EDGE Boston

Thou shalt not marry another man if thou art gay.

Thou shalt not adopt a child if thou art gay.

Thou shalt not be in a healthy relationship if thou art gay.

Thou shalt be hired to go to Europe to carry another man’s luggage and give him naked massages.

Thus saith the Lord. Amen.

On May 4th, the Miami New Times reported that 61-year old Dr. George Rekers was photographed at the Miami International Airport with a 20-year old ’rentboy’ named "Lucien." Outrage! Scandal! The gay media went into hyperdrive; the Christian apologists went into hyper-hyperdrive. A Facebook group was even created, called George Rekers Luggage Carriers, Inc. Rekers immediately dismissed the claims that he was gay, and stated "I had surgery, and I can’t lift luggage. That’s why I hired him."

Of course. And Bill Clinton hired Monica Lewinsky to get a spot out of the carpet.

It turns out that Rekers had done plenty of ’heavy lifting’ himself, in the form of anti-gay activism. Rekers - who is a founding member of the Family Research Council, an officer with the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, and the author of several books such as Growing Up Straight: What Families Should Know About Sexuality and Shaping Your Child’s Sexual Identity - has spent the last several decades denouncing the ’evils’ of homosexuality, all while waving the convenient banner of "Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin!"

Although on second thought, maybe he should hire someone to wave the banner for him as well.

In response to Rekers ’rentboy’ scandal, the Family Research Council issued the following statement:

"Yesterday evening, we began to see online "news" accounts of Dr. George Rekers, a reparative therapist for homosexuals, actually being involved with a male prostitute. Some of the stories identified Rekers as being a founding board member of Family Research Council . . . I can say that while it’s extremely disappointing when any Christian leader engages in the very activities that they "preach" against, it’s not surprising. The Scriptures clearly teach the fallen nature of all people. We each have a choice to act upon that nature or accept the forgiveness offered by grace through faith in Jesus Christ."

This is certainly not the first time that an anti-gay minister has been toppled by a secret gay scandal. Ted Haggard, the former pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, was discovered visiting a male prostitute in 2006; John Paulk, a former leader of Focus on the Family and former chairman of the board for Exodus International North America, was witnessed visiting a gay bar in 2000; Roy Clements, a prominent British evangelical minister, was revealed to have a relationship with another man in 1999. Christian leaders preach that believers should "love the sinner, hate the sin," but what are Christians to believe when the Christian leaders are guilty of the very sin they’re preaching against? In fact, didn’t some guy named Jesus Christ once say the following:

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:3-5)

If I understand this scripture correctly, Jesus believes that hypocritical closeted gay ministers should be more concerned about removing the ’beam’ from their own eye. Among other orifices.

Nobody is going to hire Billy Joel to sit on the board of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Nobody is going to hire Mel Gibson to be the spokesperson for the American Jewish Congress. Yet when it comes to some anti-gay Christian organizations, the leaders and board members often turn out to be closeted gay men and women themselves. Who then is the bigger sinner: the person who commits the sin, or the person who commits the sin while telling others to not commit the same sin?

George Rekers clearly has a long road of self-reflection ahead of him, and nobody knows what may come of his associations with the Family Research Council.

One thing though is definitely certain: he should invest in luggage with wheels.