I woke up this morning expecting the day to be normal, but normal just doesn't seem to visit my house anymore. I am especially convinced of this fact after seeing some really "interesting" pictures of the Bishop Eddie Long. These pictures were allegedly sent by Bishop Long to one of his "spiritual sons," who has not yet filed a lawsuit.
After these pictures were released to the public by the plantiff's attorney, B.J. Bernstein, I am sure she said the word "checkmate" out loud. One cannot say with complete certainty that these pictures were sent to the young man to convince him of the importance of working out, to show off the latest fashion trends or to simply say, "Hey man, how ya' doin'?"
Instead, the images leave Bishop Long with a lot of explaining to do.
"She's trying to paint him as a predator," says Dr. Christopher Metzler, a Georgetown University professor and highly respected litigator out of Washington, D.C. "She's also trying to get a settlement quickly by suing the church, the non-profit and Bishop Long. Given that Atlanta has such a large gay community, there may be gay people on the jury. He's pushed many gay people out of the church, so the perception of hypocrisy my cause him problems."
Here's the bottom line on the Bishop Eddie Long sex scandal:
If Eddie Long or anyone else were to send these pictures to any of my kids, I'd be standing in the pulpit with a baseball bat. No "spiritual advisor", teacher, or cub scout master has any business sending pictures like this to the young men he is advising. I am also hopeful that the photographic evidence will be enough to wake up anyone in Bishop Long's congregation who feels that he might somehow have been framed by another party. While anything is possible, we must also consider that which is probable as well.
The allegations against Bishop Long might provide an opportunity for the black church as well. Why are we choosing to live a lie when it comes to homosexuality in the church? We have gay men in the church, around the church and underneath the church, living on the down low. The question becomes, "If Eddie Long happens to be either completely or partially gay, does this eliminate the impact he's had on the lives of millions of people? Should we love and respect him any less?" What's worse is that if it is the case that Bishop Long is gay (I am not yet saying this for certain), why in the world would he go out of his way to not only attend a rally against gays, but actively position himself as an anti-gay pastor? It's one thing to be secretly gay, and another thing to go out of your way to attack the gay community, attend rallies against them and even lead the rallies that you're attending. That, my friends, is the definition of the word "audacity."
It appears that the Bishop Eddie Long sex scandal is just beginning. I am quite curious to see where it goes from here. At the very least, we can say that the attorney for the plantiffs is going for blood. No, I'm not talking about the blood of Jesus. For Benstein, the blood of Eddie Long will do just fine.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.