Priest's arrest about bigotry, not justice

The public place was a men's room at a Waynesville park, where police were conducting a sting operation based on complaints that homosexual men were meeting there for sex.

But Penland's case differs from the two notorious previous cases this summer. In both of those cases, the alleged sex acts were slated for the public place, and in one case, in exchange for money.

In contrast, the priest proposed having sex "by asking him if he (Penland) could go home with the officer," the arrest report stated.

"He was in the process of following the undercover officer 'home' when he was stopped."

So what happened in public? A private conversation between two men agreeing to have consensual sex in private.

That's because North Carolina still has barbaric anti-sodomy laws on the books, despite a 4-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that invalidates them.

So don't confuse the priest with those other guys.

Penland had the decency to seek a private spot. His "crime," basically, is being gay in North Carolina.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/local_news/epaper/2007/09/09/s1c_binocol_0909.html
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