HOMOPHOBIA IS NOT OVER by Durrell Watkins, D.Min.
"You homos have it good enough. There are ‘real’ issues to deal with.” That is a message that never ceases to amaze and infuriate me.
People who say that are telling us to stop complaining about churches telling us that we are damned, about parents beating and abandoning their gay and trans kids, about bullies tormenting non-binary youth, about LGBT kids winding up homeless, addicted, or attempting suicide, about governors putting our rights to a vote or declaring our lives and families to be unmentionable, and to stop complaining when politicians use transphobic rhetoric or when homophobic preachers export their hate to nations where people can be imprisoned and killed for being gay, and in some cases can be punished for simply helping or defending LGBT people. Those who want to silence LGBTQ+ people want to be free to be callous and cruel without being bothered by our objections.
Caring about LBGTQQIAA rights does not mean that we should not and do not also care about economic justice, racism, misogyny, peace, the environment, immigration, gun safety, universal health care and other important issues. We each do what we can for what we have the most passion about because it’s all important...but if you tell me my Queer life is not as important as other lives because in your estimation my life is good enough (or even better than you believe it has a right to be), then you will have lost me as a conversation partner.
Climate change is a real issue and it must be addressed. Economic justice must be pursued. Racism is a sickness that plagues this country at every level. The on-going colonization of women’s bodies is vile and vicious. Wars, addiction, reproductive freedom, affordable higher education, food insecurity…these are all important issues and we can work and pray and vote with each of these issues in mind. And while we do so, we can still care about LGBTQ rights and safety. There is enough love in our hearts to want justice, happiness, and prosperity for all people.
Please vote in every election. The church can’t make contributions to campaigns or as a church endorse candidates, but as a spiritual and community leader, I can encourage you to vote and to vote in ways that you believe will preserve the rights and welfare of all people.
LGBTQ+ folk have been around forever and we will be around forever more. And we have a right to do what we can to protect and celebrate our community, and that in no way keeps us from noticing and caring about others who have also suffered simply because of who they are. Let us wish for “liberty and justice for ALL” and then pray and work and vote for that very outcome.
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