Via my dear friend, Jenny, The Bloggess, a couple of days ago I found the blog of a young lesbian who is in seminary on the ordination track to be a Lutheran minister — thus the name of her blog, Emm in Sem:
Gay marriage isn’t revolutionary. It’s just the next step in marriage’s evolution. [She links an article in The Washington Post.]
This is a great article.
That I’ve seen sixty times before.
I love my partner. I love our life. I love how far this country has come, even just in my short lifetime. I love reading these articles and knowing that there are straight allies and open LGBT brothers and sisters who are going to bat for us and our rights.
But I also am so, so sick of having to make these arguments, and to see them made.
Me, too, but I have to say that I’m over the moon that Emmy is able to be openly lesbian AND studying for the ministry.
After a bad break-up in 1976 I was celibate and ex-lesbian for almost eight years. Then, in the spring of 1984, I had a therapy session with John Gray, before his Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus fame, and he tried to persuade me that my being a lesbian was caused somehow by my upbringing. Which I finally realized was a ton of hooey. And not too long after that, I came to such a sense of groundedness and clarity about being a lesbian that I knew no one ever again could persuade me that I was wrong, or sick, or perverted, or anything but good and true. And I realized that the very worst thing I could possibly do with my life was to envy the dharma of another — that is, to try to be someone I wasn’t: straight. A few weeks later, I met Margaret.
So, Emmy, remember that the modern movement for gay equality began on Oct. 6, 1968, with the founding of the Metropolitan Community Church by the Rev. Troy Perry — not with the Stonewall riots in June 1969 — so we are building on a spiritual foundation. The most revolutionary things you can do are to nourish your faith, your love of God, your devotion to Kristi and to light the way for others to come out as gay AND spiritual. The more we have people come out and claim their goodness and wholeness in their spiritual lives, their families, their jobs and their communities, the sooner things are going to get easier. Please count me as a member of the “visible, public community of allies” you need and are creating.
P.S.
Emmy, the Left is comprised largely of the groups evangelical Christians have run out of the Right: gays, women and Jews, all of whom are better served by the fiscal conservative policies of the Right. Do come back and learn about fiscal conservatism because it seems to me that a considerable amount of the hostility toward gays from the conservative world is aimed at Leftist fiscal policies that gays embrace. It’s worth your while to learn how to tell whether are people are furious about gays as gays, or gays as gay AND socialist.
P.P.S.
Emmy linked a piece at HuffPo that asks, “Is Evangelical Christianity Having a Great Gay Awakening?,” and it is worth the click to learn the answer.
Cynthia – thank you for your link, and for your wise words. I will keep an eye on your blog; you’re right that fiscal conservation is needed – both in the political and religious spheres. I look forward to learning from you.
Cynthia – thank you for your wise words and your encouragement. You are right that fiscal conservation is needed – both in the political and religious spheres. I’m not sure that I would agree with you that people are furious about gays as “gay AND socialist” – the furious religious reaction seems very centered on the sexual acts (and supports such with Bible “quotes”, as I’m sure you know) rather than political leanings. Of course, concerns about economic theory could be an unconscious tie-in. Either way you make a very good point, and your blog is now in my Google Reader so I can keep up. Thanks! 🙂
Emmy,
You’re welcome.
It may be that since you are operating primarily in the religious sphere that you mostly encounter the fury that justifies itself with an obsession with sex and Bible quotes. I operate primarily in the political sphere and encounter religious fury that goes the extra mile and demonizes homosexuality not only for those reasons but also as being part-and-parcel of liberalism/Leftism/socialism. I assure you that there really are such people.
I have some books to suggest that will help you spot who is doing this and why very promptly, which will not only make you more compassionate when you encounter these types but also will help you keep yourself safe from their destructiveness. So, to understand the true believer who embraces totalitarianism, read Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer.” Totalitarianism exists on both the Right and the Left, by the way — liberals/Leftists fight for the state to control individual life and liberty, while social conservatives fight for their religion to have total control of both the state and individuals. My perception is that the rage against gays is driven by greed and lust for power of sociopaths who want to conscript everyone possible to make babies to serve the needs of other people — they pose as speaking for God in order to claim God’s authority to force people to obey them.
To understand how giving too much control of individual life to the state — that is, socialism — very quickly results in totalitarianism, read Friedrich Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom.” I found it a little hard to get into, but then it just really took off and was totally gripping.
I look forward to hearing your point of view and cheering you on. I’ve included your blog in the newsfeed to the right of my posts so my readers and I can follow your blog more easily.