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The New York Times
Church Cancels
Memorial for Gay Navy Vet
By AP from
nytimes.com on the Web, August 11, 2007
ARLINGTON, Texas -- A
megachurch canceled a memorial service for a Navy veteran 24 hours before it was
to start because the deceased was gay.
Officials at the nondenominational High Point Church knew that Cecil Howard
Sinclair was gay when they offered to host his service, said his sister,
Kathleen Wright. But after his obituary listed his life partner as one of
his survivors, she said, it was called off.
''It's a slap in the face. It's like, 'Oh, we're sorry he died, but he's
gay so we can't help you,''' she said Friday.
Wright said High Point offered to hold the service for Sinclair because their
brother is a janitor there. Sinclair, who served in the first Gulf War,
died Monday at age 46 from an infection after surgery to prepare him for a heart
transplant.
The church's pastor, the Rev. Gary Simons, said no one knew Sinclair, who was
not a church member, was gay until the day before the Thursday service, when
staff members putting together his video tribute saw pictures of men ''engaging
in clear affection, kissing and embracing.''
Simons said the church believes homosexuality is a sin, and it would have
appeared to endorse that lifestyle if the service had been held there.
''We did decline to host the service -- not based on hatred, not based on
discrimination, but based on principle,'' Simons told The Associated Press.
''Had we known it on the day they first spoke about it -- yes, we would have
declined then. It's not that we didn't love the family.''
Simons said the decision had nothing to do with the obituary. He said the
church offered to pay for another site for the service, made the video and
provided food for more than 100 relatives and friends.
''Even though we could not condone that lifestyle, we went above and beyond for
the family through many acts of love and kindness,'' Simons said.
Wright called the church's claim about the pictures ''a bold-faced lie.''
She said she provided numerous family pictures of Sinclair, including some with
his partner, but said none showed men kissing or hugging.
The 5,000-member High Point Church was founded in 2000 by Simons and his wife,
April, whose brother is Joel Osteen, well-known pastor of the 38,000-member
Lakewood Church in Houston. Now High Point meets in a 432,000-square-foot
facility in Arlington, near Dallas.
Wright said relatives declined the church's offer to hold the service at a
community center because they felt it was an inappropriate venue. It
ultimately was held at a funeral home, but the cancellation still lingered in
some minds, she said.
On the Net: High Point Church:
http://www.churchunusual.com
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