Addressing Religion-Based Bigotry
The week of the Supreme Court hearings on Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), I had the opportunity to engage with people from across the country—many who supported marriage equality for committed same-sex couples, and many who did not. Of those who did, the reasons were many: “Federalism!” “Equal protection!” “Freedom of association!” “Commitment!” “Love!” Of those who did not, there was only one reason: “The Bible.”
What hurts the most when people put forth the notion that civil marriage is incompatible with scripture is what lies beneath that idea: gay people are incompatible with God’s teaching. Less than. Broken.
I’ve been down this road before. You don’t make it through 18 years of Catholic schooling, four years as an altar boy and regular weekly church attendance without being confronted by guilt. I was lucky enough to know how to navigate it, and ultimately strong enough to persevere to the point of realization that being gay did not make me incompatible with God’s teaching. Or less than. Or broken. I was a creation of God and a follower of Christ.
I say I was “lucky,” because my epiphany was less about personal mettle than what our nation’s founders termed “Providence.” There are others out there who have not experienced the same grace, do not have the same supportive circles of friends, and live in families where “acceptance” is as unlikely as “tolerance.”
There is a particular power that ministers and priests have when they are in the pulpit: the power to exalt God’s creation, and the power to condemn it.
The words of the priest in his homily and the minister in his sermon resound in the heart and the heads of parishioners long after they pass through the doors of the sanctuary; they accompany gay parishioners back to their homes; they trail the small business owner with a gay employee back to his shop; they follow parents with a closeted gay son back to the dinner table.
It’s precisely for this reason that it is not only wrong, but dangerous when clergy declare—or even imply—that being gay is incompatible with God’s teaching. Or less than. Or broken. And it’s precisely for this reason that more clergy should use the power of their office to hold up those parts of the Bible that encourage parishioners to love all of God’s creation, and to view gay people as individuals with lives to be loved and celebrated, just as all life is worthy of love and celebration.
Photo via flickr user familymwr