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| Baptist preacher Lonnie Latham was arrested Jan. 3 for allegedly asking an undercover male Oklahoma City police officer for oral sex. (Photo by AP) |
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Remember the adage that “people who
live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”? Lonnie Latham is only the latest to throw
stones at openly gay men and women while
possibly dwelling in a glass house himself.
Some other prominent examples:
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As a tough young lawyer who assisted redbaiting Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Cohn was merciless in rooting out and ruining suspected Communists and gay men in Washington and Hollywood.
But Cohn himself was a gay man who craved pornography and frequently used the services of rent boys. He never acknowledged being gay, despite frequenting gay bars in the 1970s, according to GLBTQ, an online encyclopedia of gay culture. In his later years he spoke out against New York City’s first gay rights law.
Three times tried and acquitted of conspiracy, bribery and fraud, Cohn was disbarred two months before his 1986 death from AIDS, which he insisted was liver cancer. |
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Paulk appeared in exgay ads in national media in 1998 and on the cover of Newsweek with his “exlesbian” wife Anne Paulk. But he was spotted in a popular gay bar in Washington, D.C., in September 2000.
When Paulk was seen in the gay bar, he initially claimed he only entered Mr. P’s to use the restroom. But Paulk later said he was seeking the “easy camaraderie” of his former stomping grounds because of the “great deal” of stress in his life.
After Paulk’s gay bar visit, Exodus International, a leading ex-gay organization where Paulk served as board chair, placed him on probation and removed his voting rights. Six months later, Exodus restored Paulk to the board, although not as chair. |
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Glavin led the Atlantabased Southeastern Legal Foundation from 1994 until he resigned under scandal in October 2000. The conservative public interest law firm battled Atlanta’s domestic partner ordinance and filed a “friend of the court” brief before the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the Boy Scouts of America’s efforts to bar gay Scoutmasters.
In 2000, Glavin pleaded guilty to public indecency for fondling a male undercover U.S. park ranger in a metro Atlanta park. His attorney said at the time that he entered the plea to spare his family and the legal group from embarrassment.
The ranger who cited Glavin at the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area reported: “Mr. Glavin was masturbating his erect penis through his shorts. Mr. Glavin reached out and fondled my groin in a very sexual and lewd manner.” |
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Johnston appeared with his mother, Frances Johnston, in a controversial print ad under the headline “From innocence to AIDS.” A similar television commercial also appeared in 1998, dubbed “Mom.” “My son Michael found out the truth — he could walk away from homosexuality.
But he found out too late — he has AIDS,” Frances Johnston said in the television commercial. In the ad, Michael Johnston praised his mother for telling him “the truth that set me free.” Johnston founded Kerusso Ministries and promoted National Coming Out of Homosexuality Day.
But in 2003, Johnston shut down Kerusso and the conservative groups he worked with confirmed he had a “moral fall.” A Virginia man alleged he had a sexual relationship with Johnston. |
Laura Douglas-Brown
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: DYANA BAGBY
COMMENTS |
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An Oklahoma preacher who vehemently
opposed gay rights stepped down from
his congregation and the executive committee
of the Southern Baptist Convention
after being arrested this month for allegedly
asking an undercover male police officer
for oral sex.
Lonnie Latham, 60, served as senior pastor
of South Tulsa Baptist Church until he
left the post following his arrest. He is an
outspoken critic of same-sex marriage
who urged gays to turn away from their
“sinful, destructive lifestyle.”
But Latham was arrested Jan. 3 outside
of a gay hotel and charged by the
Oklahoma City district attorney with one
act of offering to engage in an act of lewdness,
a misdemeanor.
Latham faces up to one year in jail and a
$2,500 fine if convicted. He was released on
$500 bail on Jan. 4. After being released,
Latham told reporters he was set up and
was in the area “pastoring to police,” the
Associated Press reported.
This week, Latham’s attorney, Mack
Martin of Oklahoma City, told Southern
Voice he doesn’t believe what Latham is
accused of is actually a crime.
“It’s like saying you’re arrested for crossing
the street — so what?” Martin said. “This is a major First Amendment issue.”
Martin added he believes media attention
to the case pressured the district attorney
into charging Latham, who is scheduled
to be arraigned in early February.
But Oklahoma City District Attorney
Wes Lane stands by the charge against
Latham.
“The law in Oklahoma prohibits an
individual from soliciting another to
engage in what is considered a lewd act
regardless of whether money is sought for
or exchanged,” Lane said in a statement.
On Jan. 3 at about 10 p.m., an undercover
police officer said he was followed
in his car by Latham, who pulled up
alongside him in a parking lot, said he
was looking to “have some fun” and
asked him to go to his room at the
Holiday Inn Express for oral sex, according
to the police report filed by the
Oklahoma City Police Department.
“Police were working undercover in the
area in response to citizen complaints of
people flagging down cars and making proposals
for sex,” said Capt. Jeffrey Becker, a
spokesperson for the department.
Latham was arrested in the parking lot
of the Habana Inn, which touts itself as the
“Southwest’s Largest Gay Resort Hotel” on
its website.
Oklahoma law defines lewdness as “any
lascivious, lustful or licentious conduct;
the giving or receiving of the body for
indiscriminate sexual intercourse, fellatio,
cunnilingus, masturbation, anal intercourse,
or lascivious, lustful or licentious
conduct with any person not his or her
spouse; or any act in furtherance of such
conduct or any appointment or engagement
for prostitution.”
The Southern Baptist Convention, the
nation’s second largest Christian denomination,
is well-known for its stands against
gay rights, including an eight-year boycott
against the Walt Disney Co. for offering
domestic partner benefits.
Latham had served as the Oklahoma
representative on the SBC’s executive committee
since 2004. He also served as a board
member and recording secretary for the
Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.
In a Jan. 5 resignation later to the
BGCO, posted on the group’s website,
Latham cited “personal reasons” for stepping
down from his position.
Latham also voluntarily resigned from
his leadership position in the Southern
Baptist Convention days after his arrest,
according to Kenyn Cureton, SBC vice
president for convention relations.
Cureton initially told reporters that the
SBC would not ask Latham to resign and
instead said voluntary resignations are
typical when “moral failures” occur.
The SBC holds national meetings in
September and February. Had Latham not
resigned voluntarily, he likely would have
been asked to quit after the upcoming
February meeting, Cureton told Southern
Voice this week.
“His resignation was entirely voluntarily
so it would not have to come to that,”
Cureton said. “It’s a tragic set of circumstances
and our heart goes out to Lonnie
and his family.”
In a prepared statement, Morris
Chapman, president and CEO of the
Southern Baptist Convention, denounced
Latham’s alleged action.
“The hypocrisy of a messenger does not
compromise the integrity of the message,”
Chapman said. “The Bible is no less true
than it was a week ago or years ago. It continues
to offer hope to all who will believe,
including Lonnie and the rest of us.”
Don Satterthwaite, spokesperson for the
Oklahoma Freedom & Equality Coalition, a
gay-rights group in the state, expressed sadness
rather than anger over Latham’s arrest.
“A lot ...
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