I’ve been wrestling for over a week now with whether or not to write about Dr. George Rekers and his “baggage boy”, Lucien*. Actually, none of this is Lucien’s fault, nor should it be. I’m truly sad that he has to deal with all the shit that’s about to come down on his head. Certainly how he feels now that he knows exactly who Dr. Rekers is and what he’s done to the LBGT community.

Dr. Reker’s story looks like just another self-hating closeted gay man who’s been outed. But he’s not just any closet case. Nope. Dr. Rekers is one of the co-founders, along with James Dobson, of the Family Research Council. Amusingly enough, Tony Perkins and the FRC are doing everything they can to distance themselves from this guy. But no matter.

Rekers is also a Baptist minister who has preached hatred and intolerance from his pulpit, much like another self-hating closeted bigot I remember by the name of Ted “I only do it when I’m high” Haggard. Incidentally, Haggard ad some words to say on the subject of Dr. Rekers in an interview with the Advocate this week (this courtesy of The Bilerico Project):

“I know exactly what it feels like to have both sides hating you bitterly,” Haggard said. “Some Christians will throw him away. Some gays will crusade against him.”

Oh Ted. If only you had practiced a little more of that Christian tolerance and love none of that would have happened to you. But anyway. That’s what made me write about this. When Susie Bright started “Bet on Ted”, her pool to see how long it would take before Haggard finally came out, I wrote about my feelings about Ted at the time.

Why would any of this be important to me as an adoptive parent? It’s because Rekers and people like him would rather see children age out of foster care, carrying their belongings in a Hefty bag from foster placement to foster placement, rather than being a part of a loving, stable, two parent home – if those two parents happen to be a same-sex couple. This is the man who is responsible for the bans on same-sex adoption in both Florida and Arkansaas. This is the “expert witness” Florida’s Attorney General used to defend the legal challenge against FL’s adoption ban (only one of two people he could find willing to testify in court, by the way). He was the expert witness picked by the Arkansas attorney general to defend Arkansas’ same-sex adoption ban, which was finally overturned last month.

This is merely my opinion, but Rekers is deserving of just as much love and compassion as he has shown to others. Especially to potential adoptive families.

On the bright side, all this has gotten me reading an awesome blog more regularly, Joe.My.God. He’s done some terrific reporting on this story, and is trying to make certain that Lucien is ok.

*Yes, I realize that Lucien is not his real name. Yes, I realize that he’s already dealing with way more shit than he bargained for. But none of this is his fault – he had no idea that Rekers wasn’t who he said he was until the story broke.

Tags: Adoption, douchebaggery, LGBT

Posted in News
3 Comments Posted by spyderkl