I love skiing in Breckenridge because it’s a great place for families… but now I know to keep my kid away from the summer film festival:
This documentary explores queer Christians struggle for acceptance in the Episcopal Church, the schism their activism threatens to bring to worldwide Anglicanism, and the ways in which activists such as these shape our personal liberties at the highest institutional levels. While the film celebrates the achievements made by queer Anglicans as they transform an oppressive Christian tradition into a modern force of liberation, it doesn’t excuse the prejudices and abuses of organized religion. On the contrary, the film’s atheist director offers a skeptical critique of religion, particularly in an era when the word faith is often code for nationalism, homophobia, and sundry other forms of oppression. The film’s crisscrossing interviews bring together major players in the Anglican sexuality debate, each representing a different place on the spectrum of sexuality, religion, and politics: Louie Crew, the creator of Integrity, the first Anglican LGBT rights organization, founded in 1974; Gene Robinson,the world’s first openly gay bishop; John S. Spong, apro-gay bishop with agnostic, heretical views; and David Virtue, Anglicanism’s most influential antigay spokesperson. Interspersed throughout the film are the diverse voices of Episcopalians across America whom Louie Crew has anonymously telephoned, giving us a spontaneous picture of how average parishioners perceive the film’s issues of sexual inclusivity. Featuring comments from Ernest Clay, Crew’s African-American husband of thirty-two years, and analysis of how this debate effects gay Anglicans in Africa, the film offers a far-reaching critique of how homophobia continues to operate in multiple cultural contexts.
I’m sure the Virtue-ites will insist I apologize for saying this, but David Virtue is not “Anglicanism’s most influential antigay spokesperson,” any more than Elizabeth Kaeton is Anglicanism’s most influential pro-gay spokesperson. There was a time when perhaps Virtue was, but that time has long since passed.
This is just an example of more hypocrisy from the Episcopal left: Rail against conservatives for holding up one extremist loudmouth and portraying them as representative of the entire movement… then turn around and do it yourself.
If you’re unfamiliar with Ernest Clay, Louie Crew’s “husband,” take a moment and look through the Crew-Clay family album here and here.
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It takes one’s breath away. What else can you say….........