I just realized that in my previous post about Midway Hills Christian Church, I gave the impression that the Rev. Robert Jeffress will be preaching at First Baptist this Sunday on “What to Say to a Homosexual.” The church marquis actually lists the sermon topic as “What to Say to Those Who Are Gay.”

Sorry about that mistake.

Oh, and for any First Baptist folks who might be reading this, I have some suggestions on what you might say if you come across me or someone in my big queer tribe:

“Girl! You look fabulous.”

“When’s the wedding? I hope I am on the guest list.”

And an old standby: “Love your hair, hope you win.”

Jack E. Jett e-mailed me this week to tell me who his guests will be this weekend on his radio program on 1360 AM. Saturday’s lineup includes Craig X, an actor running for mayor of Los Angeles, Allen St. Pierre, exec director of NORML (which advocates legalized marijuana) and Ole Anthony with the fundamentalist Trinity Foundation; Sunday’s guests include Lucy Lawless.

I wanna be in that green room!

While First Baptist Church of Dallas and its pastor Robert Jeffress are busy telling us why we are not okay and discussing “what to say to a homosexual,” other Dallas churches — beyond those generally considered part of our community, like the MCCs and Cathedral of Hope — are rolling out the welcome mat.

Paul Cross sent me a message this morning explaining that as he drove home at lunch yesterday, he noticed this welcoming sign outside the Midway Hills Christian Church at Royal Lane and Midway:

It’s not the best photo (looks like Paul shot it through the windshield of his car), so in case you can’t read it, here’s what it says: “Where it’s okay to be who you are.”

I wanted to double-check, and make sure that this is a church that actually does welcome the LGBT community and is not condemnatory, so I checked their Web site. Sure enough, the church’s home page makes it very plain that this is “an open and affirming congregagtion.”

Here’s what they say: “The picture of our church family has many colors. We are white, black, brown, young, middle age, mature, straight, gay, questioning, progressive, conservative and open to you. A picture of God’s inclusive love for all.”

Check it out for yourself here.

I just got off the telephone with someone who was offended by the headline of my profile of gay opera director John Copley: “The fat lady sings.”

See, I meant it not as a reference in any way to the girth of anyone associated with opera (certainly not the star of “The Marriage of Figaro,” the beautiful and very slim Lyubov Petrova) but in the metaphorical sense, i.e., “the opera is over,” because Copley claims — again — he’s retiring next year.

But it was pointed out to me that “fat” references — especially the cliche of heavy-set opera divas — are discriminatory, and not unlike the same epithets hurled at gays. My feeling is, in the same way gays have co-opted, and thus robbed the power from, negative terms like “queer,” “fat” had been similarly diminished as barb, from Emmy winner Camryn Manheim’s book (”Wake Up! I’m Fat!”) to a popular cooking (”Two Fat Ladies”). But maybe not.

So here it is: I’m sorry. No one associated with the Dallas Opera’s production was alluded to in the headline, and the joke, apparently, was not funny (for which I am really sorry). Just see the opera and forget about the stereotype.

In Manhattan, Sandra Bernhard and Natalie Maines are next-door neighbors. Sandra and The Dixie Chicks deck the halls for The Gap. The commercial is cute, but don’t the harmonies sound just awful?

Former Dallas Voice staffer David Webb just alerted me to this column he wrote in 2007, about a transgender woman who claimed she was fired from Pastor Robert Jeffress’ old church in Wichita Falls, where she’d worked as a custodian. Terri Beth Richeson told Webb she didn’t understand why the business administrator at First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls kept telling her not to wear make-up — especially since Jeffress wore make-up himself.

“The pastor wore a lot of make-up,” Richeson said. “I’ve got pictures of his make-up. I got a call one day from another employee who said, ‘You’ve got to come down to his office. He’s got his make-up all laid out.’ … It wasn’t the kind of make-up I wear. It was Clinique. It was real expensive make-up. I’m not sure it was just for Sundays and television. But that may have been what it was for.”

First Baptist Church of Dallas has reportedly pulled a YouTube video clip from last Sunday’s sermon in which Pastor Robert Jeffress compared sex to plugging in your iPod. And John Charles McKee, who just e-mailed me a copy of the clip he saved before it was pulled, thinks he knows why. Here’s what McKee said in the e-mail:

“For some reason (perhaps because it made Jeffress look like an absolute fool) First Baptist Church took down the video of him explaining how sex is like an iPod. Fortunately I had the forethought to save it before they did. I have left a message with the First Baptist media relations department nicely asking them to
re-upload it but I seriously doubt that they will so here is the copy I grabbed before the removal.

“I’d love to see a new post for the re-uploaded video to point out how they removed the video when they had a little bit of scrutiny for their obviously foolish statements. I and many other people have dragged their iPods all over the world and plugged it in using the same power adaptor I use in the U.S. in 240-volt outlets, just like it says on the side of the adaptor that Apple sells in its own stores right next to the plug adaptors for several countries.”

Laura McFerrin, a lead organizer of last Sunday’s protest outside First Baptist Church of Dallas, just sent over this photo of the church’s current marquis. According to the marquis, FBC Pastor Robert Jeffress’ sermon this Sunday will be titled, “What to say to those who are gay.” Wait a second, didn’t Jeffress pretty much cover that last week? At this point, I think we can logically deduce that this week’s sermon will suggest something along the lines of, “You’re not OK.” Alas, though, many of us around here suspect that what Jeffress most often says to gay people is, “You’re not a cop, are you?”

After the jump, read the press release about this Sunday’s protest at FBC that accompanied the photo.

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This is just in from The Associated Press. You can read the full story by going here. To learn about one Dallas couple that plans to wed in Connecticut, see Friday’s Dallas Voice.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A judge cleared the way Wednesday for gay marriage in Connecticut, a victory for advocates stung by California’s referendum that banned same-sex unions in that state.

Some couples planned to celebrate by immediately marching to New Haven City Hall to get marriage licenses. At least one ceremony was scheduled Wednesday morning on the New Haven green.