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Gay high school student challenges anti-LGBT Liberty University to ‘love neighbor as self’
http://goqnotes.com/33517/gay-high-school-student-challenges-anti-lgbt-liberty-university-to-love-neighbor-as-self/Jacob C. Ratliff, 17, a senior at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, and president of his school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, pens this open letter below to Liberty University:
I, like many other high school students, have had my email inbox flooded in the past months with messages from various schools urging me to apply. When I received my first email from Liberty University, I chuckled and joked with my family and friends, saying, “They wouldn’t be telling me to apply if they knew ‘what’ I was.” The “what” is that I am gay — and Christian.
From the controversy of your institution not recognizing the College Democrats club to the constant bigotry and disgust toward the LGBT community, Liberty University has a distinct history of intolerance toward those who are anything but what the university considers “right.” But I’m not here to try and discredit your school, seeing as this institution does some good things. I’m here to address the hate.
While I am not attempting in any way to start a religious debate over the “sin” that you consider homosexuality, I will say that most everything the Bible preaches is that of love and acceptance. There is a reason that the message of scripture as well as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are called The Gospel. As I’m sure you know, “The Gospel” translates directly to “the good news.” Tell me, what is inherently good about considering the LGBT community to be sinful and less than heterosexuals? Nothing.
I, like many other high school students, have had my email inbox flooded in the past months with messages from various schools urging me to apply. When I received my first email from Liberty University, I chuckled and joked with my family and friends, saying, “They wouldn’t be telling me to apply if they knew ‘what’ I was.” The “what” is that I am gay — and Christian.
From the controversy of your institution not recognizing the College Democrats club to the constant bigotry and disgust toward the LGBT community, Liberty University has a distinct history of intolerance toward those who are anything but what the university considers “right.” But I’m not here to try and discredit your school, seeing as this institution does some good things. I’m here to address the hate.
While I am not attempting in any way to start a religious debate over the “sin” that you consider homosexuality, I will say that most everything the Bible preaches is that of love and acceptance. There is a reason that the message of scripture as well as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are called The Gospel. As I’m sure you know, “The Gospel” translates directly to “the good news.” Tell me, what is inherently good about considering the LGBT community to be sinful and less than heterosexuals? Nothing.
