# Soutern Baptist executive caught in gay sex scandal **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 5, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607 "2006-01-05T18:47:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/1 "2006-01-05T18:47:57Z")
[from the Washington Blade](http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=4374) > [@](#): > > An executive committee member of the Southern Baptist Convention was arrested on a lewdness charge for propositioning a plainclothes policeman outside a hotel, police said. > > Lonnie Latham, senior pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church, was booked into Oklahoma County Jail Tuesday night on a misdemeanor charge of offering to engage in an act of lewdness, police Capt. Jeffrey Becker said. Latham was released on $500 bail Wednesday afternoon. > > … > > After posting bond, Latham told KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City that he was set up, and was in the area ministering to people. How many must fall before the idea catches on that those that protest the loudest … ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/2 "2006-01-05T18:55:41Z")
This type of news story fills me with indignation two ways. The first is, obviously, for the hypocrisy of these people- Lonnie Latham, Paul Crouch, Jim Bakker, Gary Paulk and all the other anti-gay Fundamentalists who have been accused with some reliability of being actively gay or bi. The other is that as much as I loathe people like Latham, it majorly irritates me that people’s names should be broadcast in media for what is ultimately a victimless misdemeanor. Hypocritical as it is, this shouldn’t necessarily destroy his career and marriage- it’s not a felony or anything, and they don’t do it for people who are caught speeding or failing to signal or even in most places people who are busted for possession of a joint. One of my college professors was married to a man whose name was published after being busted in a gay sex rest-stop bust. Most of the gossip at the time was about the minister who was arrested in the same raid (he was Pentecostal, white and about 80 and was caught paying for black male hustlers- throw in waving a Communist flag and that’s the ultimate Southern Trifecta of Unpardonable Sins) but the professor became a laughing stock, her husband lost his job and was basically completely humiliated in front of everybody he knew and suicidal, and all for something that while illegal and wrong was still nobody’s business- give him his fine and send him on his way. (Last I heard the professor and her husband are still married and now living in Texas.) ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/3 "2006-01-05T18:58:43Z")
The plain clothes officer misunderstood Latham when he told him the Lord would come to him if he would just get down on his knees, close his eyes and open his mouth. See, Latham was just trying to offer communion and wine. It was all on the up and up, really! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/4 "2006-01-05T19:01:59Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#): > > The plain clothes officer misunderstood Latham when he told him the Lord would come to him if he would just get down on his knees, close his eyes and open his mouth. See, Latham was just trying to offer communion and wine. It was all on the up and up, really! Unfortunately a Southern Baptist minister offering wine would be almost as big a sin in the eyes of his Congregation. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/5 "2006-01-05T19:14:54Z")
There’s a big difference in some random professor’s wife and an executive committee member of a major religious organization that actively condemns gay people. If you want to know who else is arrested in your hometown, you can head to the police station and ask to see the blotter. It’s public record. What makes an arrest newsworthy involves not only the crime itself, but the public stances and standing of the arrestee. If a NORML executive is arrested for pot, it’s no suprise. If the director of the DEA is, then it’s newsworthy. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/6 "2006-01-05T21:58:29Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > How many must fall before the idea catches on that those that protest the loudest … I really think you are ignoring the majority of Souther Baptist people that are not hypocrites and are very nice. And I think it’s “protest too much”. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/7 "2006-01-05T22:52:38Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I really think you are ignoring the majority of Souther Baptist people that are not hypocrites and are very nice. What does that have to do with anything I’ve posted in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/8 "2006-01-05T23:09:57Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I really think you are ignoring the majority of Souther Baptist people that are not hypocrites and are very nice. > > And I think it’s “protest too much”. Thanks to a very nice Southern Baptist couple who used to post here ( ::: waves hi to Sauron and Aries28 if they’re still viewing the Dope ::: ) we’re mostly well aware of how the SBC is set up, independent local congregations supporting state and a national body for “connectional” and mission work. And that the Executive Committee are a self-perpetuating board of literalist homophobes who effectively hijacked the largest denomination of American Protestantism and effectively forced a confession on it. This isn’t the preacher at West Podunk Baptist, it’s one of the guys who decided that the SBC would join the forefront of anti-gay rhetoric with its member parishes breaking away or tagging along willy-nilly. And he deserves whatever humiliation he gets from his hypocrisy. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/9 "2006-01-05T23:24:51Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > How many must fall before the idea catches on that those that protest the loudest … Only the Good Lord knows what secret desires Fred Phelps and Jack Chick must harbor. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/10 "2006-01-05T23:33:35Z")
If only this could happen to Sean Hannity and Pat Robertson. I would never _ever_ stop laughing. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/11 "2006-01-06T00:25:23Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Only the Good Lord knows what secret desires Fred Phelps and Jack Chick must harbor. Now I have a mental image of Phred and Chickie makin’ hot monkey homo sex together. It’s your fault **Shibb**. Therefore, I must condemn you here and now. **DARN YOU SHIBB! DARN YOU TO HECK!** Now excuse me while I go buy a fifty gallon drum of brain bleach and a sledge hammer so I can get this image out of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/12 "2006-01-06T00:44:41Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > Now I have a mental image of Phred and Chickie makin’ hot monkey homo sex together. It’s your fault **Shibb**. Therefore, I must condemn you here and now. Chick to Phred: CALL ME LITTLE SUZIE, BITCH! Phred to Chick: Oh my god, are you drawing this? Latham was very outspoken against Indian gaming. In Franken’s _The Truth (With Jokes)_ he goes into the very sick history of the religious right being used by Abramoff to defeat Indian reservation gaming initiatives, a motion based 100% in big money rather than morality. (Abramoff got millions from some reservations to lobby for the closing of casinoes belonging to other reservations, some of whom he was also in the pay of, and filtered millions to Christian Reich organizations to get their support with the voters.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/13 "2006-01-06T00:46:06Z")
PS- Can you believe the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie_Latham) is already inclusive of this and a big picture of Latham? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/14 "2006-01-06T04:51:30Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > [from the Washington Blade](http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=4374) > > How many must fall before the idea catches on that those that protest the loudest … Well, I’ll admit that I might be mistaken. I though the “many” referred to Southern Baptist(I’m not one). Most(I’d wager ove r90%) of Southern Baptists are very clean and nice. In fact, I’d wager that 99% of Southern Baptist ministers are very good people. What was the motivation for your original post? ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/15 "2006-01-06T05:04:02Z")
I think it’s pretty clear that the OP was about the enormous hypocrisy of Latham, not about Southern Baptists in general. That someone who does his best to spread evil in the world would be “guilty” of that which he condemns is pretty amusing. And, unfortunately, experience has shown us that many of the people who preach the loudest are in fact often guilty of actual, real crimes (rather than the imagined crimes that they accuse others of). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/16 "2006-01-06T07:14:37Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > In fact, I’d wager that 99% of Southern Baptist ministers are very good people. That is a wager I would definitely take if there were any way of quantifying the answer. (Of course the SoBaps take a dim view of wagering, so it’d be kind of ironic if you won.) ---
**Author:** ![mojave66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mojave66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mojave66)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/17 "2006-01-06T07:30:36Z")
May I add that the average Southern Baptist probably isn’t that much of a homophobe? Most of them have queer relatives (like me), have queer friends or have ministered to queer folks. In fact, my cousin’s husband, a SoBaptist minister, shocked _me_ by quoting Harvey Milk in a conversation about his work. I should also add that if you mention the SBC, all my relatives roll their eyes in frustration. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/18 "2006-01-06T09:51:34Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I really think you are ignoring the majority of Souther Baptist people that are not hypocrites and are very nice. So that’d be the ones that _don’t_ protest loudly? Like **Homebrew** actually implied. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/19 "2006-01-06T13:17:33Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > Now I have a mental image of Phred and Chickie makin’ hot monkey homo sex together. It’s your fault **Shibb**. Therefore, I must condemn you here and now. > > **DARN YOU SHIBB! DARN YOU TO HECK!** > > Now excuse me while I go buy a fifty gallon drum of brain bleach and a sledge hammer so I can get this image out of my head. My work here is done. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607/20 "2006-01-06T13:46:03Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I really think you are ignoring the majority of Souther Baptist people that are not hypocrites and are very nice. > > And I think it’s “protest too much”. Actually, if they choose to identify with a religion whose Big Voices condemn homosexuality, they either have to develop a Bigger Voice and change the public perception or weather the humiliation of being associated with those hypocritial Southern Baptists. You can’t have it both ways. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/soutern-baptist-executive-caught-in-gay-sex-scandal/338607.md?page=2)