wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Scandal involving gay pastor drives wedge in South

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Note #8925 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05506
Sept. 23, 2005

Scandal involving gay pastor
drives wedge in South African church 
	     
by Donwald Pressly
Ecumenical News International  
      
CAPE TOWN - The Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, once considered
apartheid's "National Party at prayer," has been gripped by a bitter battle
over whether it can accommodate an openly gay pastor who had a long-term
relationship with a man.   
       
      The pastor, Laurie Gaum, who comes from a prominent family involved in
church and politics, has been dismissed as presiding minister of St Stephen's
church, once an institution for freed slaves in the center of South Africa's
parliamentary capital, Cape Town. 

	The news of Gaum's homosexuality broke in April when a tabloid
newspaper published a picture of the pastor - naked - frolicking in sea surf.
  
       
      In the newspaper story, Gaum's gay partner, who by then had ended the
relationship, accused him of being promiscuous. A short while later, the
partner, Douw Wessels, committed suicide.  
       
      The revelation has divided the Western Cape's once deeply conservative
Afrikaner community. A flurry of letters to the local newspaper, Die Burger,
and heated discussions during church gatherings have shown impassioned
support for, and opposition to, his dismissal.	 
       
      Those who support dismissal contend that the Bible makes clear that the
practice of homosexuality is a sin. 

	Gaum is the son of Frits Gaum, a former editor of Die Kerkbode, the
official newspaper of the church. His brother, Andre, was the last remaining
member of parliament from the New National Party, formerly the National
Party. Andre Gaum has now joined the ruling African National Congress, and he
is also acting as his brother's lawyer.  
       
      Laurie Gaum, a graduate of the prestigious Afrikaans university,
Stellenbosch, told "Carte Blanche," a South African television program: "I
think I've been created gay in the image of God. And this is the church that
I am also part of; this is a church where I have as much right to be safe as
other people, and I claim this gospel for myself."  
       
      The church commission found that Gaum had a gay relationship, but said
it had found no evidence of promiscuity. 
       
      Gaum has until the end of September to appeal his suspension to a
regional synod of the Dutch Reformed Church.

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