OKLAHOMA CITY (ABP) -- A prominent former Southern Baptist pastor who became an unlikely gay-rights poster boy was cleared of criminal charges in a sex-solicitation case March 7.

An Oklahoma judge acquitted Lonnie Latham of asking an undercover male police officer to have sex. Latham had publicly supported Southern Baptist efforts to get gays to renounce their sexual orientation.

Latham's acquittal is not likely to appease his Baptist critics, however, since his attorneys did not prove he was not seeking gay sex with the policeman, only that his invitation was not a crime.

Neither did the court address a deeper issue behind the case -- whether the law used to charge the former Tulsa pastor is unconstitutional.

In January 2006 Oklahoma City police arrested Latham, who was the pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church in Tulsa, Okla., on a charge of offering to engage in a sex act.

Police officials said they had received several complaints about male prostitutes in the neighborhood around the Habana Inn, a hotel that advertises itself as "the Southwest's Largest Gay Resort," in "the heart of Oklahoma City's gay district."

According to police reports, Latham told the officer his name was "Luke," that he was from Dallas and that he was in Oklahoma City on business. Police said the pastor followed the officer's car for several blocks, then pulled up next to him and invited the officer back to Latham's hotel for an unspecified "lewd act."

Initially, Latham reportedly claimed he had been set up and was actually ministering to police in the area. However, he soon admitted he had asked for sex and resigned from the church as well as from the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma's board of directors.

Both bodies have been outspoken in their opposition to gay rights.

The case drew national attention, not only because of accusations of hypocrisy stemming from Latham's support for anti-gay organizations, but also because of the law under which he was charged.

Latham's attorney, Mack Martin, reportedly argued that the lewdness law was unconstitutional because of the Supreme Court's 2003 Lawrence v. Texas ruling. In that decision, the high court tossed out a Texas ban on sodomy, saying states could not intrude into private, non-commercial sex acts between consenting adults.

"If it's not illegal to engage in that conduct, then it shouldn't be illegal to talk about it," Martin said, according to the Tulsa World.

Attorneys for the state, meanwhile, argued that Oklahoma had an interest in regulating non-commercial sexual solicitations.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of Latham's argument, and several gay writers and gay-rights groups expressed support for such a stance.

However, Judge Roma McElwee did not reach that issue in her ruling. She simply dismissed the charges against Latham.

Martin said Latham was "ecstatic" about the ruling. He could have faced a year in jail and a $2,500 fine if convicted.

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Read more:

SBC Executive Committee member arrested in gay prostitution sting (1/6/2006)

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