To my siblings in the LGBTQIA+ community:
Come and sit with me for a moment; I want to talk with you. I want you to know you are safe with me. I will always stand with you, protect you, and use whatever power my privileges afford me to fight beside you. You have my most solemn promise.
With over 520 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills introduced in state legislatures (Human Rights Campaign), I know America is frightening and dangerous for you. Witnessing the unmitigated hate being lobbed at you from every direction fills me with immense sadness and rage. There is nothing wrong with you.
However, there is something viciously perverse with the weaponization of religion to advance backward, twisted ideologies that, quite frankly, undermine the very principles of this nation. I am, of course, referring to Christian Nationalism and its fervent efforts to usurp a 247-year-old democracy with a theocracy driven by this distortion of Christianity. Let me be clear: I am not attacking all versions of Christianity. I am a Christian in every sense of the word.
Having grown up in this and having observed what has been happening the last several years, I know there are some folks who will always be close-minded. They are so deeply and blindly entrenched in what they have been taught it doesn't matter what evidence is presented. This is not for them. I'm not talking to them. I'm talking to you. Please, hear me when I say you do not deserve this. You are valid, strong, beautiful, brave, and loved just the way you are.
The most common weapon used against my siblings is the Bible. The misguided folks that call themselves “Christians” always have a handful of Bible verses ready to throw like stones against anyone they perceive to be different: Genesis 19, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and 1 Timothy 1:10.
This reminds me of another passage in the Bible: John 8:1-11
“but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Jesus Christ, the only man even remotely qualified to pass judgment and offer condemnation on a woman caught breaking the Laws of Moses, did not throw a stone. So, why do we?
It is also worth noting Jesus never condemned homosexuality in his teachings or ministry. Not once. You would think he would make the time to talk about it if it was truly important since his life on earth was so brief. He did, however, spend a lot of time talking about love and not judging others. There are usually six verses that are used to denounce the LGBTQIA+ community. I have been able to find at least 19 that offer a different view:
Leviticus 19:18
Psalm 34:18
Isaiah 54:17
Isaiah 56:8
Micah 6:8
Matthew 7:1-5
Mark 12:28-31
John 1:12-13
John 3:16
John 13:34-35
John 15:12
Romans 2:1-5
Romans 3:21-26
Romans 8:39
1 Corinthians 13
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Galatians 3:23-26
Galatians 5:14
Galatians 5:22-23
1 Peter 5:10
1 John 4:7-11
1 John 4:18-20
Reading the very narrow, carefully curated verses as typically presented does seem to offer condemnation. This stance however, is a gross misrepresentation of the text as a whole because it leaves out context. Context is key to fully understanding any written work or piece of art. The Bible is no exception.
Something else I often hear from people trying to justify their prejudice against LGBTQIA+ people is the “it’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” argument. The basis of this stance is rooted in the book of Genesis during the creation of the world and its inhabitants. The claim is homosexuality is unnatural because God specifically created a woman for the purpose of reproduction with a man. Setting aside the immaturity of the “Adam and Eve” remark, I can refute that claim with one word: eunuchs.
By definition, eunuchs are incapable of reproducing. Yet, the Bible states in Isaiah 56,
3 "Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say,
“Behold, I am a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose the things that please me
and hold fast my covenant,
5 I will give in my house and within my walls
a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
As long as the eunuch is faithful to God, he shall be accepted by God despite the fact he cannot reproduce. So following this line of thought, LGBTQIA+ people should be fully embraced and accepted by God.
One could also make the argument that being part of the LGBTQIA+ community is natural. Consider this: Genesis 1:20-25 describes the creation of all animals from the "swarm of living creatures" in the waters to the birds flying across the heavens, to the "livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth." The end of each verse says, "And God saw that it was good."
"It was good." Exactly the way God made them. No interference or influence from pesky things like culture and society as we understand them from a human perspective. So, would it surprise you to learn homosexuality, more accurately bisexuality, has been well-documented in over 1,500 species including penguins, scarab beetles, the Laysan albatross, bats, bottlenose dolphins, Japanese macaques, and bonobos (National Wildlife Federation)? According to Imperial College London, homosexuality and bisexuality can actually be beneficial to a population regarding the rearing of young through co-parenting behaviors. Aside from potential evolutionary benefits, evidence also suggests there are benefits within social groups. To put it plainly: this behavior has been used for stress relief and "to reconcile after fights" in male chimpanzees (The Washington Post).
Science tells us that homosexuality and bisexuality are common, even beneficial, occurrences in nature. History and political science remind us that in America, at least, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…"(Constitution of the United States), there is a separation between Church and State, and "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" (Declaration of Independence). Nevertheless, there are those who would claim patriotism yet ignore the very bedrock of our democracy while attempting to force us all to follow Christian Nationalism. Well, I have some very bad news for them. The God they claim will bring down righteous wrath against the LGBTQIA+ community and cleanse this world of abominations actually loves his children and embraces them with open arms.
7 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."
1 John 4:7-11 (KJV)
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