No Nonsense in November, II
There has been much discussion on the web about Texas's proposed constitutional amendment 2, which would ban gay marriage (and any legal status similar to marriage).
I don't want to make constitutional or legal arguments, because I don't think that's what this is really about. At its core, marriage is not about legal rights and responsibilities, it is not about licenses and laws, it is not about tax breaks and visitation rights (though all of these are and should be part of the broader discussion). Marriage is about creating family. Marriage is about joining yourself with another forever. Marriage is about love and a life together.
Some people do not believe that LGBT people can create families. Some people do not believe that LGBT people are capable of monogamy, that we are capable of being parents, that we are capable of building families and lives together. They do not believe that the relationships we have should be legally recognized because, for moral reasons, they do not believe they are valid. So they seek to ban our marriages and to tell us that our families aren't really families after all.
But look around. Lesbians and gays have been creating families for a long time. There are thousands of committed gay and lesbian couples in Texas. Many of these families are raising children (some estimate that there are over 1 million children being raised by gay parents in the U.S.). LGBT people are capable of giving and recieving love. We already give love as your children, your brothers, your sisters, and your friends. We, though, must now grovel and beg for the right to love romantically and to have that love recognized by society.
We will probably lose this fight. But we aren't going anywhere, and we don't plan to stop falling in love anytime soon.
Marriage, that millenia-old institution, has survived because it has evolved. Its survival depends on its relevance, and it will continue to survive only if it keeps pace with humanity. It is time for the next step. Recognize us as your fellow citizens. Recognize us as deserving of respect. Recognize us as humans capable of love and commitment. Vote No on November 8.
I don't want to make constitutional or legal arguments, because I don't think that's what this is really about. At its core, marriage is not about legal rights and responsibilities, it is not about licenses and laws, it is not about tax breaks and visitation rights (though all of these are and should be part of the broader discussion). Marriage is about creating family. Marriage is about joining yourself with another forever. Marriage is about love and a life together.
Some people do not believe that LGBT people can create families. Some people do not believe that LGBT people are capable of monogamy, that we are capable of being parents, that we are capable of building families and lives together. They do not believe that the relationships we have should be legally recognized because, for moral reasons, they do not believe they are valid. So they seek to ban our marriages and to tell us that our families aren't really families after all.
But look around. Lesbians and gays have been creating families for a long time. There are thousands of committed gay and lesbian couples in Texas. Many of these families are raising children (some estimate that there are over 1 million children being raised by gay parents in the U.S.). LGBT people are capable of giving and recieving love. We already give love as your children, your brothers, your sisters, and your friends. We, though, must now grovel and beg for the right to love romantically and to have that love recognized by society.
We will probably lose this fight. But we aren't going anywhere, and we don't plan to stop falling in love anytime soon.
Marriage, that millenia-old institution, has survived because it has evolved. Its survival depends on its relevance, and it will continue to survive only if it keeps pace with humanity. It is time for the next step. Recognize us as your fellow citizens. Recognize us as deserving of respect. Recognize us as humans capable of love and commitment. Vote No on November 8.
posted by GR at 10/25/2005 01:10:00 PM
8 Comments:
hello--i don't think we know each other, but if you're willing and comfortable, i was wondering if you could email me and tell me about the combination of your faith and homosexuality. i've met very few gay Christians (knowingly) and, having in the past been on the outside of most traditional thoughts of the church, i don't want to take any of them for granted. i want to know what your position is and the scriptures behind it, and just anything you're willing to tell me. i am not hostile and i am curious, in part because i know that many gay people feel excluded by Christ. i know that he loves everyone but it is hard for me to understand and reconcile some of it.
so if you are willing. my email is mareisme@mail2moon.com
thanks
although i cannot vote in tx, i just wanted to drop you a note to say "hello" and that i am still reading.
talk to you soon.
Very interesting,
I was raised in the mainline CofC and was involved with the Boston Movement for a few years. Also I'm a Harding College graduate from the mid 70's. When I left the Boston Movement, I was very dishearten with the CofC, and entered a "wilderness" period of my life. I came out a few years ago... and have rethought most of the doctrine I was taught. www.ex-churchofchrist.com has some great resources. I'm also involved with EC--Evangelicals Concerned at www.ecwr.org
RG
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
Your blog has given me the courage not just to think about all of this, but to write about it as well at emergentHouston.
Hi GR,
I have been reading your blog over the past week, and I want to thank you for your graciousness in sharing your life in the Church of Christ on this blog. I deeply respect you for this work that you're doing. Thank you.
The C of C I am attending is doing a Wed. night study on homosexuality...as I understand, they are going to work through a book on a Christian view of homosexuality (the book, in other words, is positive). I would like to share your blog with the group, and I would enjoy hearing about any thoughts/resources (yours or otherwise) I might be able to share (the group is coming from a "traditional" view on homosexuality and will likely remain there).
Grace and peace, TW
travis@weberwire.com
Travis,
Which book is your church using? I'd be happy if you shared the blog with your group, though I don't know how much it will help. I will send you an email asap with a few reading suggestions.
Sorry...I posted this to an arcived topic...just today not realizing I was not on the most updated page.
GR,
This is a bit off topic. I'm a gay Christian, partnered, and former COC'er. I attended ACU, was in ministry in the COC, and have/had many friends in the tradition as laypersons, ministers, professors. I admire and encourage your endeavor here. The CoC is a place where I could not remain for various reasons (personal, professional, and spiritual). I left the COC for the UCC, left the ACU graduate program for Princeton, and I am now an ordained minister in the UCC. I have no regrets about leaving. I have to say, I am slightly encouraged by what I see here in your blog. However, it has not changed my belief that there is little (or no) hope for the COC. Aside from a history of dehumnaization toward minorities (slavery, women, homosexuals, other faith traditions, "liberals", other races and nationalites) while being ironically compassionate toward other groups. In order to be COC one has to hold many things in tension, not just a dialectic, but in irreconcilable tension. Simly put there are too many items that are unresolvable. In your last post you addressed anger, I think of anger as a positive and call it righteous indignation. Certainly MLK Jr. was angry, Harvey Milk was angry, even Andrew Sullivan is angry and should very well be. That anger tempered with sharp wit, civil disobedience, and religious/social justice have allowed this discussion and your blog to exist. I wish you well in your dialogue but can't help but feel that it's a case of "Stockholm Syndrome." SS is a tag word for those who were mistreated and fell in love (literally) with their abusive jailers - an euphamism for WWII. Gay people who remain in the COC and continue to live by it's rules, without challenging, without confronting openly and honestly, who dialogue in fear of being kicked out, at least in my opinion are exhibiting a spiritual stockholm syndrome. I say this not to pass judgement - for I hope either through staying or leaving that you find the liberation and wholeness you seek as a gay Christian, but as I read it sounds like you feel trapped, closted but not closeted, out but not out, challenging but not challenging the status quo from an anonymous voice in a dark corner. Again, paradoxes, irreconcilable realities that contradict one another in the COC system. In response, I have felt a feeling I haven't had in over ten years reading your blog, it's intelligent, but also sad. Arguements change minds, dialogue changes minds, but exegesis and arguements, dialogue and dialectic won't change who you are or decide your identity for you. You are a blessed and loved child of God, called to live with courage, integrity, and honesty. You are loved for who you are, a gay person created by God to live in the fulness of life. The image of God is not dependent upon gender or sexual orientation, God is not male nor female, but God is one who calls us to live out God's love for God and neighbour in loving, mutual self giving relationship with others. May God bless you on your journey. -RCB
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