Lacy Banks is No Man of God

A few months back I began to feel sorry for Sun-Times sportswriter Lacy J. Banks, in spite of the fact that according to all reports, he was a pretty crappy reporter and writer who owed his continued employment at the Bright One to the efforts of his union. That's because he disclosed that he had prostate cancer, a bad heart and at least one other serious potentially life-threatening ailment. He owed his continued survival to some great doctors and an unwavering faith in God. I admired his Job-like resolve in the face of these obstacles, until now.

Thanks to an alert via the brilliant Steve Rhodes's Beachwood Reporter, I found one of the Reverend's latest blog entries, in which he describes his sex life after prostate surgery. It wasn't enough, though, for the frequently demoted Banks to talk about the glory of getting it on in his condition, he had to use his blog post as a forum to condemn gays, lumping homosexuals with rapists, "fornicators," adults who have sex with children, adulterers and those who have incestuous sex. He says all of the above could find their way into heaven, if only they repent. 

It's sad that facing death so closely hasn't made the Rev. any more tolerant, nor has it helped his writing. It's infuriating that the Sun-Times would allow this hate to make it onto their virtual pages, and its hypocritical of a paper which called for the head of Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen's head when he called columnist Jay Marriotti a 'fag.' Where will the full-page columns calling for the firing of Lacy Banks be? Will he go sensitivity training like Guillen did? Or will he just get a pass, because his idiotic opinions may possibly generate hits on the Web site?