I guess I should have called this "The Religious Right: Still At It," as there is no evidence that they have ever let up on their ridiculousness when it comes to queer youth.
First, we have the Family Research Council asking the New York State legislature to pray really hard about whether they want to encourage gay sex by allowing gay marriage. Because we all know that gay sex is going to bring our civilization to a screeching halt. It's gay sex that has destroyed the economy, right? It's because of gay sex that we're stuck in multiple illegal wars and have people wanting to kick the elderly off their Social Security. Got it.
Second, a Catholic school has decided that the best way it can prevent gay sex is to make sure kids never see rainbows. I know that's what did it for me. Overwhelming rainbows, just everywhere. Here's hoping none of those kids ever goes to Hawaii with their families. They have rainbows on their license plates.
But just in case you weren't getting the point about teh gheyz being the scourge of humanity, the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer just outright lets us know that we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. And we definitely shouldn't be buying gay pride t-shirts from Old Navy, because of that whole shame thing. Of course, he also notes that national borders were put there by god, which does not explain at all how he thinks gay people got here. I'm not a believer, but I can sniff out an inconsistency like that from here.
I know there are churches out there doing good work, and they are going against the grain, for which I applaud them. But that caveat aside, it distresses me that the loudest churches are the ones that are spreading lies and rumors about queer people, and actively working for our oppression or even death. Lots of religious Americans behind that kill the gays in Uganda bill, you know?
I don't get why people who want to call themselves pro-gay stay in churches that are anti-gay - or even neutral, which is almost as bad. How people can be okay with the dehumanization project their churches engage in is truly beyond me. And "there are other things about the church that I like" just doesn't really fly with me anymore. What about the church is so great that it's worth the active harm it does to people? I'm not seeing it.
You know what is awesome about the rainbow thing? That the kids are standing up to the church. Now, Catholicism is different than a lot of other religions in that there is one person who makes all the changes, but I love to see there are people within religions who are working to change them. My cousin is a gay man who is entering the United Methodist seminary in the fall, and I'm really proud that he's trying to help the church embrace EVERYONE. I was once told that if everyone who disagrees with the church leaves it, then there is no one left to make changes. I think the problem comes in when church members just shrug and do nothing. Just as we take action in the secular world to make it more LGBTQ-friendly, it has to be done in the religious world as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's excellent to have people working to change things from within, especially considering how important the church is in mainstream America right now. But what I see happening a lot is people saying, "I think it's okay to be gay," and stopping there. Some of the places I link to above are going beyond that, and I wanted to highlight them. Maybe I'll write a blog post just about that tomorrow. I'm actually doing a little bit of work with the church my brother goes to in NYC, as they're trying to be more proactive. It's marvelous. I'll take the time to help people like that, they just need to ask. I'm an atheist, but I can see how churches can serve my community well if they'll get down with the project.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to share with you my wife's, my daughter's, and my mother in law's church in Pinellas Park, Florida. They are always looking to take part in active causes, even with atheists, and have a wonderful community with powerful voices from across the spectrum.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goodsam-church.org/
Good stuff! If they want any of the resources I'm working on with my brother's church, they can holla at me any time.
ReplyDelete