Some Christianists Endorse Lisa Miller’s Kidnapping of Isabella

In yet another example of the contempt that many Christianist hold for the civil laws and for Court rulings, several supporters of Lisa Miller appear to be supporting the apparent kidnapping of her daughter Isabella in defiance of a Vermont court order directing that she turn custody of the child over to Janet Jenkins, Miller's former partner under a Vermont civil union. Miller now claims that she's no longer a lesbian - yes, just like I'm Mona Lisa - and has moved back to Virginia and endeavored to use Virginia's anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment to void the Vermont court rulings. The ploy has not worked and twice the Virginia Supreme Court has upheld the Vermont custody rulings. Meanwhile the U. S. Supreme Court has refused to review the case. As a result, Lisa Miller appears to have resorted to her form of vigilante justice by disappearing with the child. Debbie Thurman (pictured at right), the facilitator of an ex-gay ministry in Lynchburg, Virginia, supports Lisa Miller's move as evidenced by these highlights from Box Turtle Bulletin:

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It was, I suppose, inevitable that Thurman would become interested in Lisa Miller, the woman who is seeking to keep Janet Jenkins, her former partner, from having contact with their child. Thurman’s anti-gay political attitudes, along with their mutual attendance at Thomas Road Baptist Church (the church Jerry Falwell founded), surely drew them together.

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And, indeed, Thurman is an avid advocate for Lisa Miller. Although she pretends some distance and objectivity in some of her comments, it is not coincidence that the “Protect Isabella” website is registered at her business address and that she was their contact person (the site is rife with homophobic smear and insinuation).

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[S]he seems incapable of seeing gay people as equal to herself or, indeed, much other than an enemy to conquer and vanquish. Convinced that a battle is waging between homosexuality and God, she appears incapable of disengaging from her Culture War.

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Responding to Miller’s disappearance with Isabella, Thurman wrote an article titled “This is True Motherhood”, in which she endorses Lisa Miller’s apparent kidnapping of Isabella and compares her to the nation’s founding fathers.

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I cannot answer the burning question on everyone’s lips: Where are Lisa and Isabella? Somewhere safe, I pray. How and when did they get there? Only God knows.

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What happens now? A lot of frustration, recrimination and more lies on one side and a collective sigh of relief on the other. The courts still have a huge task set before them, meanwhile. Lisa and Isabella represent only one of many similar cases waiting to be resolved. We need precedents that honor the prevailing states’ rights, laws and constitutions. The majority of Americans overwhelmingly support traditional marriage. If the tyrannical minority wants to push against that, it can and will be met with civil disobedience. There is no other way.

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Lisa Miller is a mother who would give up her life to save her child. Of that there is no doubt. She apparently has chosen to forfeit a large measure of her liberty, personal property and pursuit of happiness in assuring that child her God-ordained future, much as a group of patriots pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor more than two centuries ago to establish this nation.

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I say God bless and long live Lisa and Isabella Miller. All who have known them are the better for it.

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Kidnapping a child so as to spite a former partner, using religion as an excuse for one’s own selfish desires, and taking advantage of local bigotries to elicit sympathy are not admirable traits. But, in the passion of parental ownership and the emotions of failed relationships, these are not unheard of or unfathomable. But endorsing kidnap as a tactic in a Culture War, that’s just plain evil.

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Thurman's website that seeks to use Lisa Miller and Isabella as a money making device - homophobic diatribes and all - can be found here.