Church Cancels Funeral After Discovering Decorated Vet Was Gay

August 10, 2007 - 3:00 pm ET

(Dallas, Texas) A mega-church in Arlington, Texas has reportedly cancelled at the last minute a funeral service for a Navy veteran who died while awaiting a heart transplant after learning he was gay.

Cecil Sinclair died on Monday. He was 46.

A native of Fort Worth, Sinclair was a Navy veteran who served in Desert Storm helping rescuers find downed pilots.

Most recently he had been in failing health. Six years ago he developed a heart condition and was on a list for a transplant. On Monday he died of complications following surgery intended to keep him alive until a new heart became available.

Sinclair was not a member of any church. His brother was a member of High Point Church and when Sinclair's health began to fail members of the congregation prayed for him.

The nondenominational church is led by the Rev. Gary Simons, the brother-in-law of televangelist Joel Osteen.

When Sinclair died High Point offered to host a funeral.

But the offer suddenly and at the last minute was rescinded, the Dallas Morning News reports, when the church discovered Sinclair was gay.

Sinclair's sexuality came to light, the paper reports, when the family submitted photographs of Sinclair's life that it wanted to display at the funeral.

Among the pictures where photo's of Sinclair hugging and his partner, Paul Wagner.

"Some of those photos had very strong homosexual images of kissing and hugging," Simons told the Morning News. "My ministry associates were taken aback."

Sinclair's mother told the paper that the church never contacted her or Wagner about their decision to cancel the service. She said she learned of it late Wednesday when Sinclair's brother Lee called her.

"We could have reached a compromise," she said. "That was never attempted."

The church did offer to pay for a funeral at another location but the family turned it down. Instead the service was held Thursday night at a local funeral home.