Kirk and Madsen...after the Episcopal Ball

 COMMENTARY

By David Virtue, DD

www.virtueonline.org

August 6, 2025

When Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen wrote their book in 1989, “After the Ball: How America Will Conquer its Fear and Hatred of Gays”, a seven-point paean of praise to homosexuality, they expected to win in the secular market place. They proposed “muddying the waters” in the churches but probably had no idea of how successful they would be winning over cardinals, archbishops, bishops, assorted denominational clergy, seminaries, book writing theological seminary professors and religious media.  Perhaps even a pope!

By any standard they were successful beyond their wildest imaginings.

The mainline churches were ready for a change as they saw their fortunes sink with members rapidly abandoning their churches before, during and after Covid with Nones, people without religion, taking their place.

Step 1: Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and often as possible

“Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and as often as possible. . . . Open and frank talk makes the subject seem less furtive, alien, and sinful, more above-board. Constant talk builds the impression that public opinion is at least divided. . . .”

Think the activist homosexual layman Louie Crew, the now failed Integrity organization, and later the ordination of Gene Robinson with the help of the sexually conflicted PB Frank Griswold. Tell gullible Episcopalians that they needed to be inclusive and not fundamentalist about sex. Explain that the apostle Paul wouldn’t understand today’s climate on committed same sex relationships. Explain, when pressed, how God had changed His mind.

Step 2: Portray gays as victims

“Portray gays as victims of circumstance and depression, not as aggressive challengers . . . to make straights feel very uncomfortable . . . and to lay groundwork for the process of conversion.”

The high priestess of Episcopal lesbianism Susan Russell was constantly telling us how much she was a victim of orthodox oppression. Episcopal boomers who had probably never met a lesbian were made to feel guilty for something they had never done, a bit like reparations. But it worked and they were made to feel guilty, over and over again, until they capitulated.

Step 3: Desensitize the public

“The first order of business is desensitization of the American public . . . to help it view homosexuality with indifference instead of with keen emotion. . . . No big deal.”

How to Desensitize Episcopalians. Episcopalians are, after all, nice accommodating people. They don’t want to be thought of as doctrinally dogmatic. Be nice, play it safe. Talk about the “middle way”, don’t veer to any extreme. Start writing pamphlets of acceptance; show yourself to be loving and affirming of all God’s children, especially if you discover you have a son or daughter announcing they are gay. Keep repeating, “God loves absolutely everybody, no exceptions.” Come as you are, stay as you are. For goodness sake don’t talk about repentance and amendment of life, that’s off the table. And if you encounter an ex-gay who has been transformed by Christ and left the lifestyle, say they are really self-loathing gays who refuse to accept who they really are.

Step 4: Marginalize extremes; emphasize the mainstream

“Cocky mustachioed leather‑men, drag queens, and bull dykes would not appear in gay commercials. . . . Conventional young people, middle‑age women, and older folks of all races . . . would be featured.”

Yes, marginalize orthodox Episcopalians as extremist and haters. Make them look like fundamentalists on the warpath to throw them out of the church. Whine, plead, cajole, but never stop painting yourself as conventional loving Episcopalians whose only thought is “love is love”. Make sure Episcopal bishops show up at gay parades, waving frantically at crowds. Never mind that children were being exposed to half naked men and women, many of them dressed in leather. Turn the kids.

Step 5: Promote the “born gay” narrative

“We argue that, for all practical purposes, gays should be considered to have been born gay. . . . To suggest in public that homosexuality might be chosen is to open the can of worms. . . .”

Episcopalians, because they have little theology and know even less science were an easy prey to this theory. The fact that no evidence has ever been presented that one was born gay, it made a great sound bite, and Episcopalians fell for it. A study at Vanderbilt University several years ago "found that 83% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (LGBQ) individuals reported going through adverse childhood experiences such as sexual and emotional abuse."

Step 6: Muddy the moral waters

“Use talk to muddy the moral waters . . . publicizing support by moderate churches and raising serious theological objections to conservative biblical teachings.”

This was a winning strategy for gay Episcopalians. The seminaries quickly rolled over; bishops saw their fortunes sink and the handwriting on the wall if they opposed the building momentum. Then came the inevitable, “I know gay couples and they are so loving and affirming, how could one possibly discriminate against them.” Tell stories about the lives of gay men and women, but never talk about the high incidence of HIV/AIDS or the tens of thousands who died of AIDS. Be upbeat, promote gays in the church, push for the full inclusion of homosexuals and lesbians to every ecclesiastical level of the church, making Gene Robinson an inevitability. Full gay acceptance was now complete; the fix was in.

Step 7: Make opponents look bad

“We intend to make the anti‑gays look so nasty that average Americans will want to dissociate themselves from such types. . . . The public should be shown images of ranting homophobes. . . .”

Link orthodox Episcopalians with the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church crowd bleating ‘God hates gays.’ Make Episcopalians who believe the Bible opposed sodomy as bad and uninclusive, lacking diversity and the church’s famed middle way. Twist history and make the Bible appear to be ambiguous because Jesus never talked about homosexuality. That Jesus never talked about bestiality or threesomes or bisexuality is beside the point. Jesus would clearly be on the side of gays victimized by homophobic Episcopalians. Enlist former ABC Rowan Williams in the battle for homosexual acceptance, it’s always a plus to get a serious head banger on your side, and while you are at it, flip Justin Welby, a man with the theological depth of a communion wafer.

And so, The Episcopal Church rolled over. Those handful of bishops and clergy and 100,000 laity who believed God had not changed His mind upped and left or were forced out. The most prominent Episcopal bishop to get the heave ho, was William Love, Bishop of Albany. He eventually wound up with the Anglican Church in North America. The darkness had descended.

Kirk and Madsen had nailed it.

The caving in was now complete. Resolution D039 ratified fornication; Resolution B012 canonized gay marriage, the knife was in for those who did not now agree. Ironically, the decision unleashed a plethora of sexual sins from a number of bishops who felt free to express their true sexual feelings outside the bonds of marriage. Bishops who commit adultery are now ethically challenged. Nonetheless PB Sean Rowe has shown some cojones and has sidelined two of his bishops - Rochester and California - from exercising their priestly ministry for inappropriate relationships. Several TEC bishops are in the safeguarding pipeline waiting to see if they have violated the canons over their failure to care for the victims of sexual abuse. The worst case is the (homo)sexual abuse that has reared its ugly head at St. Thomas Fifth Avenue, New York, the flagship Episcopal parish of that diocese. Anglican Watch the unofficial watchdog of the Episcopal Church, has filed a complaint calling on the bishops to resign. You can read more here: https://www.anglicanwatch.com/press-release-anglican-watch-condemns-episcopal-diocese-of-new-york-abuse-of-title-iv-calls-for-immediate-resignation-of-all-persons-handling-st-thomas-fifth-avenue-complaint/ and here: https://www.anglicanwatch.com/bishop-matthew-heyd-previously-charged-with-passing-bad-checks/

With the election of a lesbian archbishop in Wales the sexual horror show has come full circle. This is an example of One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Global South archbishops and bishops are registering their disgust. But it's not enough just to issue words of regret and sadness, or to "stand with" the orthodox remaining in apostate Provinces, as though they can turn the tide and win back these Provinces to orthodoxy. GAFCON have shown the way, by demonstrating a vision for united, global, diverse but faithful Anglicanism, and refusing to compromise with error and heresy. But also, they have established new jurisdictions, separate from Canterbury but recognized as authentically Anglican by the majority of the Communion. This has to be the way forward.

END