So many good people seem bound for Hell
Deborah L. Taylor
Contributing Writer

This article was written in response to a Manhattan local's (Carmen Eichman) article in which she states she will no longer watch the television series, "Ellen," because Ellen's character plans to come out as a lesbian this fall season. The quotations in my article are references to her article.
 

This is a very sad day for me because, after reading Carmen Eichman's "Ellen" article, I have discovered that a lot of people I know are going to Hell.

Sadder yet, my own parents, who have tried to live the Christian life, will be in the lead. You see, three of their four children are gay, including the two who graduated from Christian colleges. Maybe my parents could have at least made it to the back door of Heaven somehow, but no, they have ruined it by telling their three gay children that they love their kids very much and, even though they don't fully understand homosexuality, they believe in their kids, whom they love unconditionally. I guess you can say that, in the words of Carmen Eichman, my parents "conformed to a blending of worldliness mixed with scripture."

I suppose my heterosexual sister, the sweetest, most patient and most honest person in the world, will be next in line after my parents. You see, she told her two children, ages 9 and 12, that some people are different and that's why their aunt dates women and their uncles date men. She also told them that God loves all people despite their differences; this is what unconditional means. Truly, as Carmen says, my sister has become so far removed from God that "He is now a stranger."

Behind my family will most surely be the five pastors in Manhattan who, over the past four years, I have gotten to know and had actually begun to believe when they said that Jesus loves everyone—homosexuals included—and that we as a nation must learn to love and respect one another, unconditionally. As Carmen says, I guess they are the "lost" Christians, and the five different faiths they represent are truly the misguided ones. Well, let's hope it's not forever.

Somewhere near the beginning of the line to Hell will be Ellen Degeneres, that evil-personified woman who is seriously thinking of showing on television that the life of a lesbian is just as painful, comical, boring and normal as a heterosexual. Regretfully, she’ll bring comfort to those gay teenagers like Jamie Nebonzy from Wisconsin. Jamie is the teen whose parents have sued the Ashland, Wisconsin school district for failing to protect their son from years of abuse from schoolmates. During Jamie's years in Ashland, students beat him, urinated on him and once even pushed him to the floor and acted out a mock rape. Jamie attempted suicide several times. His parents repeatedly begged school officials to protect him, but officials told them Jamie had to learn to expect such abuse because he is gay. I guess Heaven will be filled with Wisconsin school officials and Hell will have two more parents and one actress.

Who else will be in Heaven besides the Wisconsin school officials? Well, the "real Christians," the ones who didn't turn their lives into "Persuasions of a humanistic philosophy and make the attempt to normalize homosexuality." Carmen tells us that she will be there, because she has been a true friend to her homosexual friends who—regretfully—continue to be homosexuals because of the "strong influences" of this world. Next will be the Manhattan pastor who proclaims that he actually converted a woman in town from lesbianism back into "straighthood." Taking up the rear will be the Fred Phelps family, praised for their anti-homosexual picketing, and Senator Jesse Helms, who has repeatedly said that AIDS is God's punishment to homosexuals. Next will surely be those who write flaming letters to the editor in response to this letter.

But why should flaming letters bother me? Sure I'm honest and decent (and ornery and cynical), but I also believe in inclusion and unconditional love and acceptance. And I've erred by telling people who were born gay or lesbian to be proud of who they are and what they are. I've damned myself to Hell because I believe that even if people choose to be gay or lesbian, they have every right to live openly, honestly and peaceably, just like people who choose to be more religious than others. I know I should try to find the God that Carmen knows. Then I too, could live a comfortably self-righteous life on Earth. But, who knows, maybe instead I'll get to meet Ellen.