Christians Vote For Disability Justice

Micah 6:8 a verse that I meditate on and try my best to reflect in my life. The part that I want to focus on in this message is “to act justly.” That requirement from God is all-inclusive. It does not say, “To act justly except for LGBTQ people” or “to act justly except for people of color” or “to act justly except for people with disabilities.” It simply says, “to act justly.”

As an openly and proudly queer and trans Christian with multiple disabilities, including autism, ADD, and bipolar, I am moved that much more to act justly for LGBTQ people with disabilities, including LGBTQ people of color with disabilities.

According to GLSEN’s report, Drop Out, Push Out, and the School-To-Prison Pipeline among LGBTQ Youth, LGBTQ students with disabilities are more likely to experience school discipline and drop out of school than their LGBTQ peers without disabilities.

It is also clear that police are not equipped to adequately respond to people experiencing mental health crises. This is true in the cases of Teresa Sheehan in California, and more recently, Deborah Danner, a New York woman killed by police last month in her apartment during a mental health crisis. In February 2016, Kayden Clarke, an autistic transgender man, was killed by police who were responding to a suicide call. In his last Youtube video before his death, Kayden described that his therapist “would not approve his starting on hormones until after his autism spectrum disorder – which she referred to as a ‘disease’ – was ‘cured.'” Instead of responding with care and compassion in Kayden’s moment of distress, the officers who called to help Kayden killed him instead.

These are just a couple of the many examples of the injustices that LGBTQ people with disabilities experience and should move Christians to commit to acting justly for our LGBTQ brothers, sisters, and non-binary siblings with disabilities. This is why I’m a LGBTQ Christian who votes for disability justice.

Will you act justly with me and vote for disability justice, too?

Today’s Action

Today’s the day to make a voting plan! Decide now when and where you’ll vote.

Here’s How:

1.   First, lookup your polling place, even if you know where you voted last time! Sometimes polling places change.

2.   Next, decide when you’re going to go vote. Will you go before work? On your lunch break?

3. Finally, plan how you will get to your polling place!

Inspiration
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8 (NRSV)

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