Are you ready to r-r-r-r-r-rumble?!?! The homophobe vs. self-loathing closet case smackdown!

Remember the Rev. Lonnie Latham, the Southern Baptist leader from Tulsa who was busted at the infamous Habana Inn in Okla-homo ... Oops! I mean "Oklahoma City" ... for propositioning a male undercover cop? (If you don't, got back a couple of entries. I'll wait for you to catch up.)

OK. All caught up now? Good.

So here's the update on the story: Apparently Brother Lonnie's initial explanation that he was "ministering" to the lost sheep who hang out aroung the Habana Inn didn't pass the smell test for his congregation ... or for anyone with an IQ above room temperature in an air-conditioned igloo, for that matter. So Brother Lonnie stepped down as senior pastor at the South Tulsa Baptist Church and sent his flock a letter.

According to Tulsa TV station KOTV:

In the letter, Lonnie Latham says "Sandra and I thank you for the love and encouragement you have shown us not only before this incident but also after. Your cards, calls, and e-mails of encouragement, your prayers, and your presence sustain us. We will always love you. Our prayer is for you to continue to be the great ministry you are.”

Morris Chapman is the CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention and he says of Latham - "In spite of his denials soon after his arrest, he now acknowledges the incident did happen and that he needs help."

I'd say that's a bit of an understatement that Brother Lonnie needs help. Unfortunately, the Southern Baptist version of "help" in a case like this will be to whisk him off to an "ex-gay" camp quicker than you can say "Lonnie likes to lick young lads lances" three times fast. No doubt Brother Lonnie will come back "cured" and be yet another "ex-gay" spokesperson touting how rededicating his like to Jesus saved him from that awful homo-seck-shul afflication while eyeing a studly young lad in his audience and feel dat ol' devil creep into his crotch.

Ho-hum! We've heard it before from the former heads of Exodus International who fell in love with each other and decided the "ex-gay" schtick couldn't compare to playing hide-the-salami. And from John Paulk, the "ex-gay" head of James Dobson's Focus on the Family's "ex-gay" program ... at least before he got caught trying to pick up guys in a Washington, D.C., gay bar. And from ... well, the list could go on and on.

What make's Brother Lonnie's fall from grace interesting is that it's apparently caught the attention of homophobic heavyweight champion Fred Phelps of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church. Fred announced in one of his ubiquitous flyers that he plans on picketing that "sodomite whorehouse" otherwise known as South Tulsa Baptist Church.

Apparently Fred is miffed that Lonnie's littel escapade is drawing attention away from him and his picketing of funerals of soliders killed in Iraq. Heck, poor Fred couldn't even get much publicity for his plans to picket a memorial service for the miners killed in West Virginia thanks to Lonnie stealing his thunder.

So now the smackdown is on pitting one certifiably crazy homophobe against one genuinely screwed up closet case.

It's so amusing when the fundies begin to turn on each other. Is it too much to hope they take each other out with one blow (so to speak)?