''How is marriage protected by intimidating gay and lesbian people into loveless and lonely lives? I am morally compelled to vote no on Proposition 8.... I know these words of truth will cost me dearly. But to withhold them . . . I would become an accomplice to a moral evil that strips gay and lesbian people not only of their civil rights but of their human dignity as well.... At what point do you cease to be an agent for healing and growth and become an accomplice of injustice?''
Father Geoffrey Farrow, pastor of the St. Paul Newman Center in Fresno, CA, speaking out against the ''numbing silence'' of the Catholic church's prejudice against gays and asking his parishoners to vote against the anti-gay marriage initiative known as Proposition 8. He also came out as gay to a reporter. As a result of speaking against the Church's teachings, Farrow was stripped of his salary and benefits and ordered to stay away from the people of his church. (LA Times)
