Subject: A Rising Son (three stories) - msg#00585

http://www.out.com/feature.asp

When your father is famous for fighting abortion and same-sex marriage,
how can you possibly come out? Jamiel Terry tells us.

Story by Jamiel Terry

It’s hard to point to one moment when you begin to come out to yourself,
but if I had to, I’d go back to a night seven years ago, when I was 17. I
was home from boarding school in my old bedroom at my parents’ house in
Windsor, N.Y., where my friend “Johnny” and I had just finished fooling
around. Suddenly he asked me, “Do you think we are bisexual or gay?” The
question so stunned me, I didn’t know how to respond. I mean, we had been
having sex for ages, but I’d always believed I couldn’t be gay: I was the
son of Randall Terry, a major leader of the Christian right’s antiabortion
movement and now a leader in the fight against marriage for same-sex
couples. I’m 24 now and I’m still figuring out my own story.

My father founded Operation Rescue, which became well-known for staging
mass demonstrations next to abortion clinics and sometimes flooded an
entire city to hold it “hostage.” Growing up in my house was anything but
boring. And it was made even more “interesting” because from a very early
age I knew I was different. When I was 4 my favorite female was Miss
Piggy. That alone was probably not much of a giveaway, but my soft voice
and my mannerisms turned out to be signs that I was gay. However, when you
grow up in a house where to be the thing you are is an abominable sin, you
tend to try to shed those behaviors. I would try to be more masculine in
every way I could. My father would rarely say something derogatory about
gays around my mom or my sisters, but he would around our male friends and
to me. I guess it was the usual stuff you hear, but it hurt me sometimes,
and I would ask him not to say those things; I felt that for Christians,
it’s not right to mock people, even in their sin. My father knew I was
right, and he would apologize. One thing about my father: We kids could
certainly tell him what we thought, and we usually wouldn’t get in
trouble.

In 1992 my father resigned from Operation Rescue as part of a settlement
of a lawsuit brought by the National Organization for Women. Though he
could still protest abortion, he couldn’t block access to clinics. Around
this time, he began attending gay pride marches in protest and going to
Hawaii to fight same-sex marriage. As I understood it, he’d come to
believe that in order to stop abortion the country had to get to the roots
of the other national “sins,” like homosexuality.

Growing up, I was very sheltered from all this, since I wasn’t allowed to
participate in my father’s activities—my family regularly received death
threats. When I was 14, I went on an “Impeach Clinton” tour with my father
all around the country. For a kid like me, everything about being on the
road—the crowds, the hotels, eating out—was a thrill.

The tour only confirmed what I’d already felt: My father is probably one
of the most engaging men I have ever met. He is witty, intelligent, and
funny. I remember watching him and Patricia Ireland, former president of
the National Organization for Women, in a heated debate on CNN. He’s so
charming, you could tell that even the icy Ms. Ireland melted. But
charming as he is, I knew that as his son, I could never consider living
the “gay lifestyle.” I was resigned to the fact that in order for me to
achieve the goals I had set for myself and to avoid hell, I had to squelch
these feelings. I did everything from participating in charismatic
deliverance meetings to fasting; many nights I literally cried myself to
sleep while begging God to take these feelings from me. I kept all this to
myself; no one had any idea that I was going through this struggle.

To learn how Jamiel Terry eventually came out to his father, pick up the
May issue of Out on the newsstand.

- - -

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040412-091634-6744r.htm

Outing Out magazine

By Randall Terry

My son, Jamiel Terry, was paid $5,000 by Out magazine to write a story
about being Randall Terry's homosexual son. I am still in a state of
shock.

I love my son. He is incredibly gifted and articulate. He sings like an
angel and plays the piano. He's a great cook and a great debater. I've
poured 16 years of my life into him.

In March 1988, my then-wife and I took Jamiel and his younger sister as
foster children. He was 8 years old. We adopted them when he was 14. He
came to us a wounded boy, from an incredibly troubled home. He was
literally born in jail. By age 8 had learned a lifestyle of deceit and
been a victim of treacheries that would mar him for life.

His teen years were a mixture of happy times, half-truths and a double
life. His behavior grew worse in college, culminating with the release of
the story in Out magazine.

Out magazine specializes in bringing homosexuals "out of the closet."
Their agenda is shameless. They seduced my son with money to write a story
about me, Jamiel's life with me and my family.

The most horrifying part is Jamiel's admission: "I did have numerous
sexual encounters with my friends, usually during sleepovers at my
parents' house." He was "in my old bedroom at my parents' house in
Windsor, N.Y., where my friend 'Johnny' and I had just finished fooling
around ? we had been having sex for ages." I am grieved for those boys.
Their parents believed their sons were safe at our home — so did I. I was
wrong.

The Out story paints a picture of my son based in fraud. The story states,
"I was baptized Catholic and raised Protestant, and I later returned to
the Roman Catholic Church." This is not true. Jamiel is not confirmed; he
does not believe in, nor go to confession. He rejects papal authority,
Catholic dogmas and their teaching on family issues.

The story states, "My father seems to believe that the fact that I'm an
adopted child may help explain why I'm gay — not because of the adoption
process itself but perhaps because of things that may have occurred before
I was adopted at the age of 5." Jamiel was adopted when he was nearly 15,
not 5. To gloss over the tragic events of his youth is deceit. Many
homosexuals want to ignore the causes of their sexual behavior; they want
us to believe it is genetic, not behavioral.

The story stated, "My father is still trying to get me to go to a
three-month retreat to be 'delivered' from homosexuality." Not true.
Jamiel has repeatedly asked me to pay for him to go to "Love in Action"
(an in-patient program with great success with homosexuals). I'm happy to
pay that tab.

Most painful to me as a dad is that my son prostituted my name for $5,000;
he sold out our family's privacy for cold cash.

Adding pain to pain, he told journalists from CNN and The Washington Post
that he is not welcome in my home because of his homosexuality. That is
not true. I've had him in my home repeatedly since learning he was
homosexual two years ago.

He is no longer welcome in my home — not because of his homosexuality, but
because he could sell us out again. He could come here, take notes and
find another buyer for another story. I won't let that type of intrusion
happen again.

My son is their latest homosexual "trophy." What they aren't telling — and
this grieves me to the core — is that his life is in shambles: He was
recently arrested for DWI; he's writing bad checks on a closed bank
account; he dropped out of school a year ago; he doesn't have a job; he
bounces from house to house; he's racked-up huge bills for friends and
family that he cannot pay; he's been taken to court by former friends to
get money he owes them; he's lied to friends, saying his "famous dad" was
going to send money to pay his debts; and he has a trail of wrecked
friendships and family relationships because of deceit, money fraud and
crossed boundaries — a mirror image of the home he was in from his birth
until he was 8.

I am a father in anguish; my son is a young man in crisis who needs
intervention, not heady interviews with CNN. Out magazine is despicable
for exploiting my son for their political agenda. If my son is their
latest "hero," I wonder how many of their leaders and trophies they
portray as "model citizens" have lives that are this unraveled.

Randall Terry is founder of the pro-life organization Operation Rescue.

- - -

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37979

My prodigal son, the homosexual

Posted: April 9, 2004
8:40 p.m. Eastern

Editor's note: Randall Terry led the nation's largest civil disobedience
movement, "Operation Rescue," in opposition to abortion. He is an
outspoken opponent of granting special rights to homosexuals, and led the
fight against "same-sex marriage" in Hawaii and Vermont. His current work
is online at OperationWitness.com.

By Randall Terry
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

I am still in a state of shock; I have been grieving for days. My son,
Jamiel Terry, was paid $5,000 by Out magazine (to appear April 20, 2004,
on newsstands) to write a story about being Randall Terry's homosexual
son. I pray my following words help other grieving parents and serve as a
warning to moms and dads of small children to be unflinchingly and
unashamedly diligent to protect their children from predators, and bring a
reality check to those exploiting my son.

First of all, I love my son. Jamiel is incredibly gifted. He is articulate
and handsome. He sings like an angel, he plays the piano, he's a great
cook, and he's a great debater. He would make a powerful lawyer and a
formidable politician. People like him. I love him. I've poured 16 years
of my life into him.

In March of 1988, my then-wife and I took Jamiel in as a foster child when
he was 8 years old. We also took in his baby sister (almost 3 years old))
and their older sister (12 years old). We adopted him and his younger
sister when he was nearly 15 and she was 9. He came to us as a deeply
troubled boy, from a very dark home. He was literally born in jail.

Tragically, by the time we got him as a foster child, he had already
learned a lifestyle of deceit from his surroundings and had been a victim
of crimes and treacheries that would mar him for life. I knew of some of
those things when we got him and have learned more over the years. My hope
was that by providing a loving, safe home, his life would be spared the
path it would inevitably take if he remained in those surroundings.
Unfortunately, my hopes and prayers were not realized.

My son's teen years became a mixed stream of happy times mingled with
half-truths, dishonesty and a double life. His behavior grew worse and
worse in college, culminating with the story in Out magazine.

For the uninformed, Out magazine specializes in bringing homosexuals "out
of the closet." Out is committed to the homosexual agenda – homosexual
marriage, special "civil rights" for homosexuals, promoting the fallacy
that their sexual activities are normal and even laudable. Their agenda is
shameless. My son was offered $5,000 to "write" a story about me and his
life with me and my family. However, much of the story was written by
Out's editor who put words in my son's mouth to accomplish the magazine's
agenda.

For me, the most horrifying part of the story is my son's admission: "I
did have numerous sexual encounters with my friends, usually during
sleepovers at my parents' house" and "I was home from boarding school in
my old bedroom at my parents' house in Windsor, N.Y., where my friend
'Johnny' and I had just finished fooling around ... we had been having sex
for ages. ..."

I am so grieved and sorry for those boys and their parents. Those parents
trusted us; they believed their sons were safe at our home – so had I. I
was wrong. I still am in a state of shock. Please, parents, learn from
this tragedy.

Frankly, so much of the story is inaccurate (times, dates, events) it
would take too much space to correct it. But worse yet is that the picture
the story paints of my son is based in fraud.

For example, the story states, "I was baptized Catholic and raised
Protestant, and I later returned to the Roman Catholic Church." This is
not true. Jamiel has never been confirmed; he does not believe in nor go
to confession; he does not believe in many Catholic dogmas; He rejects
papal authority and Catholic teaching on family issues.

The story states: "My father seems to believe that the fact that I'm an
adopted child may help explain why I'm gay – not because of the adoption
process itself but perhaps because of things that may have occurred before
I was adopted at the age of 5." As I stated, Jamiel was adopted when he
was nearly 15, not 5. To gloss over the tragic events and surroundings
Jamiel was rescued from at age 8 is deceitful. (Social Services took the
children because of prostitution, drugs and deeds committed against them.)
Many homosexuals want to ignore the causal links to their sexual
addiction; they want us to believe their homosexuality is genetic, not
behavioral. They're "made this way."

The story stated, "My father is still trying to get me to go to a
three-month retreat to be 'delivered' from homosexuality." This is also
not true. Jamiel has repeatedly asked me to pay for him to go to "Love in
Action," which offers sound clinical, in-patient therapy to those who want
freedom – and they have a great success rate with homosexuals. Even after
the article was done, he asked me to help. I have offered to pay for the
in-patient care, and the offer still stands.

Probably the most painful part for me as a dad is that my son prostituted
my name for $5,000: He sold out our family's privacy and private
discussions for cold cash. Can you imagine a family member doing that to
you?

He knows that the only reason Out, and now CNN, (and God knows who else
before it's over) want to talk with him is because he's "Randall Terry's
son." He knows he is going to get his 15 minutes of fame because he's the
adopted son of a high profile Christian leader who has fought against
homosexual marriage.

Adding pain to pain, he told CNN and a journalist from the Washington Post
that he is no longer welcome in my home because he is a homosexual. That
is not true. I have had him in my home for many days after knowing he was
a homosexual.

But when I saw the Out article, I went to Charlotte, N.C., (where he is
now) to tell him I love him, and how hurt I was that he betrayed our
families privacy, and that he was not welcome in my home right now – not
because of his homosexuality, but because he could sell us out again. At
any point, he could come for a holiday, make mental notes and find another
buyer for another story. I have a great wife, a teenage daughter and two
small boys; I will not let that type of intrusion happen again.

My son is being paraded around as the latest homosexual "trophy" that had
the guts to "come out." What they aren't telling you – and this grieves me
to my core – is that by anyone's standard – homosexual or heterosexual –
my son's life is in shambles. He was recently arrested for DWI; he is
knowingly writing bad checks on a closed bank account; he dropped out of
school; he doesn't have a job (and refuses to get one); he bounces from
house to house living off other people; he's racked-up huge bills for
friends and family that he cannot pay; he's been taken to court by former
friends to get him to pay money he owed them; he's lied to his friends,
telling them his "famous dad" was going to send him money to pay for his
debts (I get calls or e-mails from college friends looking for money); he
has "borrowed" money from countless numbers of my friends; he has a trail
of wrecked friendships and family relationships because of deceit, money
fraud and crossed boundaries – a mirror image of the home he was in from
birth to 8.

I am a father in anguish; my son is a young man in crisis who needs
intervention and therapy, not heady interviews with CNN. And Out magazine
is despicable for their participation in a sham and exploiting my son for
their own political agenda. If my son is their latest "hero," we should
wonder how many more of their homosexual leaders and trophies that they
present as "model citizens" have lives that are this unraveled.

Let all who read the Out story, or any other that spins off of it, know
that the story about my son is laced with fraud and deceit from beginning
to end. And please pray for my son's redemption, and pray for our family's
healing.

Randall Terry is founder of pro-life group Operation Rescue.

--- Peter T. Chattaway ---------------------------
peter-jBQPnygMfjPqlBn2x/YWAg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
Nothing tells memories from ordinary moments; only afterwards do they
claim remembrance, on account of their scars. -- Chris Marker, La Jetee

--