Personally

I wasn't always a pro-GLBT Christian. Perhaps that's surprising, but it shouldn't be. Any number of GLBT Christians can tell stories of fighting our attractions, trying to "go straight" in an effort to be a better Christian. I remember arguing with my straight friends in seminary about what was wrong with being gay. I remember writing a paper in seminary that argued against full inclusion of "unrepentant homosexuals" in the life of the church.

The story of my coming to terms with this can be found in this essay I wrote about 12 years ago. http://whosoever.org/Issue7/morality.html

For this blog entry, suffice to say that I know something of the struggle to become pro-GLBT, even when the "G" lives within my skin. I try to be patient as I watch people struggle with the issue, especially when it isn't that personal for them. Still, I have to confess to impatience.

My impatience comes from watching other people's lives get sidelined and watching the church lose authority in a culture that is less concerned about these things. We only have one life, and there's only so long that some people can wait. A lot of people die waiting. A lot of people seek out community in bars and clubs because the church doesn't/won't offer a place of belonging.

There is chronos and there is kairos, and it seems there is neither for too many people. We wring hands over the this things, worried about who will leave and afraid of who might join.

A recent study by Tina Fetner, How the Religious Right Shaped Lesbian and Gay Activism, shows how the millions of dollars raised and spent by anti-gay propaganda has not stopped the growing sympathies for GLBT folk. In fact, her studies suggest that it is the anti-gay propaganda that has helped change some minds about GLBT folk---for the postitive. As a religious person, I can't help but see the hand of God in this. What they meant for evil, God used for good. (Or at least, it appears evil to me from my perspective.)

It's not that I don't believe minds can change, that they won't change. It's happening and at a rather fast pace as these things go. What I worry about is that it won't change fast enough, and we'll have another generation of GLBT kids growing up in a church that won't embrace them fully, won't honor their relationships, won't give them the means and support to create meaningful relationships, won't say anything more than "you're welcome here, but don't expect that means you have full access, full acceptance."

My mind was changed. It was a religious experience. I don't know how to help others have that experience. But I pray for it.