Christian M. Stempert
August 9, 2012
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Former child star and now Christian evangelist Kirk Cameron stirred up some controversy when he arrived in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, to lead a marriage seminar. The seminar, on the evening of July 27, was called “Love Worth Fighting For” and focused on “strengthening marriages through faith,” and was met with dozens of LGBT activists protesting Cameron’s personal views on marriage.
The event was hosted by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a historically Methodist organization, which over the years has welcomed such notables as Billy Graham, Norman Vincent Peale, Billy Sunday, Tony Campolo, William Jennings Bryan, and Booker T. Washington. The Camp Meeting Association (CMA) hosted the same seminar last summer, and met with no protests. In fact, the CMA’s President, Dale Whilden, told The Star-Ledger that “the only response was positive. There was a huge crowd that came, and many, many benefits to marriages. There was no negativity at that point, whatsoever.”
However, not long after the CMA began publicizing the July seminar, Kirk Cameron appeared on CNN for an interview with Piers Morgan. As an evangelist, Cameron usually stays away from the issues of same-sex marriage and homosexuality. But he did not hesitate to respond when asked directly. The former Growing Pains star characterized homosexuality as “unnatural” and “ultimately destructive to…the foundations of civilization.” He also stood by the traditional definition of marriage. “Marriage was defined by God a long time ago,” he said. “Marriage is almost as old as dirt, and it was defined in the garden between Adam and Eve, one man, one woman, for life.”
Aside from the hubbub surrounding Cameron, this is not the first time the Camp Meeting Association has been at odds with the LGBT community. In 2007, a lesbian couple submitted a request to use the CMA’s Boardwalk Pavilion for their civil union ceremony. Under the leadership of pollster Scott Rasmussen, himself Methodist, the CMA rejected the request, citing a conflict with the organization’s religious views. Although CMA is not specifically affiliated with The United Methodist Church, it did cite United Methodism’s official prohibition against same-sex unions. The couple sued, and the case, in which the Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly the Alliance Defense Fund) represented the CMA. The case dragged on for nearly five years until just this past winter, the courts finally ruled against the CMA, saying that its refusal to grant use of the pavilion violated the couple’s civil rights under New Jersey law against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
After the court ruling, the CMA re-designated the Boardwalk Pavilion a religious site so as to qualify for the New Jersey law’s religious exemption. Previously it was designated a recreational site, and CMA would have lost its tax exempt status had it remained so while continuing to prohibit same sex unions.
In the wake of this case, the CMA – which had recently come under new leadership – was concerned by the controversy that arose following Cameron’s comments on CNN. Prior to the seminar, the Board of Trustees met with Cameron, and he made it clear that the seminar would deal with ways for couples to strengthen their marriage through faith, not with his opinions on who should or shouldn’t be allowed to marry. The Board was comforted by his reassurances and decided to continue promoting the seminar.
When the day came, dozens of LGBT activists from all over the Garden State marched through Ocean Grove holding signs reading “Kirk Your Words Hurt.” The group eventually ended up outside the Convention Hall where the evangelist was speaking. The lesbian couple whom the CMA denied use of the Boardwalk Pavilion in 2007 was there; Luisa Paster and Harriet Bernstein now co-chair Ocean Grove United, a local LGBT activist group. “We’re focusing tonight on the fact that he has the right to his own opinions,” said Paster. “He can think whatever he wants to think, but we want to hold him accountable for the words he is expressing – because they are very hurtful.”
Following the seminar, Cameron and the CMA Board were invited to a luncheon by the Corey Bernstein, the 17-year-old co-chairman of the Youth Caucus of Garden State Equality, a gay advocacy group. The evangelist declined the invitation. But the Board of Trustees welcomed it, and its members met on June 28 with LGBT advocates from New Jersey.
“They listened,” said one Ocean Grove United activist. “They listened for the first time in five years…So we are very pleased with the new leadership, and with the new direction that the Camp Meeting seems to be taking.”
Ralph delCampo, the acting COO of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, expressed optimism about the controversy. “This is an opportunity to embrace the community and minister to them,” he said. “It’s not just a we/them [mentality], we’re all together here.”
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