David Welch, the Executive Director of a Houston-based hate group that calls itself the “Houston Area Pastoral Council,” is an extreme right-wing fundamentalist. He’s also Founding Executive Director of Christian Coalition of Washington, the National Field Director of Christian Coalition, the Executive Director of Vision America and more importantly, Welch has a history of dodging debates with me.
As many of you know, Welch was scheduled to debate me for the second time live on FOX News but backed out. Welch has a long history of making declarations about the civil rights of transgender people but is now seemingly afraid of debating those very ideas.
On Friday, November 26, I called up David and challenged him to a debate... which he initially accepted, but began to backpedal as the conversation moved forward. I record the phone call and posted it to YouTube because I want to ensure that all aspects of this debate are transparent. I'll post the video of this conversation below.
Twenty-four hours after my conversation with David, he posted a remarkably paranoid blog post at WorldNetDaily - a far right-wing blog. He waxes on and on about how he thinks that all GLBT people are actually part of a nefarious shadow organization that is attempting to infiltrate small-town america and turn it it Boy's Town USA. You might think I'm kidding... I'm not. Welch really believes that he lives in a world of gay shadow orgs that want to literally destroy America.
His post titled "Is your town next for protecting perversion?" Welch begins as follows:
Bowling Green, Ohio, is just the latest American city where the definitions of morality, family and marriage have fallen prey to the GLBT "anti-discrimination" offensive.As the American Family Association revealed in their documentary ("They're Coming To Your Town") several years ago, GLBTQIA (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning, Intersexed and Allies) activists have been quietly moving into small to midsize towns across the country and taking advantage of those who thought the sexual diversity battle is only in the "big cities."
... and it goes downhill from there.
At the very crescendo of his assault on reason he - in an astounding feat of Orwellian logic - then writes:
I strongly urge you to watch the video and see these church buildings become nothing more than dust and wreckage. Then think of America following the same course.
Yes. I too encourage you to watch the above linked video. In the video, the pastor of a church and some of his esteemed parishioners push the button to demolish some old church buildings to make way for an expansive and opulent Christian Center. It's like a fox showing a video of a fox eating hens to make the argument that the right thing to do is to allow foxes to guard hen houses. Welch is literally stating that it's horrible that a church got rid of something unusable so they could grow and expand. Moreover, he hopes that images of the expansion of a church will horrify you to the point that you will agree to deny a portion of the American population equality under the law. I can only marvel at the absurd reality in which Welch seems to live.
Mostly, however, I can't wait to debate him again!
The TG Center is working with Career and Recovery Resources (CRR - another nonprofit) to put together a trans employment program. I spent the entire morning meeting with CRR staff and their executive director and they've met with us at the TG Center a number of times.
The first group of people will go through the program in November (there's only 10 slots, so let me know if you're interested).
I wanted to let everyone know that there is a Job Fair on Tuesday, 10/12/10 from 8:30 am to 1 pm at the West Gray Multi-Service Center (1475 West Gray, Hou, TX 77019). There will be a number of trans inclusive employers there hiring. Some include...
Adecco (Gender identity protected, has TG cultural sensitivity training and covers TG psychological care)
Avon (Gender identity protected, has TG cultural sensitivity training and covers TG health and psychological care)
City of Houston (Gender identity protected)
Fed Ex (Gender identity protected, has TG cultural sensitivity training and covers TG psychological care)
Frito Lay (Gender identity protected, has TG cultural sensitivity training and covers TG health, surgery and psychological care)
This town hall meeting will focus on the impact
the Heather Delgado v. Nikki Araguz case will have on the overall GLBT community
within Texas and beyond.
A loss can mean that the State of Texas will no longer recognize the
transitioned status of transgender people. This will have a huge impact on
transgender employment issues, bathroom issues, issues of policy and issues of
law.
A win will ensure that the State of Texas will officially recognize the
transitioned status of transgender people. This will also have a huge impact on
transgender employment issues, bathroom issues, issues of policy and issues of
law.
Additionally, a win will put Texas in the exact same place California was
post-Prop 8. A win will mean that we will have a law banning same sex marriage
while at the same time having many officially State-sanctioned valid same sex
marriages that came about due to the 1999 Littleton vs Prange ruling.
We will discuss strategy and what you can do. This will be your opportunity to
become fully informed and have all your questions and concerns addressed about
this case.
On hand will be:
Darrell Steidley & Phyllis Frye (1st, 2nd chair in the Delgado v. Araguz case)
as well as the entire Frye &Associates law firm
Nikki Araguz
TFA Executive Director and Board of Directors
Vanity, Diamond Girls
Jenifer Rene Pool, Host of Queer Voices and City Council candidate
Kris Banks, President of the GLBT Political Caucus
Space is limited, please RSVP!
We've noticed that when 15 people RSVP, 70 show up. Please RSVP
if you'll be there so we will know how to accommodate everyone:
All about my life as: The designer of TransHouston; The program manager of Houston's only TG program; A post-op transsexual vegetarian Theravada Buddhist; and, recovering drug addict with an obsessive-compulsive disorder - Cristan Williams' Blog : )
David Welch, the Executive Director of a Houston-based hate group that calls itself the “Houston Area Pastoral Council,” is an extreme right-wing fundamentalist. He’s also Founding Executive Director of Christian Coalition of Washington, the National Field Director of Christian Coalition, the Executive Director of Vision America and more importantly, Welch has a history of dodging debates with me.
