The Sin in this story isn't about Them

There has been an onslaught of new legislation across the country targeting LGBTQ+ rights. Obscured by language about protecting parents' and women’s rights, at the heart of the legislation is a fierce push by religious fundamentalists to reverse the normalization of LGBTQ+ individuals.

I am a 57-year-old, white Christian woman. I first heard the word “gay” used to describe someone as other than happy in fourth grade. The word was being hurled at a classmate on my school bus who was angry and upset. Kids on the bus were giggling, laughing and repeating the word. I knew something was terribly wrong about the way the children were acting, but I did not fully understand the undercurrent of shame that clung to their insult. I did not understand how to comfort my classmate and combat the cruelty. I did not understand that telling my classmate to ignore what was said because it wasn’t true, would not/could not feel comforting. I did not understand that my “good” intentions served only to reinforce a false flag that my classmate had something to feel shame about.

Fifty years ago, society taught me that men were not supposed to sleep with men and women were not supposed to sleep with women. Religious leaders taught me homosexuality was sinful. Since then, I found Jesus. I studied his word. I developed and cultivated my relationship with God. This relationship forever changed my views.

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 1 John 4:20

What I have come to understand is the sin in the LGBTQ+ story does not sit with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer person perfectly designed by God, but in the behavior of the people who bully, ostracize, humiliate, assault, persecute and turn away from them.

The sin in this story isn’t about them.

Fifty years later, the bullies on the bus have grown up. They are clothed in suits and stilettos, carry a bible for the cameras and brandish a powerful pen, but they are still the same kids who used insults to gain favor and taunts to instill fear. Only now they have the power to do more, take more, harm more.

Fifty years ago, I did a terrible job protecting a friend. Fifty years later, I have grown up and am armed with a vote, a voice and my own pen.

If you are concerned or just want to find out more about the latest push of anti-LQBTQ+ legislation, here are a few organizations actively making a difference.  

Get Involved - Human Rights Campaign (hrc.org)

WE SAY GAY – Together Rising

The Trevor Project | For Young LGBTQ Lives