Dispatches from the Creation Wars

Remember Lonnie Latham, the Southern Baptist preacher arrested at a Baptist convention in Oklahoma City for soliciting sex from an undercover cop? Well after years of railing against homosexuality and those damn liberal judicial activists whose rulings destroy morality, he’s suddenly discovered the wisdom of Lawrence v Texas:

His attorney, Mack Martin, filed a motion to have the misdemeanor lewdness charge thrown out, saying the Supreme Court ruled in the 2003 decision Lawrence v. Texas that it was not illegal for consenting adults to engage in private homosexual acts.

And in this case, he’s right. There was no offer to exchange money, so it was nothing more than one guy asking another to have a little sex in private. The ACLU has filed a brief on his behalf, making the irony even more complete. I guess those rights don’t look so “special” now, do they?

Comments

#1 Dan
February 24, 2007

Where’s the STACLU article praising the ACLU for defending Latham? Oh, never mind. That’s a different free exercise. Though I bet Latham was hoping to have a quasi-religious experience.
#2 Brian X
February 24, 2007

Citing Lawrence v. Texas? I don’t see a problem here. The preacher in question deserved to be humiliated, but not arrested and prosecuted. And I’m guessing homophobic cop…
#3 Keanus
February 24, 2007

I love it. Public ironies like this are better than cold watermelon on the Fourth of July. What would we do without the Lathams and Haggards of the world?
#4 SharonB
February 24, 2007

So…he was a sociopath before he got caught, he is a sociopath still. A lot of them in the clergy.
#5 ERV
February 24, 2007

OMG HOW DID I NOT HEAR ABOUT THIS??

I live in OKC, been to the Habana Inn, seen all the minivans parked on a side street with disgusting closeted homosexual old men sitting in the drivers seat, wife and kids asleep at home while they go out and pay some boy to fuck them for the night (but they arent fags! **WINK!!**).

Hypocrites want a culture of hate, but they dont want to live in it.
#6 Joshua Claybourn
February 25, 2007

I’m confused. Was this a male undercover cop? If not, I see hypocrisy with his Christian teachings, but not hypocrisy with his positions on homosexual marriage.
#7 ERV
February 25, 2007

Joshua– Yup, male cop. Habana Inn is a locally famous gay resort! Link
#8 Wes
February 25, 2007

I live in OKC also. The Habana is indeed notorious. When I was 16 I used to buy cigarettes at the Ziggy’s down the street from the Habana because they never IDed anybody. Then somebody murdered the clerk there (a sweet old Chinese lady), and I thought it would be wise not to go around there any more (not because I was afraid of getting murdered–because I was buying tobacco illegally and the murder meant there would be more cops around).

But I thought this guy was caught at a Holiday inn a little down the street from the Habana. That’s still part of the gay strip in town, but not as notorious. He’d be a complete moron going to the Habana–that’s just begging for someone to notice you’re gay. The whole city knows the Habana is a gay hang out–if anyone saw him there it would out him immediately.
#9 raj
February 25, 2007

One thing that is probable is that someone had it in for Latham–a rival in the various organizations of the religious right, and that’s why this story was brought to light. Remember the Jimmy Swaggart/prostitute story a few years ago? That’s exactly what happened there. Swaggart tried to one-up an opponent and discovered himself one-upped himself.
#10 Wes
February 25, 2007

Swaggart tried to one-up an opponent and discovered himself one-upped himself.

Kinky…