Family Promise of Hall County, a non-profit agency in Gainesville that helps homeless families, was about to accept a same-sex couple with children into its program. That’s when several board members of the agency resigned last week, apparently in protest.
The agency pairs families with participating area churches, and those churches provide meals and temporary housing to Family Promise's clients. Once the agency decided to help the same-sex couple, several agency board members affiliated with Lakewood Baptist Church resigned from Family Promise, according to a report from the Gainesville Times. The church also cut ties with the non-profit, which has affiliates across the nation.
"We're just not going to comment, we need to protect our families, our clients and our churches," said a woman answering the telephone at Family Promise's Gainesville office on Thursday before hanging up on an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter.
The remaining board released a statement Thursday afternoon saying: “Lakewood Baptist Church was instrumental in establishing our organization and recruiting other churches, and has been very generous in providing volunteers and financial support to us over the years. We cannot comment further as to the details of any decisions of our board or our churches…We also respect the varying religious beliefs of each of our host churches, many of which have members on our board, and we rely heavily on those churches’ support of our organization.”
Rustin Smith, acting board chair, told the Times on Wednesday that the resignations stemmed from, "The disagreements came about … the issues related with accepting them," referring to the family.
Lakewood Baptist is one of Gainesville's largest churches. Its pastor, Tom Smiley, has been an opponent of same-sex marriage. On the eve of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage across the nation last year, Smiley wrote in his blog, "Uncommon Common Sense":
“I need to state unequivocally that it is possible to hold a principled objection to Same Sex Marriage. It is false to assume that one who holds strong core values regarding traditional marriage is simply acting out ignorance, hatred or some homophobic bias.”
The day of the decision, however, Smiley lamented on the blog that the ruling would lead to the nation’s downfall.
“I’m sad because, the SCOTUS has established an environment that is NOT GOOD for men, women or children,” Smiley wrote. “I’m also sad because of WHAT IS NEXT?….. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY will be the next Brick to fall.”
Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed Georgia's controversial "religious liberty" bill this year after tremendous pressure from the national business community not to sign it. Smiley was opposed to the veto.
Opponents said the bill amounted to legalized discrimination against gays and lesbians. Some Georgia legislators, however, have vowed to revive the religious liberty bill next session saying it will protect churches and business owners from violating their religious beliefs about marriage.
Smiley’s office said he had “no comment at this time” about the Family Promise resignations. His son, Tyler Smiley, who is an associate minister at Lakewood, was on the agency’s board. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy group said the resignations were a fallout from last summer’s marriage ruling and the religious liberty bill. While it was unfortunate that the members felt they had to terminate their relationship with Family Promise, Graham said, he found their decision “honorable.”
“They took the honorable path,” said Graham. “They resigned rather than refuse services to a family in need.”
He also praised the remaining board members.
“There’s good news in this, most notably that a family in need was served,” Graham said, “and the majority of the board members were able to reconcile their personal views with their duty to serve homeless families.”
According to its website, Family Promise partners with churches to host families for a series of one-week stays at participating churches. Church members provide meals, lodging and transportation for families during their stay. The agency also helps with job searches and housing. Participants also have to adhere to strict rules while in the program, including no alcohol consumption. They must also attend regular meetings on parenting, money management and job readiness.
