Gay activists plan rally in Williamsburg

Gay activists plan rally in Williamsburg

The University of the Cumberlands -- which has drawn national attention for expelling a gay student -- is under attack simply for upholding scriptural teachings on homosexuality, Kentucky Baptist Convention President Paul Chitwood said today.

The overwhelming majority of the convention's 790,030 members back the Southern Baptist school's decision to expel 20-year-old Jason Johnson, Chitwood said. "I personally am 100 percent supportive," he said.

The Louisville-area preacher spoke out on the same day that gay rights activists announced plans for a protest rally near the school's Williamsburg campus next week.

Representatives of the Kentucky Collegiate Coalition, which represents gay-lesbian-bisexual-and-transgendered students, said people from nine Kentucky schools will participate on Wednesday. It's unclear if Johnson, who was in New York for media interviews yesterday, will attend.

The uproar over Johnson's expulsion -- which has been covered by CNN, National Public Radio and others -- doesn't surprise Chitwood or other prominent Baptists.

"The liberal portion of the media and entertainment industry... as well as gay rights activists have pushed so hard to normalize the gay lifestyle," Chitwood said. "Anyone that objects to that lifestyle is demonized and attacked ferociously and that's exactly what we're seeing here."

Hershael York, a Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor and former Kentucky Baptist Convention president, questioned the attention Johnson has received.

"I'm seeing incredibly sympathetic media coverage given to a young man who in my opinion did an unreasonable thing," York said. "He went to a Baptist school knowing that this (behavior) is completely inconsistent with the Baptist faith."

Johnson, a Lafeyette High School graduate, was kicked out after he shared details about his dating life on his Xanga and MySpace.Com Web sites.

The school's 2005-2006 handbook warns that "any student who engages in or promotes sexual behavior not consistent with Christian principles (including sex outside marriage and homosexuality) may be suspended or asked to withdraw."

Critics say the school unfairly discriminates against gays and lesbians.

Officials at the university have said nothing since releasing a brief statement last week that, among other things, said students who don't accept the school's standards can go to "San Francisco and the left coast or to many of the state schools." But York says the school's rules bar "extramarital sexuality" for all students -- gay or straight.

"We believe that sexuality is to be expressed only in the context of marriage between a man and a woman," he said.

Johnson wasn't kicked out because he was gay, but because he publicly advocated conduct incompatible with Christian teaching, York said. "He made a decision and he has reaped the consequences of that decision."

Even so, York said the university's stand on sexuality may make it more difficult for the school to get government funds. The debate over Johnson's expulsion has become tangled up with the state budget, which makes $11 million in state money available to the university for a pharmacy school and scholarships. Some groups and legislators have urged Gov. Ernie Fletcher to veto the funding.

"I always hate to see Baptist schools take anything from the government," York said. "The minute you allow government money in, government control comes in."