Ralph Ovadal Comes Out, Will Marry

MADISON, April 1, 2005 -- Jaws dropped at a televised noon news conference here as Wisconsin Christians United director and self-proclaimed "pastor" Ralph Ovadal announced that he is getting married - to a man. The news conference, held in front of two Madison Gay bars in the shadow of the State Capitol, had been called to announce Ovadal's appointment to a gubernatorial task force on Gay and Lesbian issues.
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Those close to Ovadal knew of his hush-hush divorce late last year from ex-wife June. However, few knew of a new love in his life: Reginaald Tornvald, a plant manager from Oosthaus, a small town outside of Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Tornvald had visited Monroe in the summer and fall of 2003 as part of an exchange program between European and Wisconsin cheese factories. The ruddy, 54-year-old Tornvald supervises several hundred workers at a plant that specializes in smoked cheeses that are well-known throughout Europe. His visit was sponsored as part of Governor Jim Doyle's plan to build Wisconsin's capabilities as an international trading partner.
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Ovadal and Tornvald had met on the eve of Cheese Days, a biennial celebration of cheesemaking and Swiss heritage in Monroe. "It was truly love at first sight," Ovadal said at the press conference. "I knew then and there that I was going to spend the rest of my earthly life with this wonderful man." Local anti-Gay activists speculate that the initial flirtation was the reason for Ovadal's absence at protests against then-Congressional candidate Tammy Baldwin who had campaigned prominently at Cheese Days two years ago.
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Ovadal admitted his struggle to accept himself as a Gay man and his growing passion for Tornvald made the last 20 months very difficult. "Therapy - a lot of therapy - got me through this," Ovadal said.
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Ovadal admitted he had thought about reparative therapy, but decided against it after speaking with Michael Bussee. Bussee and his late partner Gary Cooper founded Exodus International, the first of many "ex-Gay" ministries. Bussee and Cooper later renounced that group and came out as "ex-ex-Gays."
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Reporters at the conference pressed Ovadal as why he continued protests against the LGBT community after the discovery of his own homosexuality.
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"Well, Michael says its called 'extinction behavior'," Ovadal said. "The whole Mazo thing - the protests, the chaining myself across the entrance - I just had to get it out of my system." Ovadal reported that well known Madison Dr. Michael J. Sweet, Ph.D. has been working with him for the last 15 months.
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Ovadal's announcement startled LGBT activists around the state, some of whom had been highly critical of Doyle's selection just days earlier.
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"I'm stunned but in some ways not all that surprised," exclaimed Christopher Ott, Executive Director of Action Wisconsin. "When I met with Governor Doyle last Thursday to strategize AW's displeasure at Doyle's choice for the head for the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, I couldn't understand the governor kept giggling. Now I know why!"
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Ovadal's lack of involvement at the 2004 hearings on AJR-66, the so-called "Definition of Marriage" state constitutional amendment bill, had tipped off Milwaukee Center Advocates wiz Patrick Flaherty. "I thought Ovadal's total lack of involvement was more than his typically odd behavior," Flaherty said. "And he has been just so chummy with that red-faced, middle aged assistant when he has been out doing protests - it was so unlike him."
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Others were less kind. "The pain and fear that this man has inflicted on so many in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered community will not be easily forgotten, and I say this from the personal perspective of an openly Gay Christian," retorted Walt Jackson, board member of Coming Out, Coming Together, an interfaith coalition of religious communities supportive of Gays and Lesbians.
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"I remember Ovadal as the sponsor of anti-Gay billboards in the Madison area, as well as campaigns of harassment against Gay-supportive Christians throughout Wisconsin." Jackson said. "All the same, I understand he has had a difficult spiritual journey."
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Other activists claimed they knew all along. ÒFor the last ten years we've been getting one or two reports every month or so that Ovadal had been seen hanging out at wayside restrooms and adult bookstore peep shows," Madison's Outreach Executive Director John Quinlan said. "The reported sightings and dates matched several of Ralph's so-called "Truth Tours" and "Wolf Runs." I just hope he's gotten a full STD screening."
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Ovadal, who reported that he has rights to Danish citizenship due to his father's immigration in the early 1900s, said he will marry Tornvald in a private ceremony later this spring. Under Danish law, citizens may form a government-recognized relationship that offers most of the rights of marriage, except for church blessing and adoption. Ovadal will seek dual U.S. and
Danish citizenship.
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Ovadal and Tornvald plan to relocate to Madison. "We've got the apartment, picked out the window treatments and have begun repainting," Ovadal said with a flip of his newly limp wrist. "Reggie is bringing over a number heirloom pieces that have been in his family for centuries. His Royal Dansk china is to die for!"
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The couple will also challenge U.S. Immigration law which currently prohibits same-sex partners from gaining permanent resident status. "I'm going to continue being the rabid activist I've always been," Ovadal promised. "My position as the head of the new Wisconsin Gay and Lesbian Task Force will afford me influence that will far exceed any credibility I had as the head of the Wisconsin Christians United."
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Ovadal concluded the news conference by adding that he will transform his Monroe church into a LGBT Community Center. 'After all the misinformation about Gay people I've spread in the last ten years, it seems appropriate." Ovadal said.

(Now that it is past Noon CST I suppose it's time to add the April Fool's caveat to the above.)