August 10, 2007
Dallas Area Church Won’t Hold Funeral For Gay Man
An Arlington church volunteered to host a funeral Thursday, then reneged on the invitation when it became clear the dead man’s homosexuality would be identified in the service.
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The aspect of this story I find most troubling is that of the role into which the dead man’s brother appears to have been thrust. He is said to be a ‘developmentally disabled’ employee and member of High Point, and it is possible that right from the git-go he was unaware of some nuances of the situation. That it was he who broke the news to the rest of his family and the dead man’s partner that church officials had decided they could not host the service after all — now that’s really heaping cruelty on top of grief. I would hope that perhaps church officials had intended to get back to the family directly and that somehow the brother had gotten wind of the turnabout and beat them to the punch, at which point all hell broke loose, so to speak.
File under “Maxims — Sadder but Wiser”: Beware of mega-churches bearing gifts.