The Pandemic Soul

In the musical Rent, there is a scene where two friends of “Angel,” the cross-dressing gay man who died of AIDS, go to a church to find a place to hold his funeral. As they are turned away by the priest, the audience is meant to understand that there is a vast group of people who are heartless to the plight of the others who don’t look like them.

When I saw this next story, that scene from Rent was the first thing I thought of. Here’s a synopsis:

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.

You can read the full story at MSNBC.

What surprises me even more than the callousness of the church, is the naivety of many good-intentioned people who don’t realize that this type of thing still goes on, or is even legal. While reading comments on the Digg story, someone asks whether this is allowable by law. The answer is, incredibly: yes. The law states that such organizations are “private” and such, are not required to abide by anti-discrimination laws.

I also want to point to a letter written by the partner of the deceased, which attempts to clear up some of this church’s half-truths.

This story speaks for itself. I really have nothing more to say about it.