Start. Shitstorm. Now. (Part One)
Apr. 23rd, 2004 02:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muscadineThe culture war continues to escalate in big ways and small ways...
Jamiel Terry, son of Randall Terry the founder of Operation Rescue and outspoken opponent of GLBT rights, comes out in a big way:
A Rising Son: When your father is famous for fighting abortion and same-sex marriage, how can you possibly come out? Jamiel Terry tells us.
It’s hard to point to one moment when you begin to come out to yourself, but if I had to, I’d go back to a night seven years ago, when I was 17. I was home from boarding school in my old bedroom at my parents’ house in Windsor, N.Y., where my friend “Johnny” and I had just finished fooling around. Suddenly he asked me, “Do you think we are bisexual or gay?” The question so stunned me, I didn’t know how to respond. I mean, we had been having sex for ages, but I’d always believed I couldn’t be gay: I was the son of Randall Terry, a major leader of the Christian right’s antiabortion movement and now a leader in the fight against marriage for same-sex couples. I’m 24 now and I’m still figuring out my own story.
My father founded Operation Rescue, which became well-known for staging mass demonstrations next to abortion clinics and sometimes flooded an entire city to hold it “hostage.” Growing up in my house was anything but boring. And it was made even more “interesting” because from a very early age I knew I was different. When I was 4 my favorite female was Miss Piggy. That alone was probably not much of a giveaway, but my soft voice and my mannerisms turned out to be signs that I was gay. However, when you grow up in a house where to be the thing you are is an abominable sin, you tend to try to shed those behaviors. I would try to be more masculine in every way I could. My father would rarely say something derogatory about gays around my mom or my sisters, but he would around our male friends and to me. I guess it was the usual stuff you hear, but it hurt me sometimes, and I would ask him not to say those things; I felt that for Christians, it’s not right to mock people, even in their sin. My father knew I was right, and he would apologize. One thing about my father: We kids could certainly tell him what we thought, and we usually wouldn’t get in trouble.
In 1992 my father resigned from Operation Rescue as part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the National Organization for Women. Though he could still protest abortion, he couldn’t block access to clinics. Around this time, he began attending gay pride marches in protest and going to Hawaii to fight same-sex marriage. As I understood it, he’d come to believe that in order to stop abortion the country had to get to the roots of the other national “sins,” like homosexuality.
Growing up, I was very sheltered from all this, since I wasn’t allowed to participate in my father’s activities—my family regularly received death threats. When I was 14, I went on an “Impeach Clinton” tour with my father all around the country. For a kid like me, everything about being on the road—the crowds, the hotels, eating out—was a thrill.
The tour only confirmed what I’d already felt: My father is probably one of the most engaging men I have ever met. He is witty, intelligent, and funny. I remember watching him and Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women, in a heated debate on CNN. He’s so charming, you could tell that even the icy Ms. Ireland melted. But charming as he is, I knew that as his son, I could never consider living the “gay lifestyle.” I was resigned to the fact that in order for me to achieve the goals I had set for myself and to avoid hell, I had to squelch these feelings. I did everything from participating in charismatic deliverance meetings to fasting; many nights I literally cried myself to sleep while begging God to take these feelings from me. I kept all this to myself; no one had any idea that I was going through this struggle.
For more, see the May 2004 issue of Out.
"I Don’t Even Hate Him for That, But It Just Hurts Me"
Jamiel Terry talks about why he came out in print and growing up the gay son of Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry.
Interview by Paul O'Donnell
Longtime anti-abortion activist Randall Terry in recent years has campaigned against gay marriage and "homosexual perversions." So it was of some embarrassment to him when his son Jamiel wrote an article in the current issue of Out magazine revealing that he is gay. Terry responded by writing an op-ed, sharply criticizing his son and saying, "He is no longer welcome in my home."
On Thursday, both Jamiel and Randall Terry gave extraordinary interviews to Beliefnet editor Paul O’Donnell. Below, Jamiel explains that he wrote the article because "I wanted my father to see I'm not going to hell," but says that he still loves his father. Randall says that Jamiel is "bringing great sadness to our home and embarrassment to our family."
Did Out come to you?
I made contact with them.
Why did you feel you had to write it?
I felt it would be freeing for me. Most of our family friends had no idea that I was gay, and most of my mother’s side of the family didn’t know. For my own journey, I felt I needed to come out. My dad talks about the money. Originally, I was going to do an interview, which I would not have been paid for. When it changed to a freelance situation, they paid the normal fee.
Is it the figure [$5,000] that your father’s claiming?
No, it's lower than that.
Are you in financial difficulty [as your father said in his op-ed]?
Not anymore than any normal 24-year-old college student.
You must have known that this would embarrass your father.
Well, sure, I knew it would embarrass him, but the fact is those are his own issues. If he would be embarrassed by my being gay, then he has issues. So that’s not my problem. I wouldn’t say he is embarrassed by my being gay. One thing that really, really hurts me is that the things he says about me [in his op-ed] probably took place during a seven month period, the darkest time of my life, when I was literally on the verge of suicide, and constantly talking to him about the fact that I was on the verge of suicide.
When was that?
September 2002 to probably May 2003.
Was that when he says you asked him to pay for you to go for treatment [for homosexuality]?
Well, that's not true. I think it was right after the DWI charge. He said, "I want you to go to this thing Love in Action and I’ll pay for you to go." I was a manager where I was working and it was Christmas season. I said, "I can’t leave right now."
My father has to understand the intense, almost idolatry we kids have for him. When he's talking, he just convinces you to do something, even when you don’t want to do it. If I could choose my life, I definitely would not choose to be gay, especially in the family that I live in.
Why?
Because it’s easier. That doesn’t mean that I’m bitter about it. But it’s the same thing as someone who is very very poor saying, if I could choose my life, I would choose to be rich. It’s not that I don’t wish this. I’m past that point. But certainly, if I could go to a three month rehab clinic and have them wave a magic wand over me and come out straight… Then on top of that, my dad is saying, "Things will be like they were before. I’ll pay for your college and I’ll pay for your expenses," and blah blah blah.
Predicated on your going straight?
On my going to this rehab thing. He’s my dad. I love him. I still want to be a part of his life. Every time [my partner] Matthew and I would have some sort of an argument, where I felt like it was causing too much of a strain, I would [say to my father], "Okay, send me the information." Matthew is the only reason that I didn’t go. I didn’t believe I would go and be straight. I really don’t believe that. But I was like, "What the heck. I probably need therapy in other areas." But it wasn’t some kind of crying out to my father, like "Dad save me. Please send me to Love in Action." That’s just ridiculous.
In his letter, your father quibbles about when you were adopted. Were you adopted at age 5?
Legally we were adopted at age 14. He stresses so much that this is an adopted child. But we did not feel like adopted children. We felt like we were 100 percent a part of that family. We officially moved into their house when I was eight, with no interruptions. We were living with them on and off from the age of 4. I was calling them Mom and Dad at the age of 4 and 5. He’s trying to stress that nothing in his home made me gay. And no one would accuse him of that. No one is pointing at him saying, "You made your son gay."
I don't mean to pat myself on the back, but I was a model child. Every woman in the church wanted their daughters to marry me, every single parent wanted their sons to be like me and be my friend. And my parents were overjoyed and proud of me, constantly telling me how proud they were of me. In every circle that I have been in, I have been the leader and I have been the person who people admired and my father knows that. Why would my father ask me to come and work with him in Vermont and work on his campaigns and everything else that I’ve done if I was this person that he is trying to paint me as?
Was he a good dad?
Yes. A phenomenal father. I could not have asked for a better father. He was my best friend. I know that my dad, even in that letter, he’s doing it out of love. He’s doing it because he feels that that’s what he has to do to "save me." So I don’t even hate him for that but it just hurts me.
Has he met Matthew?
No.
You wouldn’t introduce him or did he refuse?
No. Matthew doesn’t want to meet him.
But he welcomed you into his home until now.
My dad welcomed me into his home because in his mind I was still struggling with this. It was like a struggling with this sin thing—I was hating myself.
I’ve had them read the article. I had friends who know my dad read the article before I printed it. All of them were like, "You said nothing bad about your father." He feels I revealed all of this family information. I revealed information about myself.
When was the last time you talked to him?
Yesterday. We’ve been emailing back and forth several times a day and every e-mail is, "I’m grieved. I’m sick in my heart. I can’t work. I can’t eat." Yesterday we actually had a three way call with my older sister, myself and my father. He’s just like, "Jamiel I love you and I hope that this passes over. I just hope that it passes quickly. And I miss you. And I’m just sick, I’m sick, I’m sick."
Have you told him you’re sorry?
I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m very good at putting myself in someone else’s shoes and I have re-read the article just countless number of times trying to figure out where he is coming from, why he feels betrayed. I am basically responsible for my dad’s reputation being what it is right now.
How do you mean that?
By talking to reporters that he asked me to talk to [during his divorce]. Talking to different Christian leaders to keep the story quiet. The story didn’t break for eight months because I kept it at bay. All I have done since he separated from my mother is protect him and defend him and do everything in my power to make sure that he maintains his reputation. So I did not want to do anything to harm Dad. I wanted my father to see that it was okay, that I’m not going to hell. That I'm not destroying my life. That I have not chosen a path of self-destruction.
If some of what motivated you is to offer solace for people who grew up like you, what would you say to a gay kid in a Christian home?
If they decide to come out to their parents, they have to respect their parents and their wishes while they're in their home. That means they don’t go on gay.com or go to gay events or have gay friends. If they decide to live in that home I think that they need to abide by those rules.
If they know their parents love them, they should be comfortable with telling them. But if they're still in their home, they need to abide by what their parents are telling them. I knew as a child that if I told my parents, I would be off to rehab. I knew that. Or that I wouldn't be able to have friends over, or I wouldn't be able to go to people's houses. So if you feel that is going to be the case, it's a burden you have to bear. It makes you strong, it makes you able to conquer things, and to not allow the daily failures of life to affect you in the way they might affect somebody else, and to not despair. Time heals all things, and time goes quicker than you'd ever believe. You're 16 years old struggling with this, but then you're 18 and you're off to college and you can be who you are.
Do you believe your homosexuality is part of your genetic makeup?
I believe sexuality can be tampered with. I do believe there are people who are genetically predisposed to be attracted to the same sex. But sexuality can depend on environment. There's no way I would have come out if my parents had stayed married. Because I wouldn't have gone down the questioning of my identity, I wouldn't have gone down that path if they had stayed married. That was the trigger for me to come out, not the trigger that I was gay.
How did that affect that decision?
It made me question everything I had been raised with. It made me question truth, it made me question morality. Before that, I would have said indefinitely that the Bible is the infallible word of God. Now I'm like, it's kind of good sayings and I'm sure that God had something to do with it, but it was written by men, so it can be fallible. As for the divorce, in my eyes, he was doing something wrong. So I was like, if he's doing something wrong and it's making him happy, and God knows his heart, then God knows my heart, and I want to be happy too.
My prodigal son, the homosexual
I am still in a state of shock; I have been grieving for days. My son, Jamiel Terry, was paid $5,000 by Out magazine (to appear April 20, 2004, on newsstands) to write a story about being Randall Terry's homosexual son. I pray my following words help other grieving parents and serve as a warning to moms and dads of small children to be unflinchingly and unashamedly diligent to protect their children from predators, and bring a reality check to those exploiting my son.
First of all, I love my son. Jamiel is incredibly gifted. He is articulate and handsome. He sings like an angel, he plays the piano, he's a great cook, and he's a great debater. He would make a powerful lawyer and a formidable politician. People like him. I love him. I've poured 16 years of my life into him.
In March of 1988, my then-wife and I took Jamiel in as a foster child when he was 8 years old. We also took in his baby sister (almost 3 years old)) and their older sister (12 years old). We adopted him and his younger sister when he was nearly 15 and she was 9. He came to us as a deeply troubled boy, from a very dark home. He was literally born in jail.
Tragically, by the time we got him as a foster child, he had already learned a lifestyle of deceit from his surroundings and had been a victim of crimes and treacheries that would mar him for life. I knew of some of those things when we got him and have learned more over the years. My hope was that by providing a loving, safe home, his life would be spared the path it would inevitably take if he remained in those surroundings. Unfortunately, my hopes and prayers were not realized.
My son's teen years became a mixed stream of happy times mingled with half-truths, dishonesty and a double life. His behavior grew worse and worse in college, culminating with the story in Out magazine.
For the uninformed, Out magazine specializes in bringing homosexuals "out of the closet." Out is committed to the homosexual agenda – homosexual marriage, special "civil rights" for homosexuals, promoting the fallacy that their sexual activities are normal and even laudable. Their agenda is shameless. My son was offered $5,000 to "write" a story about me and his life with me and my family. However, much of the story was written by Out's editor who put words in my son's mouth to accomplish the magazine's agenda.
For me, the most horrifying part of the story is my son's admission: "I did have numerous sexual encounters with my friends, usually during sleepovers at my parents' house" and "I was home from boarding school in my old bedroom at my parents' house in Windsor, N.Y., where my friend 'Johnny' and I had just finished fooling around ... we had been having sex for ages. ..."
I am so grieved and sorry for those boys and their parents. Those parents trusted us; they believed their sons were safe at our home – so had I. I was wrong. I still am in a state of shock. Please, parents, learn from this tragedy.
Frankly, so much of the story is inaccurate (times, dates, events) it would take too much space to correct it. But worse yet is that the picture the story paints of my son is based in fraud.
For example, the story states, "I was baptized Catholic and raised Protestant, and I later returned to the Roman Catholic Church." This is not true. Jamiel has never been confirmed; he does not believe in nor go to confession; he does not believe in many Catholic dogmas; He rejects papal authority and Catholic teaching on family issues.
The story states: "My father seems to believe that the fact that I'm an adopted child may help explain why I'm gay – not because of the adoption process itself but perhaps because of things that may have occurred before I was adopted at the age of 5." As I stated, Jamiel was adopted when he was nearly 15, not 5. To gloss over the tragic events and surroundings Jamiel was rescued from at age 8 is deceitful. (Social Services took the children because of prostitution, drugs and deeds committed against them.) Many homosexuals want to ignore the causal links to their sexual addiction; they want us to believe their homosexuality is genetic, not behavioral. They're "made this way."
The story stated, "My father is still trying to get me to go to a three-month retreat to be 'delivered' from homosexuality." This is also not true. Jamiel has repeatedly asked me to pay for him to go to "Love in Action," which offers sound clinical, in-patient therapy to those who want freedom – and they have a great success rate with homosexuals. Even after the article was done, he asked me to help. I have offered to pay for the in-patient care, and the offer still stands.
Probably the most painful part for me as a dad is that my son prostituted my name for $5,000: He sold out our family's privacy and private discussions for cold cash. Can you imagine a family member doing that to you?
He knows that the only reason Out, and now CNN, (and God knows who else before it's over) want to talk with him is because he's "Randall Terry's son." He knows he is going to get his 15 minutes of fame because he's the adopted son of a high profile Christian leader who has fought against homosexual marriage.
Adding pain to pain, he told CNN and a journalist from the Washington Post that he is no longer welcome in my home because he is a homosexual. That is not true. I have had him in my home for many days after knowing he was a homosexual.
But when I saw the Out article, I went to Charlotte, N.C., (where he is now) to tell him I love him, and how hurt I was that he betrayed our families privacy, and that he was not welcome in my home right now – not because of his homosexuality, but because he could sell us out again. At any point, he could come for a holiday, make mental notes and find another buyer for another story. I have a great wife, a teenage daughter and two small boys; I will not let that type of intrusion happen again.
My son is being paraded around as the latest homosexual "trophy" that had the guts to "come out." What they aren't telling you – and this grieves me to my core – is that by anyone's standard – homosexual or heterosexual – my son's life is in shambles. He was recently arrested for DWI; he is knowingly writing bad checks on a closed bank account; he dropped out of school; he doesn't have a job (and refuses to get one); he bounces from house to house living off other people; he's racked-up huge bills for friends and family that he cannot pay; he's been taken to court by former friends to get him to pay money he owed them; he's lied to his friends, telling them his "famous dad" was going to send him money to pay for his debts (I get calls or e-mails from college friends looking for money); he has "borrowed" money from countless numbers of my friends; he has a trail of wrecked friendships and family relationships because of deceit, money fraud and crossed boundaries – a mirror image of the home he was in from birth to 8.
I am a father in anguish; my son is a young man in crisis who needs intervention and therapy, not heady interviews with CNN. And Out magazine is despicable for their participation in a sham and exploiting my son for their own political agenda. If my son is their latest "hero," we should wonder how many more of their homosexual leaders and trophies that they present as "model citizens" have lives that are this unraveled.
Let all who read the Out story, or any other that spins off of it, know that the story about my son is laced with fraud and deceit from beginning to end. And please pray for my son's redemption, and pray for our family's healing.
'He's Bringing Great Sadness to Our Home'
Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry talks about his gay son.
Interview by Paul O'Donnell
Longtime anti-abortion activist Randall Terry in recent years has campaigned against gay marriage and homosexuality. So it was of some embarrassment to him when his son Jamiel published an article in the May issue of Out magazine revealing that he is gay. Terry responded by writing an op-ed, sharply criticizing his son and saying, "He is no longer welcome in my home."
On Thursday, both Jamiel and Randall Terry gave extraordinary interviews to Beliefnet editor Paul O’Donnell. In his interview, Jamiel explains that he wrote the article because "I wanted my father to see I'm not going to hell," but says that he still loves his father. Below, Randall says that Jamiel is "bringing great sadness to our home and embarrassment to our family."
How did you find out about Jamiel's article?
Four weeks ago he told me they had contacted him, and he was entertaining the idea.
He told me he approached them with an email.
Yeah, but that's not what he told me. I found that out yesterday.
Do you understand his reasons for publishing it?
Well they shift from day to day, so what are the ones you heard?
He said it was part of his own journey, part of his own acceptance of his homosexuality. I guess he also wanted to be an example to other people who grew up in his situation.
I don't accept that. I know that if he had wanted to do that, he would have done it without going after the money that was given to him on the basis of my name.
What effect do you think this has on your name, or on you?
I think that it garners sympathy for me. But that's not the point. The point is that it is a betrayal of family dignity and family boundaries for money. He gave CNN pictures of our family. That's just unbelievable to me.
Do you think he's in financial straits?
Of course he is.
Why answer his story with your own--in The Washington Times and on WorldNet Daily?
As I said in the piece, I'm doing it to jolt other parents and to embarrass those who have exploited my son, to call their credibility into question. To show that what was presented on CNN and what was presented in Out magazine are just not accurate renditions of what's going on.
Jamiel seems to think that what you had written just furthers the breach between you two. Do you think so?
For me, the issue is that there has been an unbelievable lack of honesty. For me the breach is that I cannot have him in my home while I know that at any point, he could take pictures and sell them. I'm not going to have that kind of intrusion into my home.
Do you think there's public interest in the story beyond what he has already told?
I have no idea. I'm not going to assume there isn't. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Knowing him, do you think his motivation is purely money?
Motives are known only to God. Behaviors are weighable by us.
In your piece you contested Jamiel saying that he later returned to the Roman Catholic Church, though he rejects papal authority and teaching on family issues. One would almost read that as a defense of those dogmas and those teachings.
I am not Roman Catholic. I have a deep respect for the Roman Catholic Church and I'm a student of Roman Catholic theology. For me the issue was that it was disingenuous, that it was deceitful. It was Out magazine's effort to drag the Roman Catholic Church into this debate.
When you say this has generated sympathy for you, what form has that taken?
I've gotten hundreds of emails and lots of phone calls.
You say Jamiel's teen years were "a mix of happy times, half truth and a double life," and his behavior grew worse in college. What are you referring to?
I'm not going to undress my son in the media. It's been a very downhill spiral for him.
Hasn't he been working alongside you for much of this time?
No.
Didn't he spend time with you in Vermont?
We were only together in Vermont for a couple weeks at most. He dropped out of college to do that, against my wishes.
When was the last time you saw him?
About a week ago. I'm in Florida, he's in Charlotte. I drove up to talk to him, as a father to a son.
Did he inform you that this was coming out?
He did but he didn't tell me the nature of it. He told me it wasn't about me, it was about him.
You regard homosexuality not as something in a person's nature but a behavior one falls into. Is that correct?
Behaviors are a choice. I do not contend that they ask for the feelings anymore than any of us ask for feelings. Feelings are sometimes out of our control. Behavior has to do with choices.
Have your views shifted at all since you found out Jamiel is gay?
No. There are three options when you find out a family member is homosexual. One is accept them and their lifestyle as if it's normal. Two is to reject them and sever your relationship. Three is to love them unconditionally, but to tell them you do not accept their behavior as normal, and to tell them the truth. If I love my son, I can't say to him, "Hey, you're committing suicide on the installment plan. This is a great lifestyle." I have to be honest with him. Take out the word homosexuality and put in alcoholism or put in drug addiction. Would you tell a drug addict, "I accept you. This is your choice, this is your life and I will stand by you"? The average death age of a male homosexual is 42 years old because of disease, because of suicide, because of alcoholism, because of drugs, because of violence. It's just not a good world. It's a self-abusive, self-destructive sexual addiction.
You say in your piece you've offered to get him treatment for it.
I have to believe that people can change, otherwise I deny the Gospel, and I will not do that.
Your son says that he'd be living a lie even if he went through treatment to correct his behavior, that the feelings wouldn't go away. He said he had asked you whether you wanted him to live that way.
I don't remember that, but what I would say to him or to anyone is that you might feel like stealing a Porsche, but as long as you don't act out on it, you're not going to get in trouble. I think a lot of us have feelings from time to time that are rather dark. But it's our behavior that we can modify. So if you're asking me, would I prefer my son live a celibate life? Then the answer is yes.
Why are some people given to homosexual feelings while others aren't?
I think most of it is behavioral. A crisis occurred in their youth. I've heard that 90 percent of lesbians were assaulted in their youth. It's not quite as high for males. But I believe that a traumatic event happened for most of them in their youth, whether it involved sexual molestation or abuse or viewing pornography, an absent father, or a sexual contact in the pubescent years. God did not design the human being to have these things happen and then to function as if everything was fine.
Do you think it's his homosexuality that has produced the litany at the end of your piece--the DWI, the bad checks, the dropping out of school?
I don't know.
How do you go about continuing contact with him--the third course you mentioned. Would you mention this every time you see your son?
I don't know, I have to think it through. We're taking it one day at a time.
But you've had two years...
I did not mention it every time. But I want to keep conversations between my son and I private. I talked to him about it many times.
But what's your advice for others?
You have to from time to time bring it up. Ask, are you living celibate? Are you seeking any help? Are you going to confession? Are you going to therapy? Have you found a support group? At this point in human history, we've got an awful lot of data about breaking addictions, and we have a lot of experienced people out there to aid in the process.
So what I have found in my conversations with homosexuals over the years is that they reject the process of healing, because it's too painful and it's too time-consuming. People would rather go to an altar and pray and have all the feelings taken away for good than to spend three months in an in-patient program or in intensive therapy and have the pain of a long healing process. It's too easy to surrender.
Do you think he's a good son?
I'm proud of him in a number of ways. He's a very gifted young man. Right now he's bringing great sadness to our home and embarrassment to our family. Did you see the CNN piece [on the Terry family] last night? It was fraught with error.
Is there anything from the show you'd like to correct?
Yeah, I didn't run off with the secretary. It made it seem like I had committed adultery and then ran off with a secretary, neither of which happened.
Jamiel said that the divorce was a triggering thing for him.
I just don’t buy it. He was living this life for years before that.
What he said to me was that it began for him the process of admitting it to himself, that doing that could bring him happiness.
I would contend that is a lie. The homosexual community has more acceptance in America than it ever has and the suicide rate is as high as it's always been. People commit suicide when they're in despair. They're in despair because they know in their heart of hearts that this sexual addiction is self-abusive and a horrifying, degrading lifestyle. I know my son, and believe me, he has not obtained peace or happiness.
But if it is behavioral, and you raised him, do you have any doubts about the way you raised him?
No. Any school of psychology will tell you that by the time a child is 6 or 7 years old, so much of their personality is formed, and any traumas that happened to them will be with them for the rest of their life. That's Psychology 101. We didn't get Jamiel till he was 8, as a foster child, and didn't adopt him till he was 14. He'd been subjected to things and had seen things by the time he was 8 that would mar anybody for life. So we gave him a safe home where he was loved and was not in danger. And he abused that, by his own admission.
So he's not welcome in your home but you still talk to him. To what end?
At this point we have to wait for his 15 minutes of fame to be over with. Then we'll let this die down and see. He has not been honest with me, about who contacted who, about what our family was like, about facts about me. It's very difficult to trust him right now.
Jamiel Terry
John Schlafly
David Knight
Candace Gingrich
Mary Cheney
even Chastity Bono
God does have a sense of humor, doesn't she?
Jamiel Terry, son of Randall Terry the founder of Operation Rescue and outspoken opponent of GLBT rights, comes out in a big way:
A Rising Son: When your father is famous for fighting abortion and same-sex marriage, how can you possibly come out? Jamiel Terry tells us.
It’s hard to point to one moment when you begin to come out to yourself, but if I had to, I’d go back to a night seven years ago, when I was 17. I was home from boarding school in my old bedroom at my parents’ house in Windsor, N.Y., where my friend “Johnny” and I had just finished fooling around. Suddenly he asked me, “Do you think we are bisexual or gay?” The question so stunned me, I didn’t know how to respond. I mean, we had been having sex for ages, but I’d always believed I couldn’t be gay: I was the son of Randall Terry, a major leader of the Christian right’s antiabortion movement and now a leader in the fight against marriage for same-sex couples. I’m 24 now and I’m still figuring out my own story.
My father founded Operation Rescue, which became well-known for staging mass demonstrations next to abortion clinics and sometimes flooded an entire city to hold it “hostage.” Growing up in my house was anything but boring. And it was made even more “interesting” because from a very early age I knew I was different. When I was 4 my favorite female was Miss Piggy. That alone was probably not much of a giveaway, but my soft voice and my mannerisms turned out to be signs that I was gay. However, when you grow up in a house where to be the thing you are is an abominable sin, you tend to try to shed those behaviors. I would try to be more masculine in every way I could. My father would rarely say something derogatory about gays around my mom or my sisters, but he would around our male friends and to me. I guess it was the usual stuff you hear, but it hurt me sometimes, and I would ask him not to say those things; I felt that for Christians, it’s not right to mock people, even in their sin. My father knew I was right, and he would apologize. One thing about my father: We kids could certainly tell him what we thought, and we usually wouldn’t get in trouble.
In 1992 my father resigned from Operation Rescue as part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the National Organization for Women. Though he could still protest abortion, he couldn’t block access to clinics. Around this time, he began attending gay pride marches in protest and going to Hawaii to fight same-sex marriage. As I understood it, he’d come to believe that in order to stop abortion the country had to get to the roots of the other national “sins,” like homosexuality.
Growing up, I was very sheltered from all this, since I wasn’t allowed to participate in my father’s activities—my family regularly received death threats. When I was 14, I went on an “Impeach Clinton” tour with my father all around the country. For a kid like me, everything about being on the road—the crowds, the hotels, eating out—was a thrill.
The tour only confirmed what I’d already felt: My father is probably one of the most engaging men I have ever met. He is witty, intelligent, and funny. I remember watching him and Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women, in a heated debate on CNN. He’s so charming, you could tell that even the icy Ms. Ireland melted. But charming as he is, I knew that as his son, I could never consider living the “gay lifestyle.” I was resigned to the fact that in order for me to achieve the goals I had set for myself and to avoid hell, I had to squelch these feelings. I did everything from participating in charismatic deliverance meetings to fasting; many nights I literally cried myself to sleep while begging God to take these feelings from me. I kept all this to myself; no one had any idea that I was going through this struggle.
For more, see the May 2004 issue of Out.
"I Don’t Even Hate Him for That, But It Just Hurts Me"
Jamiel Terry talks about why he came out in print and growing up the gay son of Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry.
Interview by Paul O'Donnell
Longtime anti-abortion activist Randall Terry in recent years has campaigned against gay marriage and "homosexual perversions." So it was of some embarrassment to him when his son Jamiel wrote an article in the current issue of Out magazine revealing that he is gay. Terry responded by writing an op-ed, sharply criticizing his son and saying, "He is no longer welcome in my home."
On Thursday, both Jamiel and Randall Terry gave extraordinary interviews to Beliefnet editor Paul O’Donnell. Below, Jamiel explains that he wrote the article because "I wanted my father to see I'm not going to hell," but says that he still loves his father. Randall says that Jamiel is "bringing great sadness to our home and embarrassment to our family."
Did Out come to you?
I made contact with them.
Why did you feel you had to write it?
I felt it would be freeing for me. Most of our family friends had no idea that I was gay, and most of my mother’s side of the family didn’t know. For my own journey, I felt I needed to come out. My dad talks about the money. Originally, I was going to do an interview, which I would not have been paid for. When it changed to a freelance situation, they paid the normal fee.
Is it the figure [$5,000] that your father’s claiming?
No, it's lower than that.
Are you in financial difficulty [as your father said in his op-ed]?
Not anymore than any normal 24-year-old college student.
You must have known that this would embarrass your father.
Well, sure, I knew it would embarrass him, but the fact is those are his own issues. If he would be embarrassed by my being gay, then he has issues. So that’s not my problem. I wouldn’t say he is embarrassed by my being gay. One thing that really, really hurts me is that the things he says about me [in his op-ed] probably took place during a seven month period, the darkest time of my life, when I was literally on the verge of suicide, and constantly talking to him about the fact that I was on the verge of suicide.
When was that?
September 2002 to probably May 2003.
Was that when he says you asked him to pay for you to go for treatment [for homosexuality]?
Well, that's not true. I think it was right after the DWI charge. He said, "I want you to go to this thing Love in Action and I’ll pay for you to go." I was a manager where I was working and it was Christmas season. I said, "I can’t leave right now."
My father has to understand the intense, almost idolatry we kids have for him. When he's talking, he just convinces you to do something, even when you don’t want to do it. If I could choose my life, I definitely would not choose to be gay, especially in the family that I live in.
Why?
Because it’s easier. That doesn’t mean that I’m bitter about it. But it’s the same thing as someone who is very very poor saying, if I could choose my life, I would choose to be rich. It’s not that I don’t wish this. I’m past that point. But certainly, if I could go to a three month rehab clinic and have them wave a magic wand over me and come out straight… Then on top of that, my dad is saying, "Things will be like they were before. I’ll pay for your college and I’ll pay for your expenses," and blah blah blah.
Predicated on your going straight?
On my going to this rehab thing. He’s my dad. I love him. I still want to be a part of his life. Every time [my partner] Matthew and I would have some sort of an argument, where I felt like it was causing too much of a strain, I would [say to my father], "Okay, send me the information." Matthew is the only reason that I didn’t go. I didn’t believe I would go and be straight. I really don’t believe that. But I was like, "What the heck. I probably need therapy in other areas." But it wasn’t some kind of crying out to my father, like "Dad save me. Please send me to Love in Action." That’s just ridiculous.
In his letter, your father quibbles about when you were adopted. Were you adopted at age 5?
Legally we were adopted at age 14. He stresses so much that this is an adopted child. But we did not feel like adopted children. We felt like we were 100 percent a part of that family. We officially moved into their house when I was eight, with no interruptions. We were living with them on and off from the age of 4. I was calling them Mom and Dad at the age of 4 and 5. He’s trying to stress that nothing in his home made me gay. And no one would accuse him of that. No one is pointing at him saying, "You made your son gay."
I don't mean to pat myself on the back, but I was a model child. Every woman in the church wanted their daughters to marry me, every single parent wanted their sons to be like me and be my friend. And my parents were overjoyed and proud of me, constantly telling me how proud they were of me. In every circle that I have been in, I have been the leader and I have been the person who people admired and my father knows that. Why would my father ask me to come and work with him in Vermont and work on his campaigns and everything else that I’ve done if I was this person that he is trying to paint me as?
Was he a good dad?
Yes. A phenomenal father. I could not have asked for a better father. He was my best friend. I know that my dad, even in that letter, he’s doing it out of love. He’s doing it because he feels that that’s what he has to do to "save me." So I don’t even hate him for that but it just hurts me.
Has he met Matthew?
No.
You wouldn’t introduce him or did he refuse?
No. Matthew doesn’t want to meet him.
But he welcomed you into his home until now.
My dad welcomed me into his home because in his mind I was still struggling with this. It was like a struggling with this sin thing—I was hating myself.
I’ve had them read the article. I had friends who know my dad read the article before I printed it. All of them were like, "You said nothing bad about your father." He feels I revealed all of this family information. I revealed information about myself.
When was the last time you talked to him?
Yesterday. We’ve been emailing back and forth several times a day and every e-mail is, "I’m grieved. I’m sick in my heart. I can’t work. I can’t eat." Yesterday we actually had a three way call with my older sister, myself and my father. He’s just like, "Jamiel I love you and I hope that this passes over. I just hope that it passes quickly. And I miss you. And I’m just sick, I’m sick, I’m sick."
Have you told him you’re sorry?
I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m very good at putting myself in someone else’s shoes and I have re-read the article just countless number of times trying to figure out where he is coming from, why he feels betrayed. I am basically responsible for my dad’s reputation being what it is right now.
How do you mean that?
By talking to reporters that he asked me to talk to [during his divorce]. Talking to different Christian leaders to keep the story quiet. The story didn’t break for eight months because I kept it at bay. All I have done since he separated from my mother is protect him and defend him and do everything in my power to make sure that he maintains his reputation. So I did not want to do anything to harm Dad. I wanted my father to see that it was okay, that I’m not going to hell. That I'm not destroying my life. That I have not chosen a path of self-destruction.
If some of what motivated you is to offer solace for people who grew up like you, what would you say to a gay kid in a Christian home?
If they decide to come out to their parents, they have to respect their parents and their wishes while they're in their home. That means they don’t go on gay.com or go to gay events or have gay friends. If they decide to live in that home I think that they need to abide by those rules.
If they know their parents love them, they should be comfortable with telling them. But if they're still in their home, they need to abide by what their parents are telling them. I knew as a child that if I told my parents, I would be off to rehab. I knew that. Or that I wouldn't be able to have friends over, or I wouldn't be able to go to people's houses. So if you feel that is going to be the case, it's a burden you have to bear. It makes you strong, it makes you able to conquer things, and to not allow the daily failures of life to affect you in the way they might affect somebody else, and to not despair. Time heals all things, and time goes quicker than you'd ever believe. You're 16 years old struggling with this, but then you're 18 and you're off to college and you can be who you are.
Do you believe your homosexuality is part of your genetic makeup?
I believe sexuality can be tampered with. I do believe there are people who are genetically predisposed to be attracted to the same sex. But sexuality can depend on environment. There's no way I would have come out if my parents had stayed married. Because I wouldn't have gone down the questioning of my identity, I wouldn't have gone down that path if they had stayed married. That was the trigger for me to come out, not the trigger that I was gay.
How did that affect that decision?
It made me question everything I had been raised with. It made me question truth, it made me question morality. Before that, I would have said indefinitely that the Bible is the infallible word of God. Now I'm like, it's kind of good sayings and I'm sure that God had something to do with it, but it was written by men, so it can be fallible. As for the divorce, in my eyes, he was doing something wrong. So I was like, if he's doing something wrong and it's making him happy, and God knows his heart, then God knows my heart, and I want to be happy too.
My prodigal son, the homosexual
I am still in a state of shock; I have been grieving for days. My son, Jamiel Terry, was paid $5,000 by Out magazine (to appear April 20, 2004, on newsstands) to write a story about being Randall Terry's homosexual son. I pray my following words help other grieving parents and serve as a warning to moms and dads of small children to be unflinchingly and unashamedly diligent to protect their children from predators, and bring a reality check to those exploiting my son.
First of all, I love my son. Jamiel is incredibly gifted. He is articulate and handsome. He sings like an angel, he plays the piano, he's a great cook, and he's a great debater. He would make a powerful lawyer and a formidable politician. People like him. I love him. I've poured 16 years of my life into him.
In March of 1988, my then-wife and I took Jamiel in as a foster child when he was 8 years old. We also took in his baby sister (almost 3 years old)) and their older sister (12 years old). We adopted him and his younger sister when he was nearly 15 and she was 9. He came to us as a deeply troubled boy, from a very dark home. He was literally born in jail.
Tragically, by the time we got him as a foster child, he had already learned a lifestyle of deceit from his surroundings and had been a victim of crimes and treacheries that would mar him for life. I knew of some of those things when we got him and have learned more over the years. My hope was that by providing a loving, safe home, his life would be spared the path it would inevitably take if he remained in those surroundings. Unfortunately, my hopes and prayers were not realized.
My son's teen years became a mixed stream of happy times mingled with half-truths, dishonesty and a double life. His behavior grew worse and worse in college, culminating with the story in Out magazine.
For the uninformed, Out magazine specializes in bringing homosexuals "out of the closet." Out is committed to the homosexual agenda – homosexual marriage, special "civil rights" for homosexuals, promoting the fallacy that their sexual activities are normal and even laudable. Their agenda is shameless. My son was offered $5,000 to "write" a story about me and his life with me and my family. However, much of the story was written by Out's editor who put words in my son's mouth to accomplish the magazine's agenda.
For me, the most horrifying part of the story is my son's admission: "I did have numerous sexual encounters with my friends, usually during sleepovers at my parents' house" and "I was home from boarding school in my old bedroom at my parents' house in Windsor, N.Y., where my friend 'Johnny' and I had just finished fooling around ... we had been having sex for ages. ..."
I am so grieved and sorry for those boys and their parents. Those parents trusted us; they believed their sons were safe at our home – so had I. I was wrong. I still am in a state of shock. Please, parents, learn from this tragedy.
Frankly, so much of the story is inaccurate (times, dates, events) it would take too much space to correct it. But worse yet is that the picture the story paints of my son is based in fraud.
For example, the story states, "I was baptized Catholic and raised Protestant, and I later returned to the Roman Catholic Church." This is not true. Jamiel has never been confirmed; he does not believe in nor go to confession; he does not believe in many Catholic dogmas; He rejects papal authority and Catholic teaching on family issues.
The story states: "My father seems to believe that the fact that I'm an adopted child may help explain why I'm gay – not because of the adoption process itself but perhaps because of things that may have occurred before I was adopted at the age of 5." As I stated, Jamiel was adopted when he was nearly 15, not 5. To gloss over the tragic events and surroundings Jamiel was rescued from at age 8 is deceitful. (Social Services took the children because of prostitution, drugs and deeds committed against them.) Many homosexuals want to ignore the causal links to their sexual addiction; they want us to believe their homosexuality is genetic, not behavioral. They're "made this way."
The story stated, "My father is still trying to get me to go to a three-month retreat to be 'delivered' from homosexuality." This is also not true. Jamiel has repeatedly asked me to pay for him to go to "Love in Action," which offers sound clinical, in-patient therapy to those who want freedom – and they have a great success rate with homosexuals. Even after the article was done, he asked me to help. I have offered to pay for the in-patient care, and the offer still stands.
Probably the most painful part for me as a dad is that my son prostituted my name for $5,000: He sold out our family's privacy and private discussions for cold cash. Can you imagine a family member doing that to you?
He knows that the only reason Out, and now CNN, (and God knows who else before it's over) want to talk with him is because he's "Randall Terry's son." He knows he is going to get his 15 minutes of fame because he's the adopted son of a high profile Christian leader who has fought against homosexual marriage.
Adding pain to pain, he told CNN and a journalist from the Washington Post that he is no longer welcome in my home because he is a homosexual. That is not true. I have had him in my home for many days after knowing he was a homosexual.
But when I saw the Out article, I went to Charlotte, N.C., (where he is now) to tell him I love him, and how hurt I was that he betrayed our families privacy, and that he was not welcome in my home right now – not because of his homosexuality, but because he could sell us out again. At any point, he could come for a holiday, make mental notes and find another buyer for another story. I have a great wife, a teenage daughter and two small boys; I will not let that type of intrusion happen again.
My son is being paraded around as the latest homosexual "trophy" that had the guts to "come out." What they aren't telling you – and this grieves me to my core – is that by anyone's standard – homosexual or heterosexual – my son's life is in shambles. He was recently arrested for DWI; he is knowingly writing bad checks on a closed bank account; he dropped out of school; he doesn't have a job (and refuses to get one); he bounces from house to house living off other people; he's racked-up huge bills for friends and family that he cannot pay; he's been taken to court by former friends to get him to pay money he owed them; he's lied to his friends, telling them his "famous dad" was going to send him money to pay for his debts (I get calls or e-mails from college friends looking for money); he has "borrowed" money from countless numbers of my friends; he has a trail of wrecked friendships and family relationships because of deceit, money fraud and crossed boundaries – a mirror image of the home he was in from birth to 8.
I am a father in anguish; my son is a young man in crisis who needs intervention and therapy, not heady interviews with CNN. And Out magazine is despicable for their participation in a sham and exploiting my son for their own political agenda. If my son is their latest "hero," we should wonder how many more of their homosexual leaders and trophies that they present as "model citizens" have lives that are this unraveled.
Let all who read the Out story, or any other that spins off of it, know that the story about my son is laced with fraud and deceit from beginning to end. And please pray for my son's redemption, and pray for our family's healing.
'He's Bringing Great Sadness to Our Home'
Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry talks about his gay son.
Interview by Paul O'Donnell
Longtime anti-abortion activist Randall Terry in recent years has campaigned against gay marriage and homosexuality. So it was of some embarrassment to him when his son Jamiel published an article in the May issue of Out magazine revealing that he is gay. Terry responded by writing an op-ed, sharply criticizing his son and saying, "He is no longer welcome in my home."
On Thursday, both Jamiel and Randall Terry gave extraordinary interviews to Beliefnet editor Paul O’Donnell. In his interview, Jamiel explains that he wrote the article because "I wanted my father to see I'm not going to hell," but says that he still loves his father. Below, Randall says that Jamiel is "bringing great sadness to our home and embarrassment to our family."
How did you find out about Jamiel's article?
Four weeks ago he told me they had contacted him, and he was entertaining the idea.
He told me he approached them with an email.
Yeah, but that's not what he told me. I found that out yesterday.
Do you understand his reasons for publishing it?
Well they shift from day to day, so what are the ones you heard?
He said it was part of his own journey, part of his own acceptance of his homosexuality. I guess he also wanted to be an example to other people who grew up in his situation.
I don't accept that. I know that if he had wanted to do that, he would have done it without going after the money that was given to him on the basis of my name.
What effect do you think this has on your name, or on you?
I think that it garners sympathy for me. But that's not the point. The point is that it is a betrayal of family dignity and family boundaries for money. He gave CNN pictures of our family. That's just unbelievable to me.
Do you think he's in financial straits?
Of course he is.
Why answer his story with your own--in The Washington Times and on WorldNet Daily?
As I said in the piece, I'm doing it to jolt other parents and to embarrass those who have exploited my son, to call their credibility into question. To show that what was presented on CNN and what was presented in Out magazine are just not accurate renditions of what's going on.
Jamiel seems to think that what you had written just furthers the breach between you two. Do you think so?
For me, the issue is that there has been an unbelievable lack of honesty. For me the breach is that I cannot have him in my home while I know that at any point, he could take pictures and sell them. I'm not going to have that kind of intrusion into my home.
Do you think there's public interest in the story beyond what he has already told?
I have no idea. I'm not going to assume there isn't. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Knowing him, do you think his motivation is purely money?
Motives are known only to God. Behaviors are weighable by us.
In your piece you contested Jamiel saying that he later returned to the Roman Catholic Church, though he rejects papal authority and teaching on family issues. One would almost read that as a defense of those dogmas and those teachings.
I am not Roman Catholic. I have a deep respect for the Roman Catholic Church and I'm a student of Roman Catholic theology. For me the issue was that it was disingenuous, that it was deceitful. It was Out magazine's effort to drag the Roman Catholic Church into this debate.
When you say this has generated sympathy for you, what form has that taken?
I've gotten hundreds of emails and lots of phone calls.
You say Jamiel's teen years were "a mix of happy times, half truth and a double life," and his behavior grew worse in college. What are you referring to?
I'm not going to undress my son in the media. It's been a very downhill spiral for him.
Hasn't he been working alongside you for much of this time?
No.
Didn't he spend time with you in Vermont?
We were only together in Vermont for a couple weeks at most. He dropped out of college to do that, against my wishes.
When was the last time you saw him?
About a week ago. I'm in Florida, he's in Charlotte. I drove up to talk to him, as a father to a son.
Did he inform you that this was coming out?
He did but he didn't tell me the nature of it. He told me it wasn't about me, it was about him.
You regard homosexuality not as something in a person's nature but a behavior one falls into. Is that correct?
Behaviors are a choice. I do not contend that they ask for the feelings anymore than any of us ask for feelings. Feelings are sometimes out of our control. Behavior has to do with choices.
Have your views shifted at all since you found out Jamiel is gay?
No. There are three options when you find out a family member is homosexual. One is accept them and their lifestyle as if it's normal. Two is to reject them and sever your relationship. Three is to love them unconditionally, but to tell them you do not accept their behavior as normal, and to tell them the truth. If I love my son, I can't say to him, "Hey, you're committing suicide on the installment plan. This is a great lifestyle." I have to be honest with him. Take out the word homosexuality and put in alcoholism or put in drug addiction. Would you tell a drug addict, "I accept you. This is your choice, this is your life and I will stand by you"? The average death age of a male homosexual is 42 years old because of disease, because of suicide, because of alcoholism, because of drugs, because of violence. It's just not a good world. It's a self-abusive, self-destructive sexual addiction.
You say in your piece you've offered to get him treatment for it.
I have to believe that people can change, otherwise I deny the Gospel, and I will not do that.
Your son says that he'd be living a lie even if he went through treatment to correct his behavior, that the feelings wouldn't go away. He said he had asked you whether you wanted him to live that way.
I don't remember that, but what I would say to him or to anyone is that you might feel like stealing a Porsche, but as long as you don't act out on it, you're not going to get in trouble. I think a lot of us have feelings from time to time that are rather dark. But it's our behavior that we can modify. So if you're asking me, would I prefer my son live a celibate life? Then the answer is yes.
Why are some people given to homosexual feelings while others aren't?
I think most of it is behavioral. A crisis occurred in their youth. I've heard that 90 percent of lesbians were assaulted in their youth. It's not quite as high for males. But I believe that a traumatic event happened for most of them in their youth, whether it involved sexual molestation or abuse or viewing pornography, an absent father, or a sexual contact in the pubescent years. God did not design the human being to have these things happen and then to function as if everything was fine.
Do you think it's his homosexuality that has produced the litany at the end of your piece--the DWI, the bad checks, the dropping out of school?
I don't know.
How do you go about continuing contact with him--the third course you mentioned. Would you mention this every time you see your son?
I don't know, I have to think it through. We're taking it one day at a time.
But you've had two years...
I did not mention it every time. But I want to keep conversations between my son and I private. I talked to him about it many times.
But what's your advice for others?
You have to from time to time bring it up. Ask, are you living celibate? Are you seeking any help? Are you going to confession? Are you going to therapy? Have you found a support group? At this point in human history, we've got an awful lot of data about breaking addictions, and we have a lot of experienced people out there to aid in the process.
So what I have found in my conversations with homosexuals over the years is that they reject the process of healing, because it's too painful and it's too time-consuming. People would rather go to an altar and pray and have all the feelings taken away for good than to spend three months in an in-patient program or in intensive therapy and have the pain of a long healing process. It's too easy to surrender.
Do you think he's a good son?
I'm proud of him in a number of ways. He's a very gifted young man. Right now he's bringing great sadness to our home and embarrassment to our family. Did you see the CNN piece [on the Terry family] last night? It was fraught with error.
Is there anything from the show you'd like to correct?
Yeah, I didn't run off with the secretary. It made it seem like I had committed adultery and then ran off with a secretary, neither of which happened.
Jamiel said that the divorce was a triggering thing for him.
I just don’t buy it. He was living this life for years before that.
What he said to me was that it began for him the process of admitting it to himself, that doing that could bring him happiness.
I would contend that is a lie. The homosexual community has more acceptance in America than it ever has and the suicide rate is as high as it's always been. People commit suicide when they're in despair. They're in despair because they know in their heart of hearts that this sexual addiction is self-abusive and a horrifying, degrading lifestyle. I know my son, and believe me, he has not obtained peace or happiness.
But if it is behavioral, and you raised him, do you have any doubts about the way you raised him?
No. Any school of psychology will tell you that by the time a child is 6 or 7 years old, so much of their personality is formed, and any traumas that happened to them will be with them for the rest of their life. That's Psychology 101. We didn't get Jamiel till he was 8, as a foster child, and didn't adopt him till he was 14. He'd been subjected to things and had seen things by the time he was 8 that would mar anybody for life. So we gave him a safe home where he was loved and was not in danger. And he abused that, by his own admission.
So he's not welcome in your home but you still talk to him. To what end?
At this point we have to wait for his 15 minutes of fame to be over with. Then we'll let this die down and see. He has not been honest with me, about who contacted who, about what our family was like, about facts about me. It's very difficult to trust him right now.
Jamiel Terry
John Schlafly
David Knight
Candace Gingrich
Mary Cheney
even Chastity Bono
God does have a sense of humor, doesn't she?
