Gays, God and Bishop Owens

The Hon. Anthony A. Williams, Mayor of Washington, D.C.

Traveling Somewhere, West Africa

Dear Mr. Mayor:

I hope this letter finds you well during your first trip to the Continent. Having been there several times, I trust you will find the experience unforgettable and deeply rewarding. Judging from the public travel schedule your Washington staff provided, it would appear that you are anything but overbooked. If so, you and your entourage of 24 should use the considerable down time to great personal and social advantage. But that, sir, is not the point of this letter.

There is a problem brewing on the home front that will require your immediate attention on your return. It surfaced during Monday evening's well-attended Gertrude Stein Democratic Club forum for mayoral candidates, at which I served as moderator.

The first question of the evening probed the candidates' views on D.C. church leaders who have spoken out against gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people, leaving them to feel they aren't equal and valued residents of our city.

The issue took on added weight because of an item posted on the Washington City Paper Web site last week that I cited in the first question to the candidates. The Web site item bears repeating so that you can gauge for yourself the extent to which the LGBT community and its allies are concerned about perceived hostility of some leaders within the black church.

The City Paper disclosed that during a Palm Sunday sermon last month, a prominent D.C. pastor preached that strong men follow the church's teachings. He went on to say that "real men" who worship God are straight.

"It takes a real man to confess Jesus as lord and savior. I'm not talking about no faggot or no sissy," the pastor said on a church tape recording obtained by the City Paper.

"Wait a minute! Let all the real men come on down here and take a bow," the pastor said, inviting them to the front of the church. "All the real men -- I'm talking about the straight men," he preached.

"You ain't funny, and you ain't cranky, but you're straight. Come on down here and walk around and praise God that you are straight. Thank him that you're straight. All the straight men that's proud to be a Christian, that's proud to be a man of God," he went on.

Mr. Mayor, around about now, you're probably asking yourself, "Who is that pastor?" Well, it happens to be Bishop Alfred A. Owens Jr., pastor of Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church on Rhode Island Avenue NE.