Minister who helped change views of homophobic Reggie White dies

[kweerwolf]

From Mike Fitzpatrick's "Reality Check" blog:

It was with great sadness that I read of the passing of civil rights leaders and Christian moral leader Rev. William Sloane Coffin April 12.

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Gay activists nationally will remember that Rev. Coffin marched in New York City's Stonewall 25 parade back in 1994. We in Wisconsin will also remember his principled response to the late Reggie White following the Packer hall of famer's notorious speech to the Wisconsin Assembly at the request of Congressional candidate John Gard: the one where White in a few sentences managed to insultingly stereotype Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans and gay people.

(The blog also carries the text of Rev. Sloane's "Open Letter to Reggie White" which I've excerpted below. It's well worth reading the entire letter.)

As Christians, we don't honor the higher truth we find in Christ by ignoring truths found elsewhere. I'm impressed that the American Psychological Association does not consider homosexuality an illness, and that natural scientists have discovered homosexuality in mammals, birds and insects. Clearly, God is more comfortable with diversity than we are!
In my experience, a lot of people talk in the abstract about homosexuality being a sin, but without first-hand knowledge of gays and lesbians. Wouldn't it be better to talk with rather than about homosexuals?

I write you all this in large part because today the "gay agenda" has replaced the "communist threat" as the battering ram of reactionary politics. It grieves me to see you put your considerable muscle behind such a blunt instrument of prejudice.

(Edited to add link)

http://mikecpi.blogspot.com/2006/04/rip-rev-william-sloane-coffin-1924.html

[saltpoint]

1. What a beautifully forceful and very necessary letter.

A keeper.

Thanks for posting this, kweerwolf.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. The passing of Rev Coffin is a great loss to the fight for understanding

and justice for all.

[liberalnurse]

3. Is Reggie White dead?

Was he the one his mamma did the soup commerical with?

[cboy4]

4. Nope, you're thinking of Donovan McNabb....the star Philadelphia

Eagles quarterback.

Reggie White wasn't interested in soup commercials.

He was a hall of fame bigot who probably would have tried to ban gay people from attending Green Bay Packer games if he knew he really, truly could get away with it.

Sorry to knock your guy Packers fans, but he was a bigot who should have known better considering he was an African American playing in a very white Wisconsin city.

[kweerwolf]

5. Reggie recented his homophobic views in his last years

Here's a link to an MSNBC story about Reggie's later years ...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6756065 /

I had only known about Reggie through some of his homophobic statements and had a very low view of him. I was glad to hear he was moving away from his earlier positions and wish he would have lived longer to be a voice of reason who could have reached more people.

Here are a couple of statements from the article:

White began to question the whole structure of organized religion. He felt that the money he raised could have gone directly to help people who needed it rather than to paying munificent salaries to church leaders and building ostentatious buildings.

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Had he lived, he would have found that he needed to learn Greek, the language of much of the New Testament, as well. I have no doubt he would have learned that, too, if that was what it would take to complete his quest.

He learned a lot in the time he had. White has in the past couple of years said he greatly regrets the statements he made about homosexuals and about god directing him to sign with the Packers. He knows he made them out of ignorance only because he dared to challenge his own beliefs.

I wish the media would have played up his change of heart as much as they did his homophobic statements in front of the Wisconsin legislature.

[cboy4]

7. Kweerwolf...I appreciate the information, but I'd be lying if I didn't say

I still need more convincing.

Having said that, if indeed it's true White was sorry, perhaps some day I'll be able to look past all of those ugly comments and focus on the hall of famer that he is.

[liberalnurse]

6. Thank you for the clarification.

A dead bigot is fine with me.

[cboy4]

8. You're welcome. I guess White was reportedly trying to change his

bigoted ways???

I don't know if that's true, but I certainly understand your disgust concerning White's conduct.

[Duncan Grant]

9. "Oh, no, no, no. That didn't change" - Sara White in article dated 2/3/06

I'm a big fan of William Sloane Coffin, I keep a copy of "Credo" close by - especially these days.

There's seems to be conflicting sources regarding Reggie White renouncing his homophobic remarks and beliefs. In an article about his induction to the Football Hall of Fame his wife, Sara, says that his stance did not change.

I'd love to find a definitive quote from Reggie that proves he recanted -- but I've had no luck.

<snip>
Reggie's most controversial statement came in 1998 while addressing the Wisconsin Legislature. He declared, "Homosexuality is a decision, it's not a race. People from all different ethnic backgrounds live in this lifestyle. But people from all different ethnic backgrounds also are liars and cheaters and malicious and backstabbing."

There was a major furor. Sara says he never backed down from that stance.

"Oh, no, no, no. That didn't change," she said. "Homosexuality wasn't changed. And let me just tell you about our Wisconsin legislators. They were not as bad as people reported them to be. The media tore that up.

"I believe God allowed that to happen to put some thick skin on Reggie because Reggie was hurt by it. Because he was there, he knew what he said, he knew how it was reported and he is very sensitive. But I think God allowed that to give him thicker skin for where he was going to go. Because where he was going to go was much deeper than that."
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Link