Have you ever heard the phrase employed when it wasn’t used to justify discriminatory treatment against gay people?

Just to clarify my communication with Timothy a little more – of the 4 or so emails I’ve sent him, the last one was exactly 1 month ago and all it had to do with was asking him to explain a post he left on this blog because I didn’t understand it. My message to him prior to that was 2 months before, back in early September when I told him I’d be taking a short break from the blog and wished him well. I’m not sure why you feel the need to know this information though. If you’re worried if I’ve ever talked to them about you, I don’t remember doing so. I even went back through my sent email files to check this and in none of them did I mention you, or concerned, or Ann or Mary.

I grew up in a town where many people used the love the sinner hate the sin line. I went to church all my young life with these people and I can tell you that Timothy’s description is pretty much spot on. We may have had different experiences, but I’ve yet to meet someone who uses that line who doesn’t vote to curb rights for gay people as Timothy pointed out.

It is not Eddy’s openness and willingness to share his perspective that some of us are having trouble with, but rather his sharp tongue and tone. I don’t think he understands the way he often comes across on this blog, and I think that is what David was trying to make apparent.

Eddy,

To answer your question – even though it wasn’t directed at me – I’ve corresponded with David Roberts via email but only because I had problems being able to post to ExGayWatch. I’ve sent probably a total of 3 or 4 emails to Timothy since I’ve been blogging, and that’s the extent of my communication with them.

Timothy began his statement with these words: “I have observed that nearly all of those who “love the sinner, hate the sin” want to…” I maintain that he hasn’t gotten close enough to even 1% of “all of those who “love the sinner, hate the sin” to know diddly about them.

If your issue with Timothy’s comment was that you considered it based on a limited sample size, why didn’t you just say that in your 1st response? Wouldn’t that have been more productive than a vague attack laced with innuendo?

Further, I would suspect that many of the people Timothy was referring to were not just people he met on the street, but leaders of large groups. Leaders who are expressing such sentiments on behalf of those groups.

Thus I think your less than 1% assumption probably isn’t as accurate as you think.

I want to also encourage you to continue your openness and willingness to share your perspective on this site. It is important that all sides of this discussion are spoken and heard. I have seen and felt the damage that can be done when people are ridiculed into questioning there own personal experiences. I no longer allow those who use this tactic to influence what I believe about my own same-sex struggles.

1) Timothy began his statement with these words: “I have observed that nearly all of those who “love the sinner, hate the sin” want to…” I maintain that he hasn’t gotten close enough to even 1% of “all of those who “love the sinner, hate the sin” to know diddly about them. I’m one of those people and I’m still surprised to learn how others view and respond to those varying issues differently.

2) I answered to your charges re the ‘Anonymo’ business and I invited challenges and responses at that time. I also made a promise that I wouldn’t slip into any other identity on this blog ever again. That’s the best I can do and you can be as cynical as you want to. That’s just the way it is.

3) Perhaps this is a good time to raise another question. Do you and Timothy associate via e-mail, phone or in person apart from the blog? If you do, do you ever discuss the blog? I’m also curious whether either you or Timothy dialog with Jayhuck off the blog?

You make a good point.

No one here has weighed in on whether Huckabee’s comments in 1992 are reasonable positions. Nor have they commented on his reiteration of his position.

So let’s ask:

Do you think that persons with HIV should be “isolated” from the general population.

I’m especially interested in hearing what those who have expressed support for Huckabee in the past think.

I’ll go first. I personally find such the idea of isolating persons with HIV from the population to be ignorant of medical science, based in animosity, an indication of a superiorist mindset, arrogant, hateful, highly likely to dramatically increase the spread of HIV, and in all manner abhorent.

Now y’all.

C’mon. Don’t be frightened. If you believe in Huckabee’s HIV isolation policy you should be proud to say so.

A simple yes or no will be fine.

In all fairness Eddy does not even come close to the kind of negative comments that others make on this blog. I think you are being unfair in your assessment.

Why Ann, I’m utterly shocked that you would think that. Totally gobsmacked I am.

Turning back to the topic, does anyone take issue with Huckabee’s statement from 1992? I know I was attending a solid Southern Baptist church at that time and such comments would have been extreme even then. I remember someone invited to speak on the subject in general (HIV/AIDS was still quite fresh but not the mystery it had been 7 or 8 years earlier).

I wish I could remember his name or the book he wrote, but it was sound advice to treat those who were infected as you would anyone else. As I see it, and as a Southern Baptist, Huckabee gets no special pass. His statement and view were not uncommon among some, those who wanted to “send them all to an island” or such hateful things.

On the other hand, I would like more claification from Giuliani before forming an opinion about his statement. It was too vague and off the cuff. Huckabee has reiterated his statements boldly.

In all fairness Eddy does not even come close to the kind of negative comments that others make on this blog. I think you are being unfair in your assessment.

Eddy,

Please keep being yourself and sharing your comments, they are appreciated.