Posted on 01/12/2002 2:14:54 PM PST by GrandMoM
News headline Retrieved
Gay Ambassador Troubles Embassy Staff
Story: Little attention was drawn to Michael Guest's homosexual relationship with his "partner" during his confirmation process as President Bush's ambassador to Romania. However, those working under Guest in Bucharest now find it difficult to avoid his flaunting of the relationship, according to an American embassy worker who recently spoke with FRC.
Although Guest had been active in a gay and lesbian group within the State Department, he was not publicly identified as being homosexual until his swearing-in on September 18, when Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged Guest's "partner," Alex Nevarez, during the ceremony.
Nevarez, a former teacher, relocated to Romania with Guest and now lives with him there in the residence provided to the ambassador by the U.S. government.
According to our source, several families in the embassy community have expressed concern about the ambassador's living arrangement, and at least one will no longer bring their children to embassy social events because they do not want them exposed to the example set by Guest and his "partner."
For example, Guest and Nevarez escorted one another as a couple at the embassy's annual Marine Corps Ball, a highly formal event. "It's causing me to have to compromise the values I raise my family by," the source said.
The appointment of Guest to serve in Romania showed a particular cultural insensitivity, given that the country is a stronghold of the conservative Eastern Orthodox Church.
Our source indicated that the Orthodox Church is represented at virtually all government ceremonies in Romania. One Romanian professor, in a letter to a Bucharest daily newspaper, said that "Romanians . . . cannot comprehend homosexual acts in any other way but as a deviation from the natural order and the world created by the Lord," and he noted that the Guest appointment "generates bewilderment, indignation, and disgust among the Romanians."
Romanian laws relating to homosexuality were recently liberalized, but only under coercion from the European Union, to which Romania hopes to gain entrance. Although Guest has denied he will promote a "gay agenda" as ambassador, his mere presence in Bucharest is already having that effect.
Another person serving at the embassy held a meeting in November to encourage leaders of Romania's fledgling "gay movement." And some embassy employees fear that Bucharest will gain a reputation as a "gay-friendly" post, so that more homosexuals will request assignment there. Ambassador Guest's treatment of same-sex "partners" (including his own) as the equivalent of married spouses is a mere half step away from government endorsement of "same-sex marriage." Not only does this violate the spirit of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act (which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman), but it is also a distraction from the important work of our embassy in Romania.
I didn't say that. I said I'm trying to stop the legitimazation of a lifestyle that is going to destroy the culture. Plain and simple. If we ever get to the point where we beat back the agenda of the homosexuals, I'll begin to address hetrosexual fornication. =)
Should he fire all gays from government jobs? What about private employers? Should they fire all gays, no matter how well they DO THE JOB THEY WERE HIRED TO DO?
No need to start screaming at me. I am trying to point out that, as president and leader of our country, he has an obligation to uphold certain standards. There is no excuse for appointing, and thereby normalizing, a behavior that is contributing to the decay of our society.
I never said that we should fire all gays. I simply don't think a supposedly conservative president should appoint actively gay men to positions where they represent our country. Its wrong.
No jobs for gays, in your world, right?
Show me where I said that? You're starting to thorw stuff out of left field.
Somebody might see a gay doing a job for, say IBM, and think IBM management condones gay behavior.
Again...left field. We're talking about openly gay men taking their boyfriends with them when they represent our country. I have a right to be indignant, and I have the right to bang pots and pans and alert people to the declining standards within the republican party.
It's got nothing to do with condoning or not condoning. Being gay has absolutely nothing to do with whether someone can be a representative of the United States.
Standards please.
You see Bush's appointing a gay man as normalizing homosexual behavior. It's not, but I'm tired of trying to explain why hiring somebody to do a job has nothing to do with his or her lifestyle. You just don't get it.
Your logic would lead to no gays in any positions other than those where no one would have to look at them or see them.
Thankfully, we're past that in this country.
It's been nice talking to you. I must say good-night.
And I'm tired of your "look down your nose" tone in every post you send me. I get your point of view. Your political party is more important to you than your religious beliefs. If you can't see that the homosexual agenda is changing the fabric of society then you are blind.
Your logic would lead to no gays in any positions other than those where no one would have to look at them or see them.
My logic is based on moral truths put forth by our catechism. Maybe you should take a peek at them again sometime.
Thankfully, we're past that in this country.
Yeah...down the slope we continue...
It's been nice talking to you. I must say good-night.
Okay sink. Good-night.
I had to come back at this.
You accuse me of looking down my nose at you, when you've been arrogantly speaking as the font of all truth all night!
My religious beliefs teach me not to discriminate against gay people. I don't approve of their lifestyle, but I also do not refuse a job to a gay man UNLESS his gayness affects the kind of job he's given.
You think an ambassador shouldn't be gay. Fine. I say it doesn't matter until his gayness affects his job.
Four pitiful little anecdotes from a conservative group's story does not consititute "causing problems" for the U.S. in Romania.
It just doesn't.
Well, I'll be damned.....and all this time we've been led to believe that ambassadorships are political payoffs. What a strange world we live in.....hmmmm.....Will Farish, the new guy to England....what did he do to merit or have qualifications, or what did he perform to makes him the Ambadassor? Bout the only think I'm aware of is that he's been a longtime friend of the Bush family, has $$$$$, and raises thoroughbred race horses....I believe he's invited the Bushes to notable races.. and the Queen has visited his place in Kentucky (Lane's End Farms).
I grew up attending services with a Church of Christ and I assure you that homosexuality was never condoned to my knowledge. Anything I ever heard a preacher say about it was negative. Either you've heard of some weird congregations or you're thinking of the United Church of Christ (a different denomination).
Yes, I did mean United Church of Christ.
Yes, consistent in holding that one sin, homosexuality, matters while other sins, like fornication and adultery, don't matter. Concrete? Maybe. Arbitrary? Definitely.
g. COMs [Chiefs of Mission] and their staffs may include MOHs in all events officially sanctioned by post on the same basis as family members.Thus it can be seen that Ambassador Guest was within department guidelines when he brought his partner to an embassy social event.h. Recognizing that cultural differences may mean that an American employee's household may not necessarily mirror households in foreign countries, COMs shall work to ensure that the official American community environment is as welcoming as possible.
I've never looked down my nose at you, my dear. Nor have I spoke to you with the apparent tone of disdain with which you address me. I am not the truth of all night. Christ is. My suggestion was that you go back and reread some of the catechism.
My religious beliefs teach me not to discriminate against gay people. I don't approve of their lifestyle, but I also do not refuse a job to a gay man UNLESS his gayness affects the kind of job he's given.
I can't stop people from holding jobs. I am arguing that as the leader of the free world, Bush has a standard to uphold. He could have chosen someone who to represent our country that had more respectibility than to bring his lover on his ambassador trips--but he doesn't appear to see anything wrong with it. Fine. I merely say to you that Bush's base is not as solid as you may think.
You think an ambassador shouldn't be gay. Fine. I say it doesn't matter until his gayness affects his job.
Never said it affected his job. I said he's just one more step in the normalizing of homsexual behavior--legitimized and advocated by a republican president.
Four pitiful little anecdotes from a conservative group's story does not consititute "causing problems" for the U.S. in Romania. It just doesn't.
I'll continue to bang the pans for concrete moral truths and standards based on Judeo-Christianity to anyone who'll listen.
All of them matter. However, fornicators and adulterers aren't trying to change the fabric of society in the same manner as the homosexuals. If Bush appoints someone who openly flaunts his mistress, please flag me and I'll pick up from there.
David the King, beloved of God, was a murderer and an adulterer. Humans do wrong things. 'Nuf said?
Money changes everything.
Reverting to biblical authority is all a ruse on this issue isn't it? It is all about society on this moral coil, the kingdom here on earth, and one's view as to what it should be. Thus the cafeteria selection of your favorite course. You should be rather more honest as to what truly animates your passions, as should so many others. I think that is a reasonable expectation.
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