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Falwell also praised White for never having interfered with his preaching on the belief that the Bible condemns homosexuality. "And I hope that evangelicals might build a bridge to gay and lesbian people just as we have built a bridge to drug addicts, alcoholics and unwed mothers."

After hearing himself being cast alongside groups who are the white American Baptist equivalents of untouchables, White asserted, "religious rhetoric kills people when it builds fear towards gay people" and in a weird display of killing the enemy with kindness, lavishly praised Falwell, asserting that his openness to dialogue was "the solution."

After asserting that his "ultimate goal is to bring [homosexuals] out of the lifestyle and into the Lord," Falwell infuriated White and his supporters by introducing Michael Johnston, founder of Kerusso Ministries, a ministry that attempts to convert gay people to heterosexuality via "treatments" that the American Psychiatric Association has condemned.

Johnston spoke of his twin journeys out of drug addiction and homosexuality, which he now looks back on as equally depraved, and urged listeners to follow him. On Oct. 11, Johnston's message, given in San Francisco to coincide with National Coming Out Day, was squelched by a well-aimed blueberry pie delivered by two members of ACT UP and the Biotic Baking Brigade. This time his reception was less fruity, but no warmer. Creech labeled Johnston's comments "spiritual violence" and following the press conference a shocked White, red in the face, informed Falwell's associates that if Johnston spoke at Falwell's church service the next morning, White and his followers would walk out.

Falwell later told White he didn't know anything about Johnston or Kerusso Ministries, and asserted that Johnston had approached him that day and asked to appear at the press conference to tell his story. Likewise, Falwell asserted that the anti-gay rhetoric disseminated in his recent fund-raising letters and on his Web page (including such choice nuggets as "the America [homosexuals] demand is a sewer of moral filth ... an environment that's incredibly dangerous to our children ... a culture that despises Christian faith and morality") were neither written nor approved by him. Falwell's refusal to accept responsibility echoed a similar denial he issued last year when his organization was widely derided for stating that handbag-toting Teletubby Tinky Winky is a recruiting tool for gays.

"Every time he claims ignorance on something he does, we're going to confront him," White said firmly.

"I like Jerry. He's wrong about gays and lesbians, but he's sincere about it. We're primarily people of faith gathered here, and he still compares us to bootleggers."

When Falwell countered that "homosexuality is not a sickness, but like drinking is a sin to be forgiven," White finally delivered a swift counterpunch to this "love the sinner, hate the sin" line of reasoning. "Calling people sinners over and over again," he said simply, "becomes hate language very quickly."

Falwell's retort, delivered in the velvety Southern voice that has moved hundreds of thousands, "I don't agree with your lifestyle, I will never agree with your lifestyle, but I love you" and more significantly, added "anything that leaves the impression that we hate the sinner, we want to change that" and that "henceforth ... we love the sinner even more than we hate the sin."

Such words were a big step for Falwell, whom many believe has built his church by fueling homophobic fears, working since the fall of communism in 1990 to repeatedly invoke the specter of depraved, power-hungry homosexuals bent on world domination in order to raise funds and recruit volunteers.

Reached by telephone prior to Saturday's meeting, Wayne Besen, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington gay rights lobby, quipped, "If White could get Falwell to come around, then I think a lot more people would believe in miracles than ever before."

But in a way White did move mountains, simply by engaging Falwell on his home turf, as a fellow minister, and backed by people of faith. HRC and most other national gay and lesbian organizations are largely focused on policy issue -- training their sights on secular goals that aim to avoid any appearance of activity that the right might label an attempt to "legislate morality." Namely, they're intent on securing equal rights under the law.

Activist groups such as ACT UP have shown more interest in taking on the church, but historically only as a target for direct action, not as a partner in debate. And while many lesbians and gay men believe that organized religion is the primary source of homophobia, the church is a form of family for many gay men and lesbians, just as it is for many Americans, period. The Metropolitan Community Church, a predominantly lesbian and gay denomination that combines many Christian traditions, is the largest gay and lesbian organization in this country, and one of the most popular gay non-fiction books this decade has been Daniel Helminiak's "What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality." For some, turning away from the church, as so many gay people have done, is not an option.

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