This past Thursday I attended a vigil celebrating the
International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. About forty people, LGBT and their straight
supporters, listened attentively as the speakers shared their stories. I was amazed at the deep, personal nature of
these testimonies. There were gay men,
lesbians, a woman married to a gay man, a transsexual woman, her heterosexual
wife, and a mother of a transsexual man.
A woman talked of homophobia—even her own homophobia and inability to
accept herself. They spoke of
difficulties dealing with family members.
They talked about rejection.
These stories broke my heart—but there was also hope. Attitudes are changing. It is happening slowly in Idaho, but there
are rays of hope.
Yesterday was Pentecost and also the second anniversary of
my church’s decision to become a reconciling congregation, welcoming
everybody. A lesbian member gave a
tearful testimony about why our church’s welcome is important to her. She told of coming out to her friends at
another church, only to be rejected by them all. She said it meant a lot just to be able to
hold her partner’s hand in church. During the pastor’s class after the service,
we discussed this testimony and the sermon.
An older woman shared that she finally had the courage to walk into our
LGBT support group, admitting to us that she is gay. This took an incredible amount of courage and
trust for her to come out to us.
As I ponder these two events, I wonder why this is such a
big deal. All of the people I mentioned
are intelligent, articulate people. Good
people. They are people worth knowing. Why should anybody care who they love or what
sex they were born? What difference does
it make? Don’t we all just want to be
loved and accepted? Why is it so hard to
offer that to others? As a Christian, I
am trying to reflect God’s love and accept others just as Jesus did. For me, it is the only way to live.
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