That "Adam and Steve" apology
Rev Frank Wainwright mentioned civil partnerships in his sermon at St Gregory's, Cheltenham, on Sunday and said that marriage is between Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Apparently five members of the congregation have complained and the deacon has been branded as a homophobe by lesbian and gay groups.
So let's have a look at the "Adam and Steve" thing. In 2001, openly gay playwright Paul Rudnick wrote a play called "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told". this was a parody of the bible in which Adam wakes up and realises that he is gay - then gets together with his boyfriend Steve. There was a 2005 film about a gay couple called "Adam and Steve", and there is a gay dating agency called ... Adam and Steve. A variant on the theme is the 1974 homoerotic film "Adam and Yves."
Rev Wainwright has apologised for any offence he may have caused and the Gloucestershire Gay and Lesbian Community Group has nobly accepted his apology, saying that they do not want to stir anything up. Such as an examination of the vindictive hypocrisy of the complainants perhaps?
Deacon Wainwright said that he presumed that it was a gay member of his congregation who complained. I wouldn't be so sure. There have been several occasions in the past year when gay groups have distanced themselves from the more strident attempts to instrumentalise "equality" in the secularist attack on the Church. The real issue here is much more likely to be dissent from the teaching of the magisterium. The complainants may or may not have been gay; but you can bet that they probably don't agree with the doctrine of the Church on marriage that Deacon Wainwright was expounding in his sermon.
