Did Christian prejudice against gays help contribute to Whitney Houston’s death?
Here’s something to consider.
Whitney Houston is dead. The pop-singer was laid to rest this Saturday.
And the conservatives have been clucking their tongues ever since. They are amused/annoyed/disgusted by all the attention being paid to Whitney Houston.
All that attention, they say, should instead be paid to all the soldiers arriving home from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Because, in the minds of conservatives, one cannot feel something for the death of Whitney Houston and have room in their heart to feel anything for any soldier. That there might be one or two people mourning both Miss Houston and the slain soldiers seems to not be their concern.
But they are really clucking their tongues over exactly HOW she dies. She apparently was found dead in a bathtub. She was off the wagon. Booze was found in her hotel room.
She MUST have been drunk, some say. She must have been on pills, others add. Conservatives say this speaks volumes about celebrities, and the fact that dirty liberals are so concerned about the death of this alcoholic drug abuser.
Fair enough. Well, I mean, when I heard about Whitney’s death, I said “how sad” and got on with my life. But if conservatives want to paint with broad brush strokes, so be it.
But here is another life lesson to be taken from Whitney’s life and death that conservatives don’t really talk about.
You see, Whitney Houston was gay. At least, that’s the story some people are telling.
Her family and business managers, the story goes, pressured her to end a relationship she was having with a woman. It would be bad for her image. Bad for her career. And it certainly went against the teachings of her church.
So, she gave in. She ended up married to bad-boy musician Bobby Brown. She he beat her and helped contribute to her drug problem, but at least it wasn’t another woman. Her sexuality was a choice, and she made the correct, Christian choice.
And THAT is the lesson from Whitney Houston’s death that the conservatives are not telling. They aren’t telling the story of what happens to someone where they are forced to deny who they are. When they are forced by convention to give up their great love of their life. They don’t tell the story of a woman who ended up married to the wrong man instead of the right woman.
And here is the message I asked you to consider: If gay marriage has been allowed earlier, might Whitney Houston be alive today?
February 20th, 2012 at 3:08 pm
No yoga for you Bill. You’ve already done all the s t r e t c h I n g you need.
Whew!!!
February 20th, 2012 at 6:57 pm
…she made the correct, Christian choice.
No, Billy, she did not. Here is something to ponder from 2 Corinthians 6;14:
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
Bobby Brown never professed Christianity (as Houston did). So you’re wrong, she did not make “the correct, Christian choice.”
Rumors of Houston’s bi-sexuality/lesbianism has been debunked, and using a British tabloid like the Daily Mail to speak for conservatives should be beneath you.
February 20th, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Great post, Billy. This is an article I would have never encountered on my own. It is a shame that the American media was more intent on spinning a yarn using Kevin Costner who acted with her in a movie 20 years ago. The article made the last 20 years of her life understandable.
Of course, many people in the public eye have been forced to hide their true selves. Look at Senator Larry Craig whose career in public service ended in a Minneapolis bathroom, or the current scandal of Paul Babeu who threatened his illegal immigrant lover with deportation if he told anyone the truth about the sheriff during his run in the congressional primary.
February 20th, 2012 at 8:51 pm
Only YOU can turn a tragic life and death event into a gay/straight /liberal/conservative/hate debate. Give it a rest.
February 20th, 2012 at 10:56 pm
But as i made perfectly clear, her death was at least partially due to the anti-gay attitudes of her and her family’s religion. Do you not believe that a gay women should not be able to live her life as a gay woman? I mean, what is your objection to this post? I mean, other than that belief?
February 20th, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Whoa, there! The anti-gay Christian ideology is that any marriage between a man and a woman is better than any marriage between a woman and a woman. Hey, Christian ideology is that no marriage is valid between a man and a woman, despite all evidence to the contrary.
February 20th, 2012 at 11:20 pm
Christian ideology is that no marriage is valid between a man and a woman, despite all evidence to the contrary
Billy, didn’t you have your stroke shortly after you started spewing anti-Christian hatred?
February 21st, 2012 at 9:55 am
Indeed he did. That’s God talking to him.
February 21st, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Guys GUYS! Bill is trolling. Stop feeding him.
February 21st, 2012 at 3:22 pm
Yes. I am trolling. But you can’t stop commenting.
February 22nd, 2012 at 7:04 am
Regarding the last comments by David p. Jordan and GOPer:
Those comments are NOT very Christian of either of you. Even a minor stoke is no laughing matter. Instead of wishing ill upon your fellow human being for expressing a differing opinion, you should do what I do which is FORGIVE them.
As for making it a partisan issue, I apologize. That was not my intent. In my rush, I neglected to explain how certain sub-groups of our population still attach a stigma. The African-American community refuses to acknowledge that any members especially black males are gay. Also very poor and conservative churches are also not accepting. This combined with her perception that such a revelation about her sexual orientation would prove devastating to her career. About the only other group to which that would apply are politicians although politicians such as David Vitter have survived sex scandals deep in the Bible Belt.
If I had want to politicize it, I would have quoted Jack Roeser or provided a link to the conservative blog, Hillbuzz.
Lastly, I just want to sum up that it is extremely bad form to state that some catastrophic medical condition is some divine retribution for some slight. You wouldn’t attribute Mark kirk’s stroke to some transgression of God’s Law, and you shouldn’t do it to Billy, either.