This Pastor Tim’s newspaper article which appeared in the Evening Leader on July 26, 2021
It goes without saying that there are many controversial things in our world today. As most of you know, I am the pastor at Wayne Street UMC and today, I am considered a controversial person because of my chosen career. I believe in God, a specific God that I know as my personal savior, Jesus Christ. He teaches me how to live a compassionate life filled with grace and mercy not only for me but also for the people I encounter. Sounds terribly controversial, doesn’t it? I do controversial things like visit people in the hospital, talk to people who are having trouble, and do all I can to be a positive presence in this whole community. I am not making any claim that I am 100% perfect, but in every instance where I get it right, it is evidence of the influence of the Lord living in me. What a rebel I am…
However, every once in a while, I hear something that is classified as controversial that surprises me. Something that sounds so insane, so off the wall, that there is no way it should ever be considered controversial. Yet in our world today where almost everything is upside down, it caused controversy. I want to tell you what happened without telling you any of the details and see if you can guess what was so controversial. An organization held a rally for middle and high school students, kids approximately ages 13-17. A porn star gained access to the event by purchasing a VIP pass, which included her stage name on the tag along with her social media handles. When this was brought to the organization’s attention, they asked the porn star to leave the premises.
From this description, can you identify the controversial part? Was it the fact that a porn star attended an event designed for high schoolers? No. The part that has created “controversy” was the fact she was asked to leave. Of course, this has taken to social media and now here I am writing an article about a porn star.
The organization holding the event was Turning Point USA, an organization I had not heard of prior to a couple of days ago when this controversy started. The porn star goes by the stage name Brandi Love and she has been described as a “business woman.” I am not even dignifying this with a response.
The big problem here is that Turning Point USA has a reputation for being a conservative organization helping promote traditional values. When asked about this controversy, Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet released this statement: “TPUSA did so in keeping with its standard operating procedures to not involve porn brands, influencers, or personalities that post or publish sexually explicit and pornographic content. A few concerned parents rightly alerted us to the extremely pornographic nature of her social media post, and event leadership immediately took the appropriate steps in keeping with the best interest of the minors present at the event.”
Who cares what the politics of TPUSA happen to be, why can’t we all agree that porn stars promoting their social media accounts should not be allowed at events held for minors? I don’t care that TPUSA is a conservative organization, and I don’t care that Brandi Love writes for a conservative publication and is branded a conservative businesswoman, this is not OK. Had she been there using her real name and not promoting her social media accounts and posting pictures from the event on her Twitter account, the same account she used to promote her “business,” I would have less trouble with this. But as it stands, if one were to scroll her Twitter account, they would find a variety of content to say the least.
Just for your information, I don’t have a Twitter account and I only googled Turning Point USA in reading about this and did not put her name in Google. I am a 46-year-old man and I know that would potentially lead me in a direction I know I should not go. How many 16-year-olds would you trust to show that level of restraint?
A conservative porn star. I can write that phrase with no irony at all. I don’t like what that says about our culture.