Read what the Ames Tribune had to say
Several people stand in line as they wait to address the panel at the May 31 Town Hall meeting in Ames, Iowa.
Town Hall Meeting Culminates Iowa Campaign
AMES, Iowa – Why has it taken so long?
That was one of the first questions from the floor during a Town Hall meeting in Ames, Iowa that was held to educate citizens about how religion-based bigotry is being used to justify discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and how history has proven it wrong.
The Town Hall meeting, which culminated a two-month Faith In America campaign in the Ames community, drew a large crowd of just over 200 people to the Ames City Auditorium.
The meeting capped an aggressive Faith In America media campaign that included newspaper and radio advertisements, direct mailings to residents and grassroots canvassing in the community.
Comments made during the question-answer period at the meeting reiterated one of the campaign’s premises – that Americans are eager for a public discussion about the injustice of legal discrimination being justified with bigotry disguised as religious truth.
Numerous people who attended the meeting expressed thanks to Mitchell Gold, founder of Faith in America, and Jimmy Creech, executive director of the organization, for bringing the discussion to their community.
“I’m a lesbian mother in Ames and I had no idea that there was this kind of support here,” said one of the attendees who spoke during the public comment period. “I want to thank you and your organization for making this happen.”
About 20 individuals attended the meeting who said they were opposed to a message that advances homosexuality as morally acceptable. One evangelical pastor who spoke during the public comment period had been interviewed by a Focus on the Family radio program when the media campaign was first launched.
Creech responded to the pastor by stating that Faith In America does not agree with those who interpret the Bible to say homosexuality is a sin. However, Creech said the organization respects the freedom of religious expression afforded to all citizens by the U.S. Constitution. However, he stated that it is a violation of the Constitution when a particular religious belief is used to justify legal discrimination against other American citizens.
A canvasser speaks with an Ames community resident during the campaign.
The Town Hall attendants listened intently as Creech described various historical precedents of religion-based bigotry that was once used to justify other forms of discrimination – such as segregation, subjugation of women and laws that once banned interracial marriage. He described how religious beliefs were once used to justified those social injustices and how it is being used today to justify discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans.
One woman who spoke during the public comment read from a 1992 S. Dakota Supreme Court family court case which vividly demonstrated how religion-based bigotry was used against her daughter during a child custody case.
The quote from that ruling stated:
“Lesbian mother has harmed these children forever. To give her rights of reasonable visitation so that she can teach them to be homosexuals, would be the zenith of poor judgment for the judiciary of this state. Until such time that she can establish, after years of therapy and demonstrated conduct, that she is no longer a lesbian living a life of abomination (see Leviticus 18:22), she should be totally estopped from contaminating these children. After years of treatment, she could then petition for rights of visitation. My point is: she is not fit for visitation at this time. Her conduct is presently harmful to these children. Thus, she should have no visitation.”
The media campaign used newspaper and radio ads, direct mailing, billboards and door-to-door canvassing as part of the four-week educational campaign.
Justice Frank E. Henderson, South Dakota Supreme Court
Mary Green, the mother of the woman referenced in that case, stated in a tearful address how such religionbased bigotry has had a devastating and long-lasting effect on her daughter.
The meeting format was comprised of a four-member panel, which in addition to Creech, included:
• Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, Iowa State Representative, House District 45. Rep. Wessel-Kroeschell played an instrumental role in working to get Iowa Senate File 427 passed in the Legislature on April 25, 2007.
• Jonathan Wilson, a prominent attorney and gay man who has been active in Des Moines local and state politics. Wilson spoke about his personal experience with religion-based bigotry.
• Carolyn Cutrona, PhD., Professor of Psychology and Director of the Institute for Social and Behavioral Research, Iowa State University. Cutrona, whose daughter is a lesbian, addressed the positive role religion plays in supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.