UPDATE 12/2/08: Crystal Dixon is suing the university where she worked for firing her over her Christian views on homosexuality.
From WorldnetDaily.com:
Crystal Dixon, the former associate vice president of human resources at the University of Toledo, was fired in May after she objected to an opinion article in the Toledo Free Press that compared striving for “gay rights” with the civil rights struggles of black Americans.
I wrote about Crystal back in May of this year when this story first broke. Since then she has gained national support and has to feel vindicated with the high percentages of blacks that voted against gay marriage in both California and Florida. More and more are speaking out against the ridiculous comparison of gay rights to the civil rights era.
According to the article in WND:
Now, with the help of the Thomas More Law Center, a not-for-profit law firm dedicated to the defense and promotion of the religious freedom of Christians, Dixon has today filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court claiming violations of her constitutional rights of free speech.
I in particularly liked the response given by Robert A.J. Gagnon, the author of “The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics” and “Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views,” when he said:
“Ms. Dixon is absolutely right that sexual orientation is not akin to race or sex. Unlike a homosexual orientation, race and sex are 100 percent congenitally predetermined, cannot be fundamentally changed in their essence by cultural influences, and are not a primary or direct desire for behavior that is incompatible with embodied structures.”
Wow! Great article and I’m very happy that Ms. Dixon is suing the University of Toledo for her unfair firing. Read the entire article here on WorldNetDaily.com: Homosexuality editorial puts 1st Amendment on trial.
———————-
(From May, 2008)
Recently, a college official was fired because of her column explaining why being black was different than being gay. Crystal Dixon wrote in response to an article in the same publication by an author who equated gay rights with black rights and the rights of the physically disabled. She took issue with the claim that they are civil rights victims. She explained by writing that, “I cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a Black woman. I am genetically and biologically a Black woman and very pleased to be so as my Creator intended.” (Gay Rights and Wrongs: Another Perspective, by Crystal Dixon.)
Living here in California, that issue is very much front and center now that gays can legally be married. Article after article I’m reading how gays are declaring to have the same rights as blacks and women. But I also take issue with the Gay/Lesbian movement and the claim that they should have the same rights as all others.
They shouldn’t - plain and simple! As Crystal Dixon wrote that she cannot wake up and NOT be black, THAT is the major difference! One can CHOOSE whom they want to have sex with and they can even CHANGE that lifestyle as Ms. Dixon points out in the many organizations dedicated to Gays/Lesbians who do change and go straight.
As a Christian, I could never support laws that legislate “sin.” That’s why I’m very happy that court systems such as the one here in San Diego will allow their county workers to be excused from gay marriages. County Assessor-Recorder-Clerk Greg Smith says that, “I’m trying to strike a balance. I want to show dignity and respect to my staff and equally I want to show dignity and respect to the couples who want to get married,”. Now that’s awesome! If gay marriages are going to be allowed, then yes, leave it where workers don’t have to participate if it’s against their consciousness to do so!
It is not a sin to be black. That’s not changeable. TV actress and talk show host Ellen Degeneres lost a girlfriend, Ann Heche, when she decided she wanted to be with a man. Ann Heche woke up and decided one day to go from being a lesbian, to being straight (or bisexual…who knows.) What black person or female person can wake up and one day and change to being something else? Being black and/or female is whom God made us to be and not based upon anything we DO. A gay/lesbian is whom they are based upon a specific action - a sexual action at that!
I mention Ellen because she’s one of those who declares that she is no different than being a black person. She says on her show today to her guest Senator McCain, “We are all the same people, all of us. You’re no different than I am. Our love is the same.”
The feelings of love may be the same, but the ACTS are not. For the Christian, homosexual acts are despised by God and that is made evident in both the Old and New Testaments. God’s approval of the sex act is what determines the love that one can have for the other. God made it evident that marriage between a man and a woman is what He designed for the good of what He calls “family.” And as Ms. Dixon wrote, deviations from God’s norm are met with serious consequences.
Of course, there are many homosexuals who don’t believe in God and many who do believe in God, call themselves Christian, and still practice the homosexual lifestyle. That fact alone will never change what God has written in His word that determines the true “rights” of His created beings. His true meaning of marriage, with the creatures He calls “man” and “woman.”
Hello Carlotta,
I followed your blog until it stopped I think in January. Every other week or so for a while, I checked back to see if you had returned to blogging. It looks like when right after I stopped checking, you resumed blogging.
Good post. If you do not already know about this blog, you may want to check out the Gay Christian Movement Watch at http://gcmwatch.wordpress.com/
It deals with the false teaching of the homosexual lifestyle being Christian.
By: Bev on May 31, 2008
at 12:00 am
Yep Bev, I’m a “sometimey” blogger. I’m not as dedicated as folks like yourself, but when I get inspired, then I just let it happen! Um, but it just doesn’t happen that often!
Anyway, that website you mentioned I first saw from another Christian blogger, Christine over at Talk Wisdom. Gcmwatch.wordpress.com is an EXCELLENT site!
It’s crazy how this homosexual agenda is exploding and how intolerant many of the Gay/Lesbian folks are toward those of us who don’t agree with them! Of course, this isn’t surprising…just part of what’s already been warned in the Word! Check it out here what is happening over in Orlando Florida:
Disney’s "Gay Day"
But what really get’s me is the comparison between civil rights and gay rights. They are stepping on my toes with that one! It’s bad enough that GLs are purposely and unrepentantly practicing this sinful lifestyle, but to equate it to something such as one’s ethnicity is taking it a bit too far!
Anyway, I’ll see how long I continue this blogging. And oh yes, you see how your fellow sister here had lost her mind and was going to vote for Obama. I was an independent but re-registered as a Republican so I can vote for McCain. He’s the lesser of two evils and I really like his stand against gay marriages.
Praying for our country!
cm
By: Carlotta Morrow on May 31, 2008
at 1:21 am
“Praying for our country!”
Guess what, this past Thursday I decided to do one of my Sunday posts on praying for our country.
I am glad that you are not voting for Sen. Obama. He is too green and too far down that leftist (socialist) road. Now do not think that having the first black viable candidate hasn’t affected me, but you have to look at where he stands on the issues, like abortion for instance. He said in a faith discussion on CNN that he did not know where life began. He could not tell when a mass of cells became life. Now not voting for him because he is thought to be a Muslim and/or because of his middle name (which was given to him) by his parents) is just ignorant.
My 81 year old mother, 2 sisters and brother in-law voted for Sen. Obama in the Pennsylvania primary. One of my sisters had previously been for Sen. Clinton. In PA primaries, there is no cross party voting. Republicans vote for Republicans and Democrats vote for Democrats. Since there where no Independent candidates, Independents could not vote in the PA primary.
My mother is vacillating. Now she would rather see Sen. McCain win because she thinks Sen. Obama will get killed, but when November rolls around, she will be voting for Sen. Obama (or Senator Clinton). I know if my father were still here, he would be voting for Sen. Obama. He was paying close attention to his candidacy when he died.
I am the new and lone Republican. My adult family members are Christian and conservative in their lifestlyes, but will not vote for a conservative Republican (not even Se. McCain). They are stuck on the Republicans being for the rich and inviting and gaining the racist south vote myth. They really feel that Republicans are not for people like them.
By: Bev on May 31, 2008
at 11:19 am
Bev, I saw your post on praying for our country. Excellent! I tried to make a comment but it kept showing as “anonymous.” I don’t know what I was doing wrong, perhaps you can show me the way here!
By: Carlotta Morrow on June 2, 2008
at 11:20 pm
I think you can delete anonymous and put your name in. Opera keeps changing different aspects of the blog.
You can also just leave your name and blog address within your comment. Your comment will come up as anonymous, which I allow from comment options.
By: Bev on June 4, 2008
at 5:35 am
http://www.sovo.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=18754
This homosexual publication is reporting that Bishop Eddie Long is ‘open’ to homosexual theology. I will believe it when I hear it out of his mouth. I distinctly remember watching his church service online in 2003 a week or two after Gene Robinson was ordained bishop in the Episcopal Church. You just did not hear hardly anything about this from the prominent ministers. He gave the strongest message I heard about this. I suspect that this article is twisted. They have to know that these people want to get to prominent ministers so they can be used to support their evil cause.
By: Pamela on June 8, 2008
at 12:23 pm
Pamela, I was reading the same thing somewhere, but I remembered my skepticism of the article also.
Anxious to hear responses to these allegations.
By: Carlotta Morrow on June 8, 2008
at 3:09 pm
Soulforce is going to the large ministries purely for publicity to try and legitimize their cause. I would not tell ministers not to meet with them BUT they need to make it clear where they stand up front. As much as they have talked about Joel Osteen lately at least he got that right after meeting with them. ORU would not meet with them at all. As I stated there is a group of former students and ORU alumni that have been trying for years to get ORU to change their stand on GBLT people. I know at times their ways may seem outdated but at least on sin issues they stand for right. Again I would not fault any preacher for meeting with these people. They just need to have their beliefs secure and be very careful how they say things to them. I would do that anyway with the media. They are looking for preachers like Carlton Pearson that say they are Christian but do not hold to the truths to the Bible.
I just checked New Birth’s web site. I did not see anything about this on there.
By: Pamela on June 8, 2008
at 9:16 pm
Pamela, I’m praying for the pastors to stay steadfast in their faith. And prayer for the ones who never held the faith that they submit themselves to the true word of God!
Thanks for the info. I’m definitely following the moves that soulforce makes. I posted earlier that one of their next places is Rick Warren’s church in Orange County, Ca. Very interested to see how Rick Warren responds especially since he’s been under the microscope lately.
By: Carlotta Morrow on June 8, 2008
at 10:26 pm
[...] Gay Rights vs Civil Rights - not the same! (Rehash of my 5/22 post titled “Homosexuality and Black, Not the Same Thing”) [...]
By: Gay Rights vs Civil Rights - not the same! « Christocentric on August 6, 2008
at 7:21 am
Excellent blog post!!!
By: YLG on October 23, 2008
at 8:18 am
Thank you YLG!
Check out my post “Gay Rights vs. Civil Rights - not the Same” which is similar to this post in content as well. (Sehttp://blog.christocentric.com/wp-login.php?action=logout
Logout »e link above your comment).
By: Carlotta on October 23, 2008
at 8:33 am
That is good news! Thanks for the update.
The real homophobes are the ones who fired Dixon, because only someone with an irrational fear of the gay lobby could do a cowardly thing like that.
By: Neil on December 2, 2008
at 7:54 pm
You’re so right on Neil! In fact the article talks about the extreme intolerance shown by the homosexual supporters.
I can’t wait for the outcome of this case! Hopefully, she will be more than compensated for the ridiculous treatment she received by the university.
By: Carlotta on December 2, 2008
at 8:17 pm
Gays and Black ( African Americans ) do have a little in common. During slavery and the Jim Crow and maybe even today. Lighted blacks have passed for white. Gays pass for straight until they come out of the closet. Now passing for white was dangerous and so is coming out the closet. Gays and Blacks have in common that in history they have been hated.
To God sin is sin. Sexual sin has consequences regardless of weather you are straight or gay. I believe we should allow God to handle gay people, we don’t have to regulate anything. He has proven he will handle it look at Sodom and Gomorrah.
By: Ly Syin on December 3, 2008
at 8:42 am
I agree Ly that we do have a little in common, but the bottom line is that one is sinful and the other is not. Homosexuality is sin while being black is not.
Sodom and Gomorrah was an example of God’s hatred of sin. He doesn’t execute punishment for every sinful situation, but what a great example we have to look up in the scriptures and share with people. It is our responsibility to take a stand against sin and in some cases even regulate it (can you imagine if we had no laws against crime?) But final judgment will be our Lord’s!
By: Carlotta on December 3, 2008
at 8:58 am
Ly, can you name one group, demographic, ethnicity that has never been “hated”? Just curious about your rather strange black-gay commonality comparison.
By: gcmwatch on December 3, 2008
at 4:59 pm
I disagree with the decision to fire Crystal Dixon. I’m not a fan of WorldNetDaily as a source, because in the past I’ve read articles from there that presented facts that were substantially incorrect.
But the gist of this seems to be correct: Crystal Dixon, associate vice president of human resources at the University of Toledo, was dismissed from her position after publishing an editorial in which she wrote that homosexuals violate a divine order and will face consequences.
Here’s what I think about this case:
1. It was wrong of the University of Toledo to fire Dixon, just as it would have been wrong for them to fire a person who wrote an editorial stating that “Christians can wake up tomorrow and choose not to be Christian” or “Muslims can wake up tomorrow and choose not to be Muslim.” Both statements would be similarly controversial, yet still constitute free speech.
2. It _would_ be appropriate for the UT to request information from Dixon based on her article; for example, to ask her if she felt that should could adequately carry out her job and uphold the university’s nondiscrimination policy, since she held a high level position in human resources.
The purpose of the First Amendment, and more importantly, the principle behind the First Amendment, is that all speech is protected, even if I disagree with it. So, Crystal Dixon should face the same consequences as would any administrator criticizing behavior-based groups of people such as single parents, Christians, Jews, vegans, or left-handers.
And while a public statement as a private citizen that “Vegans/Christians/homosexuals shall face consequences” might merit an inquiry about a person’s ability to perform their job*, it ought not automatically result in a firing.
*(for example, it would be appropriate to ask if you thought any of those consequences should be the result of a Human Resources department decision.)
By: Phil on December 4, 2008
at 8:09 pm
Freedom of speech - we finally agree on something Phil!
I’m recovering from a little shock in not having to dispute your word!
By: Carlotta on December 4, 2008
at 11:30 pm