LGBT

Truth and Meaning: Rationalizing Hate and Discrimination

/ uurevjeff

Truth and Meaning: Rationalizing Hate and Discrimination

“I don’t hate anyone.” I must have heard that sentence at least six times last Tuesday night as opponents to a proposed nondiscrimination ordinance addressed Bay County commissioners. The proposed ordinance would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity for all direct employment and services provided by Bay County, including services provided by any county contractors.

“But …” and then would follow the flood of uninformed and irrelevant venom directed at gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender folk. “I don’t believe in discriminating against anyone …” would immediately precede reasons why Bay County should not protect LGBT people from discrimination.
Well, I have news for you. LGBT people face discrimination every day. They can be fired from their jobs because they are gay. They can be evicted from their homes because they are gay. They can be denied contracts and services because they are gay. And they didn’t choose to be gay anymore than you chose to be straight.

And here is some more news for you. Being gay is not a choice; it is not a “lifestyle.” No one “decides to become a woman one morning” (at least two people trotted that one out in their testimony). Gay people are not pedophiles lurking in public restrooms to molest your grandchildren — the fear mongering about bathrooms came up many times from opponents, despite the fact that the vast majority of pedophiles are heterosexuals.

You don’t get to decide whether you hate LGBT people. If you believe that government should not protect these vulnerable citizens from discrimination — protections you take for granted because of your straight privilege — then you are showing hatred toward the LGBT community. When you trivialize gays, and make stereotyped inferences about their character and morality, then you are showing hatred. When you dismiss the bullying and beating, the harassment and hurt experienced by LGBT folk every day because you don’t choose to see it happening, then you are showing hatred toward them.

And here is some more news. You do not get to twist the life and words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to support your hate. In his convoluted and mostly irrelevant testimony, Gary Glenn painted King as opposing nondiscrimination against LGBT people based on one article taken out of context and the opinion of one of King’s children. In fact, King would have been a champion of gay rights today because of his long-time and close friendship with a gay activist and because of his view of Christianity, says Michael Long, author of, “I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life in Letters.” “Dr. King never publicly welcomed gays at the front gate of his beloved community. But he did leave behind a key for them — his belief that each person is sacred, free and equal,” says Long, also author of the upcoming “Keeping It Straight? Martin Luther King Jr., Homosexuality, and Gay Rights.” And despite the views of his daughter, her mother Coretta Scott King, was a vocal supporter of gay rights. One of her closest aides was gay. She also invoked her husband’s dream.

So, to Gary Glenn and the rest of the homophobes who opposed this ordinance, here is some last news. Though King was a Christian minister, he didn’t embrace a literal reading of the Bible that some use to condemn homosexuality. King’s vision of the Beloved Community — his biblical-rooted vision of humanity transcending its racial and religious differences — did not restrict people’s rights, but expanded them. Jesus preached a new covenant — one that rejected the old legacies of division and hated. He preached of a world of love and acceptance, a world that protected the weak and oppressed. Jesus never, ever taught you to hate anyone or to judge them because they are different. Jesus never, ever limited the definition of committed loving relationships to only heterosexuals.

So stop rationalizing your hate because you deny the overwhelming scientific evidence. Stop justifying your discrimination because you need to defend your straight privilege. And stop putting your words of hate and discrimination into the mouths of our greatest champions of love and justice.

The Beloved Community: Justice

/ uurevjeff
As Jody and I drove the 750 miles from Midland, Michigan to Raleigh, North Carolina last Friday, we knew that we were engaged in a pilgrimage.  Just as those called to Selma in 1965, we were called to the South again to march for the moral rights of all people, of our society.
So, as we passed into each new state (and went from -7 degrees to 50 degrees!), we stopped to record a sermon for my congregation back home to watch on Sunday morning.  This is part of an ongoing sermon series I have been delivering this year on King’s idea of the Beloved Community — what are the attributes of the Beloved Community, and how can we get there.
https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/0p0YSTVzpKE&source=uds

Truth and Meaning: The Call for Moral Dissent

/ uurevjeff

As you read this, my wife and I are driving back to Midland from Raleigh, N.C.. Why did I preach my sermon via Internet video and not from my pulpit this morning? I preached from the road this morning because my predecessors did. Because I can. And because I must.

For centuries, Unitarian Universalist ministers stood at the forefront of change movements: abolishing slavery; developing public education and public health systems; securing civil rights for racial and ethnic minorities, women, LGBT folk and other marginalized people; defending our religious liberties; promoting peace and disarmament; and protecting our representative democracy. I stand on the shoulders of great men and women who have struggled, sacrificed and even died defending our belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person. And I have the tremendous good fortune to serve a congregation in Midland that supports my work. It is my duty to carry on our legacy of activism.

As a financially secure, straight, white male in a society that privileges all of these things, I can march and be noticed, speak and be heard, protest and be acknowledged. I went to Raleigh because of the injustices taking place in North Carolina affecting our most vulnerable citizens. I went to Raleigh because of the young black man in prison serving time that a white man does not; because of the woman living in a domestic violence shelter with no car, no time off from work and inadequate child care; because of the students in school with no voice and no political influence regarding their future. I went to Raleigh because I can be in Raleigh and they cannot. It is my duty to march, to speak and to protest on their behalf.

When the call from the North Carolina NAACP went out for clergy to come to Raleigh, I remembered a similar call that was answered by the Rev. James Reeb and 100 other Unitarian Universalist ministers 40 years ago when the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called for us to stand with him in Selma. Reeb was later killed by racist cowards on the streets of Selma. The circumstances have changed, but the issues very certainly remain the same. I went to Raleigh because I must do whatever I can to stand with my brothers and sisters in justice, equity and compassion, and in defense of the democratic process we hold sacred.

The situation in Michigan today is no less serious. Our legislature continues its war against women by cutting their access to medical treatment and ignoring their voices in Lansing. Our government continues attacking LGBT folk by sanctioning discrimination and limiting the civil rights of loving gay couples. People with inordinate wealth are funding efforts to destroy organized labor and maintain a permanent and growing underclass by suppressing wages and cutting necessary benefits. Gerrymandering and emergency managers have stripped voting power away from half of our state’s African Americans.

Michigan is better than this. We are better than those who would turn our state into a feudal theocracy. We are better than this because true people of faith love their neighbors without regard to their race, creed, identity or gender. True people of faith care about the poor, the sick, the prisoner, the helpless and the hopeless. True people of faith will unite to overcome greed and power lust. We will unite fearlessly, hand in hand, to live in peace because the truth will set us free. And, until that time, those of us who can will rise in moral dissent against injustice wherever it arises. We will march because moral dissent is our calling.

Truth and Meaning: As goes Utah …

/ uurevjeff

Truth and Meaning: As goes Utah …

If you follow the news related to the removal of bans on same-sex marriage, you should be watching the events playing out in Utah. That is because the same series of events may happen in Michigan in just a few weeks. On Tuesday, Feb. 25, Judge Friedman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan will hear arguments in a court case regarding adoption and marriage equality in Michigan. The judge may deliver his ruling that same day. One of the possible outcomes is that the judge will rule Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional, opening a window for a wave of same-gender marriages in the days following the ruling.

Equality Michigan is maintaining a database of clergy who will be available to perform marriages. At this point, I am the only minister in Midland on the list, and one of only four in Mid-Michigan. The anticipation of the joy I feel for that day cannot be measured.

Now, if the idea of legalizing same-sex marriage still sends you into a tizzy, let me challenge your thinking.

1. Legalizing marriage between partners of the same sex does absolutely NOTHING to hurt marriages between straight people. Those who argue for the “sanctity” of marriage should look to the real factors destroying the institution of marriage in this country, such as infidelity, domestic violence, income inequality, and the lack of necessary health care and family support services. And if you argue that marriage is only intended to support procreation, then why not ban marriages of infertile couples, the elderly, or those choosing to remain childless?

2. The fact that the ban in Michigan arose from a voter referendum is of ZERO relevance. A basic human right is exactly that – an inalienable right – and cannot be “voted” on by anyone. Two consenting adults committed to each other and bound in love have the basic human right to have their union recognized and respected. They deserve the same rights as married heterosexual couples.

3. Keeping gay people from marrying IS discrimination. Hundreds of laws make life extremely difficult for people whose partnerships are not recognized by governments. These exclusions are cruel, punitive, and inhuman, and they serve no social good.

4. The Bible contains nothing barring loving couples from joining in marriage. You don’t get to pick and choose from Leviticus unless you are willing to adopt ALL of its laws (no shellfish or meat cooked rare, no mixing of cloths, no tattoos or shaving, and hundreds of other common modern practices). Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed for allowing gays to marry. They were destroyed because they threatened the violent gang rape of strangers. And Paul was talking about depravity in general – not committed relationships between loving partners who wished to join in marriage.

5. Research shows conclusively that children reared by same-sex couples fare just as well as those raised by different-sex couples. And if you still think that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, then you need to read the scientific research before forcing your uninformed opinion on others.

If you are a gay or lesbian couple looking forward to getting married in Michigan, get ready. If Judge Friedman rules in our favor, the window of opportunity may indeed be short. The Midland County Clerk’s Office is prepared to offer licenses, and I would be thrilled to officiate at your ceremony!