The Humanist Association of San Diego elected its first openly gay president and vice president on Dec. 21. Jason Frye, a 23-year-old GLBT and human rights activist, and Sam Warren, a 20-year HASD member and co-founder of the association’s GLBT satellite organization — the Gay, Bisexual, Lesbian Secularist (GABLES) — were unanimously elected at the HASD’s annual membership meeting and winter solstice party.

The HASD promotes human rights, science education and secular government, and has approximately 46 members, nine of which are board members. They meet once a month for board meetings and hold quarterly parties at each solstice and equinox.

Frye, who recently moved from Fort Collins, Colorado, was not involved with any humanist organizations previously, but became involved with HASD last year after his roommate invited him to one of their meetings. His and Warren’s election has caused one Ocean Beach resident, recent mayoral hopeful and self-proclaimed humanist Loch David Craine, to protest the installation, calling the decision “animalistic” and “unworthy” of the Humanist mission.

“We’ve gotten a few happy little comments from [Craine],” Frye acknowledged. “Some of the members of the board had put out a press release about what the results of the board election were, of my becoming president and Sam Warren becoming vice president. I believe the headline on the press release said ‘Gay activist elected president of HASD’ and he became a little upset and decided to take some time out of his schedule and write a very, very long document.”

Craine, a magician who recently ran an unsuccessful bid for mayor in the free-for-all primary, aired his complaints via two e-mails to HASD Treasurer Phillip Paulson. “I think San Diego Humanists have made a big mistake to turn over the group’s guidance to gay people,” Craine’s first e-mail said. “Gay people… ridicule our heterosexuality, which is gene-based, and flaunt their perverted desires despite the daily consequences of disease and death. Gay behavior is abnormal, deviant, and mutant (as are other perversions and pedophiles) and represents a mistake in orientation, not an advance in science.… Your group should not support their perverse agenda.”

Craine’s comments came as a surprise to the board, particularly since Craine is not affiliated with HASD. “He did not like the fact that two openly gay people were elected to the board of the Humanist Association of San Diego,” said Frye. “I don’t believe the board is upset with that, since they elected us unanimously.”

“Perhaps the two new gay officers have a statement of their concerns, promises and intentions so that we can examine the roles they intend to create and the direction they will lead the San Diego Humanists?” Craine wrote. “What gay manifesto has replaced the noble concerns of humanism, and why has your group fallen for it? Is a jealous god behind this, creating another barbed self-fulfilling prophecy and impossible test for humans? This sounds like the work of an extraterrestrial rapist who preys on teenagers.…What other items of the gay agenda will the San Diego Humanists embrace next — pedophilia, poor parenting, promiscuity, or perversion? Ask yourself — is it more human to be heterosexual or deviant? I think your members are mistaken in yielding the reins of an otherwise brilliant and innovative organization to people who mimic and mock the normal relationships they cannot understand and do not respect. You have bent over backwards to tolerate the gay agenda, and now you’ve thrown the soap on the floor of the shower — beware the slippery footing!”

According to Frye, HASD has supported the GLBT community for years, and has always had GLBT members.

“It’s kind of strange,” Frye said. “When I was elected President at the board meeting, I was asked whether or not I would push a gay agenda because I want to get involved with Freedom to Marry Day. I told that person that no, I was not pushing a gay agenda, but gay rights are in HASD’s interests … when certain groups marginalize [GLBTs] and hold them down. I stated that we did not have a secondary agenda for gay rights because gay rights are human rights, therefore it’s our primary agenda.”

GABLES was started eight and a half years ago, and HASD and GABLES members have marched together in the LGBT Pride parade for the last eight years with a banner that reads “Separate Church and State.”

“[Craine] only included the point about a “gay rights activist” and didn’t include the other side of the coin where it said human rights activist also,” Frye said. “In his first letter, he said that we have to be wary of the president and vice president’s hidden agenda. In his next letter — supposed letter, since he referred to himself as ‘Captain Kirk,’ though the writing style was the same and the e-mail came from the same web address — he alluded that I was a member of NAMBLA (the National Man Boy Love Association) which I was not aware of whatsoever. It’s nice to find out about my memberships from other people.”

Craine concluded his comments with an argument against gay marriage and gay parents. “In the long race of humanity you’ll find that gay people are outside the bounds of culture and correct behavior in almost all recorded societies, and think more of their genitals than their grandchildren,” his e-mail read. “Two daddies will never equal a mommy, and gay families who buy abused/rejected children or rent test tubes to ferment young lives like designer beer will rudely rob the children of either the pleasure of a mommy and the strength of a father.… Gay people may be human, but their world view is egotistic, not humanistic.”

Frye and the HASD have no plans to address the issue formally. “I kind of put it out of my head after awhile.… And I thank him for the laugh,” Frye said of Craine’s comments. “We’ve always had gay board members, but the sexual orientation of our board members is irrelevant. We’re humanists, you know?”

In addition to their participation in Freedom to Marry Day on Valentine’s Day, HASD is planning to have speakers at every meeting in 2004, and is hosting a tongue-in-cheek farewell party for George W. Bush, tentatively planned for September. For more information about HASD, call (619) 280-8595.