Military Spouse of the Year: Devout Christian, Homosexual
Ashley Broadway, the homosexual who complained about being denied membership in a Fort Bragg spouses’ group, has been named the “spouse of the year” for Fort Bragg in a popular vote called the Spouse of the Year program.
In the online election held Tuesday, Ashley Broadway captured the Fort Bragg vote “by a country mile,” said Babette Maxwell, founder of Military Spouse magazine and the Military Spouse of the Year award. Ballot totals were not revealed. As one of the 154 base-level winners, Broadway now is eligible to be nominated for Army “spouse of the year.”
As the “spouse of the year program” is a private operation, it is free to designate anyone it chooses (as opposed to Fort Bragg, which cannot recognize Broadway as a “spouse”) . It does not appear to be a military operation — though the website does say the wives of the Joint Chiefs form a panel for final judging.
The only requirement listed on the group’s site is that
A nominee must be the spouse of a current member of the U.S. Armed Forces…
Otherwise, the process is only a popular vote — with the exception of a final judging panel that reviews
impact on community change, volunteer efforts, personal sacrifice, professional pursuits, goals, and specific efforts to support the military community.
For the record, Broadway’s homosexual advocacy group had solicited its members to vote for her. Given the relatively little publicity the competition itself received, it is likely even a small organization would be able to influence the polling. Tellingly, even Broadway acknowledges she wasn’t selected for the noble reasons expected by the judges:
A lot of people who voted never me met or talked to me or knew me from Adam. I know it was a statement…
In other words, she was popularly voted “spouse of the year” — by random members and supporters of her own homosexual activist organization whom she didn’t even know — because she is a homosexual. That’s not unlike the motivation behind Broadway’s decision to go after the spouse group — not to actually be part of the group, but to make a point.
The Fort Bragg spouse group has reportedly now offered Broadway membership. Consistent with her attitude to date, Broadway says she’ll join not to help others with military issues or benefit from the support of military spouses – but to set people straight:
I need to educate some of the naysayers that are in that group and show them my family is just like their family.
It seems she might need the “education.” Given that she’s apparently going to be the first homosexual in the group, her family isn’t like any of theirs.
For her part, Broadway says she has leaned on her faith during the recent kerfuffle:
I think things happen for a reason. I’m a very devout Christian. I’ve had faith in God this whole time…
It is true that things happen for a reason. It is also true that some who might call themselves “devout Christians” may still sin — no one is perfect, after all (actually, there was that One Guy…). It is notable, though, that someone proudly proclaiming her faith in Jesus Christ is just as proudly proclaiming her unrepentant sin.
“Haven’t you read,” [Jesus] replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?”
Matthew 19:4-5, NIV
Also at the Fayetteville Observer and Military Times.
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I would just like to point out, that she didn’t have “a point to make” until the group gave her one by denying her entry to the group, even though she met their one requirement.
Just because she doesn’t personally know or have spoken to some of the people who voted for her, doesn’t mean that she’s not deserving of the votes. I believe that she has met the impact on community change idea by fighting to be in this group, and I, having never met her would vote for her for that reason alone.
If there was anyone who needs to be educated, it would be you my friend. Her family is exactly like yours! She loves her family just as you do yours. They all live and breathe the same way and they all die the same, and we all mourn…. the only difference I can see, is that yours has at least one judgmental a[–]le in it!
You know what else is “notable”? That someone proudly proclaiming his faith in Jesus Christ is just as proudly proclaiming his unrepentant sin. Are you god? Who are you to proclaim as matter of fact, that homosexuality is a sin? And if the scripture is what you think is your savior with that question, then lets use all the scripture…. remember the parts that say: love thy neighbor, judge not least you be judged or how about the whole book of Leviticus, not just the parts that suit your judgement!
It’s not a wonder that so many of our youth are turning away from god and religion. Why should they believe it to be something special or even true when there are so many hating and judgmental christians like yourself!
Edited by Admin.
@Jeannine A. Starkey
That’s a ridiculous statement. It could just as easily describe a polygamous group, an unmarried couple, swingers, or the Manson family. A does not equal B simply because one wants it to.
Your attempt to apply a worldview you do not believe in and do not understand makes the rest of your accusation nonsensical.
I really enjoyed your article on this. Thanks again. Stay strong in the Lord.
@JD
The only thing “ridiculous” is your insulting and irrelevant false analogy. A couple of generations ago, people made the same silly comparisons about multi-ethnic marriages. History has proven them as wrong as you. None of the groups you mention are analogous to a faithful married couple. The only difference between a same-sex married couple and an opposite-sex one is the genitalia of the couple. As the Western world is rapidly realizing, that is not a relevant difference.
And as for your even more shameful implication that Ms. Broadway is not a “devout Christian” – you might want to actually spend some time studying the history of the tradition (and the ultimate judgement of history on those fundamentalists and zealots who share your attitude toward their brothers and sisters). The Church’s perspective on the nature of “sin” changes with the cultures. For instance, military service was sinful in the eyes of the Early Church, which viewed Jesus’ teachings as unequivocally pacifist. Likewise, slavery was not viewed as sinful until the nineteenth century. See also the views on fasting and feasting.
As much as we like to try to be salt and light, when the vast cultural consensus changes on something, Christians change with it. If we didn’t, we would become irrelevant and disappear.
Thankfully, the kind of intolerant “Christianity” you espouse is, in fact, rapidly disappearing into just that kind of irrelevance.
@The Rev. C. Joshua Villines
No such analogies or comparisons were made. Rather, the absurdity of @Jeannine A. Starkey‘s “logic” was demonstrated — an absurdity you did not defend.
Actually, the number of X and Y chromosomes is different, among a great many other differences. Care to rethink your talking point?
By the way, who are you to judge that it must be a couple? Why do you insist on forcing your moral standard on others…?
Man’s view on many things may change. God’s does not.
On the contrary: Christians become irrelevant when they moves with the flow of culture, rather than trying to influence the flow of culture.
As you surely know, Jesus said as much about the theological perspective you espouse:
Rev Villines, thank you for your contribution to this blog – even as an atheist (and former Christian) I concur with everything you say. Despite not sharing similar world views, it’s refreshing to see another reader note the same observations I have.
I have a daughter who is gay – I have lived up close and personal what this entails. It’s far too easy to toss stones absent the benefit of personal experience, knowledge, and wisdom. While we may disagree as to the relevance of my daughter’s “sinful” nature as a direct consequence of being born into this world a smart, intuitive, caring woman, yet gay, it’s incredibly vital in today’s modern society to accept all people for who they are, and resist bigotry.
It will be interesting if the moderator chooses to let this post out – I suspect he won’t as my last posting has not appeared. That is certainly his prerogative, but if he doesn’t, it would only affirm that his closed little world is his to control, and he is afraid of open debate on a topic that’s important to everyone, whether they are straight, gay, religious, or not. The power of the censor is mighty.
JD, your silence regarding my comments speaks volumes – I can’t say that I am surprised at all.
I was personally blessed, although not in the usual way, by a Southern Baptist Convention upbringing. The SBC, which I assume you know, was founded in 1845 in the defense of slavery, something which they denied through about five revisions of their official history before admitting and asking for forgiveness in the mid 1990’s. Since their founding, they’ve been on the wrong side of every great social question to come before America (universal suffrage, miscegnation, anti-lynching laws, etc. It still amazes me that they were even able to find the wrong side of such an obvious moral issue as anti-lynching laws), and so they serve, for me and many others, as a moral anti-loadestone: whatever the issue is, take the exact opposite position as the SBC, and you will be judged kindly by history. I think the SBC’s stand on gay marriage is clear…
For people of evangelical faith, this is a challenging time, in which you must question your positions and faith, as the SBC did with regards to slavery. I trust you will come around to the side of justice, but hope it doesn’t take 150 years as it took for the SBC on slavery.