Photo: Matt Baron/BEImages.
When Pasadena City College decided last month to disinvite Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black from speaking at its spring commencement, the Oscar winner accused his alma mater of shaming him for his sexuality and sending a bad message to the school's LGBT students. PCC's board of trustees president, Anthony Fellow, reportedly based his decision to renege on the invite after learning about a number of private sex photos of Black and his former boyfriend that leaked to the public in 2009. He explained the school wanted to keep its distance from any potential scandals. The board chose Pasadena director of public health Dr. Eric Walsh as its commencement speaker instead.It turns out, however, that Walsh isn't exactly scandal-free himself. PCC students have discovered that Walsh, who is also a Seventh-Day Adventist minister, has posted series of publicly available sermons in which he criticizes homosexuality, calls Disney a "dark empire" of witchcraft, and deems evolution "a religion created by Satan."
OUT's Aaron Hicklin noted that Walsh specifically singled out Will & Grace and The Phil Donahue Show for spreading the homosexual agenda. "You become immunized against something that was once was revolting to American society," Walsh said in one sermon. "That’s why there were laws...against sodomy and homosexuality. How do you go from what we had in the ’70s to gay marriage?"
On Thursday, Pasadena city officials placed Walsh on temporary paid administrative leave in light of his statements. Meanwhile, PCC's board has rescinded its invitation to Walsh, apologized to Black, and voted unanimously to ask him back to next week's commencement. He hasn't yet responded. Do you blame him? (L.A. Times)
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