Lawrence pastor meets president
Topeka ? A Lawrence minister used a face-to-face meeting Monday with President Bush to thank him for opposing abortion and gay marriage.
“I told him we were praying for him and that I appreciated his stand on pro-life and family values,” said the Rev. Leo Barbee Jr., pastor of Victory Bible Church, 1942 Mass.
President Bush greets the Rev. Leo Barbee Jr. of Lawrence at Forbes Field. Barbee and his wife, Juanita Anne, spoke with Bush on Monday and rode in the presidential motorcade to Bush's speech at the historic Brown site.
Barbee was one of about a dozen people, including Atty. Gen. Phill Kline and U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, allowed to stand close to Air Force One after it landed at Forbes Field.
Barbee stood nearly as erect and still as the uniformed soldiers around him as the plane rolled to a stop. When Bush emerged, Barbee waved, clapped and gave Bush a clasping, two-handed handshake.
They spoke for about 15 seconds and posed together for an official photographer.
Bush was here to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s school desegregation ruling, but the reason the White House gave for setting up Barbee’s encounter had nothing to do with race. Officials said it was because he regularly volunteered in the spirit of Bush’s “USA Freedom Corps” initiative.
Barbee reads to schoolchildren each week and helps organize an annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. He said he learned he’d get to meet the president when someone from U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun’s office called him.
Barbee is an outspoken opponent of gay marriage, which he called “a shame for our nation.” He accuses homosexuals of trying to get “special rights.”
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