Open Letter: Dear Sherri Shepherd ....

Dear Sherri.

I’m not a fan; let’s get that out there first. For me, in my opinion, the last place you need to be is on a “talk” show because, except for your pedestrian little comedy routines, you should not be allowed to speak and I’ll tell you why.

I recently heard that you said the following during an interview with Fusion and Alicia Menendez:

"I think people don't know my heart. I think people feel I'm very judgmental. I think people feel I'm very homophobic. If they knew me, and knew my heart. ... You grow up being a Christian and you grow up believing homosexuality is a sin; you're going to hell if you're a homosexual. This is something that they teach in churches. So it's something that I grew up believing. … I might not agree with your lifestyle, but I love you. You may not agree with my lifestyle, but you love me ... I don't say it's a choice. If you tell me, 'Sherri, I was born gay.' OK. I'm not gonna argue with you, because I can't tell you how you feel and what's going on inside. I'm trying to make it into heaven by the skin of my teeth ... I don't know who I'm gonna see. So if you tell me you're born [gay], I'm not gonna argue with you. And I absolutely respect you for that. I just ask that people respect how I feel, [I] respect how you feel and we can have a great dialogue."

First off Sherri, to tell someone, anyone, that you think they’re going to Hell because they’re gay is a judgment; you have judged that I, and many others, are unworthy of Heaven because we’re gay. See how that works? You cast The Gays to Hell simply for being Gay; that’s judging, and it’s not your job, and none of your business. Your business is trying to make Sherri Shepherd a better person and on that front you are a failure.

And please stop with the 'I grew up that way' nonsense. Lots of folks grew up being told one thing, either in church, or school or by their parents, and when they reached adulthood, they made up their own minds based on their own experiences and education; lessons you apparently never learned, for here in 2014 you keep spouting the teachings from your childhood.

Like thinking that gay is a “lifestyle.” A lifestyle is the way a person lives, not who they are; being gay is no more a lifestyle than being male, or female, or Black. Being gay is who we are; we had no choice in the matter, just like you had no choice in being a Black woman. But you had a choice in choosing your religion and your beliefs, and you chose to stay glued to a faith that is judgmental and condemning of people. My being a gay man is a part of me, a part of my life, but it is not my lifestyle.

And please explain how you can look at gay people — and I’m sure that, being in show business, you are surrounded by gay people — and say I love you but you’re going to Hell. I have a belief in a higher power, something greater than myself, and for the sake of this argument let’s call her God.  And I don’t believe for a minute that she would ever say to anyone, I love you BUT …. Yet you do, you qualify your love. I love you BUT you’re going to Hell. That’s your definition of God’s love, I love you but …

We don’t need it or want it. We don’t need hypocrites standing up and saying we’re going to Hell simply for being born, because we are born gay, Sherri, whether or not you and your tiny brain can grasp it; we are born gay. Just like you were born straight, unless you want to announce that, after much research and experimentation as a Lesbian, you chose to be straight. 

I mean, look at history. Why would anyone choose to be gay? Choosing to live a life in a world that has denied us jobs and housing and education, a world that has beaten us and murdered us and stomped on us; a world that still seeks to deny us the right to say 'I do' to the person we love? Do you really think anyone would choose that?

Would you?

Now, you might get to Heaven — if there is such a place — and you might not. But if there is a Heaven, and there is a God, I imagine she’s gonna have some tough questions for you, like why you condemn people to Hell when it ain’t none of your business.

Your business is to tell jokes and be the comedy talking head on a way-past-it’s-prime daytime TV show; you are the Urkel of The View and no more. That’s your job. You sit there and spout your little jokes and laugh really loud and say nothing of importance.

That’s my judgment, of you. How does it feel?

Oh and … PS

I suppose I really shouldn’t take anything you say seriously — though I worry about the like-minded souls out there who will use Well, Sherri Shepherd said in their anti-gay arguments.

I mean, you are the same person who, in 2008, when you were first on The View, said you didn’t "believe in evolution. Period." And when Whoopi asked if you believed the world was flat, you said, “I don’t know” followed by gibberish, and followed by “I’ve never really thought about it.” You went on to it was more important how you were going to “feed your child.” Whatever that means. And even Barbara Walters looked at you stunned, and said, "You can do both."

Then there was your discussion of Classical Greece, and the idea of the Christians being thrown to the lions by the Greeks. You stated that "Jesus came first" [before Greeks and Romans] then added, "I don't think anything predated Christians."

And finally, we have your glowing review of Gospel singer Shirley Caesar, and how you likened her to “a black Patti LaBelle.”

I’m not saying you’re an idiot, Sherri, I think that would be a judgment. All I’m saying is that maybe you really need to think before you open your mouth, and then decide to say nothing.

Quote source