Mutual Love Trumps What We've Been Taught

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to hear Bishop Gene Robinson give a lecture at Vanderbilt entitled "Being Gay: Does it Really Get Better?" If you don't recognize the name, Bishop Robinson was the first openly gay bishop ordained in the Episcopalian Church. To see his video message for the It Gets Better Project, click here. (Here's a link explaining a little more about the It Gets Better Project if you don't know much about it... read and then watch some of the videos on the site!)

Bishop Robinson spoke honestly and poignantly about his own experiences of growing up, getting married, coming out, getting divorced, meeting his current husband, and his career in the Church. His personal story was moving, but what stuck with me the most was the way he lovingly criticized the Church. Obviously, he loves and is committed to the Church, but he also reminds us that "The Church is responsible for most of the pain caused to LGBT youth and adults," meaning that most of the arguments against homosexuality and gay people have their roots in religion and the Bible, and it is Un-Christ-like and unacceptable.

He used racism in an example to explain what he means by that for those of us who are not committing hate crimes against LGBT people or being intentionally exclusionary or discriminating: "Unless I am working to dismantle a racist society, I am a racist, because I am benefitting from it." The same could be said of most other "isms"--that unless we stand up against discrimination and especially systemic discriminations, we are complicit in sustaining and perpetuating it.

The same is certainly true today with regard to the LGBTQ movement. The Church and Christians often use certain Bible verses to justify their hatred and fear and exclusion, but this won't be the first time that the Church has had to repent for our actions against certain people and groups of people, and I hope that we do that before I have children and have to decide whether or not to take them to a church and ask them to participate in a faith that openly excludes people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. (We're getting close in the PC(USA)!)

Bishop Robinson ended his lecture on a hopeful note regarding the future of the Church and the Christian community's attitude toward LGBT people. He said that change happens when an experience challenges our worldview. We then enter into a time of chaos in which we question our worldview, and we come out of that chaos either in denial of that challenging experience or with a new worldview. Some change has already happened, he says, because so many people have come out and challenged the worldview of many of their loved ones. In the end, he says, it usually happens that our "mutual love for one another trumps what we've been taught." I hope so.