilty of using religious faith for political ends and that is reprehensible regardless of party affiliation.
If you are a closeted gay man or woman and you work in ANY capacity with or for Sara Palin, you had better come up with the goods cause if she gets into office and starts rounding us up, YOU’LL BE TO BLAME!
“Palin is actually the only one of all the candidates to confer actual benefits to gay couples)…”
Palin never conferred those benefits. The Alaska Supreme Court did, and she opposed that decision. In fact, the Anchorage Daily News reported on August 6, 2006, that Palin believes “[e]lected officials can’t defy the court when it comes to how rights are applied, she said, but she would support a ballot question that would deny benefits to homosexual couples. ‘I believe that honoring the family structure is that important,’ Palin said.” The Daily News further reported on October 31, 2006, that “Palin said that when voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman eight years ago, many believed they were also implying that a gay partner shouldn’t get state benefits.”
Palin opposed civil equality for gay couples two years ago in Alaska. Thus far, I haven’t heard her state a different opinion.
Wayne, Obama wasn’t out there trying to get whites jailed, fired, pushed into obscurity and make their lives miserable but Palin is guilty of all those things.
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In what way is Palin guilty of all those things? And in any case even if she is, I still find it remarkable that Palin and McCain (who are actually pretty gay tolerant by Republican standards. Palin is actually the only one of all the candidates to confer actual benefits to gay couples) but they are demonized, and yet Obama can go on “Faith Tours” with Donnie McClurkin who preaches that Gays are child molesters and that he was “made gay” by being raped by Gay men. So you hate Palin but you don’t have a problem when Obama stands by as his own surrogates demean gay people as molestors. I guess you don’t consider that pushing Gays “into obscurity and make their lives miserable”, but others might disagree with you.
Wayne said “So in comparison, are we going to discuss Obama’s pastor? Obama did attend a church for twenty years that had such a warped racist hatred for White people that they actually preached that Whites had created AIDS to murder the African American race.”
Wayne, Obama wasn’t out there trying to get whites jailed, fired, pushed into obscurity and make their lives miserable but Palin is guilty of all those things.
You can not argue nor compare two completely different things, This isn’t even a apples & oranges thing. It’s more like marshmallows and Volkswagen’s!
So in comparison, are we going to discuss Obama’s pastor? Obama did attend a church for twenty years that had such a warped racist hatred for White people that they actually preached that Whites had created AIDS to murder the African American race. Using the fear of AIDS to justify hatred. Nice. If we are get into Pastors and religious beleifs, then lets have the full discussion, on both sides.
The truth shall set you free and if this story gets greater circulation, perhaps Sarah Palin will be ‘free’ to return to Wasilla and just disappear into obscurity.
This highlights one of the major problems in the USA. Ideas are considered dangerous, but for some reason, beliefs are not considered dangerous. The country is backwards!
Fantastic article. I don’t know how to put this on the Internet’s vast sources of getting a message out to the people at large! This article NEEDS to be out there!