Hurting gays & ourselves

[struggle4progress]

By Ermalou Roller
Sunday, November 19, 2006

... The root of the problem is in our denial that gays and lesbians are as worthy and unworthy, as flawed and gifted, as heterosexuals. The root belief that homosexuals are "less than" the rest of us stretches long and deep in this society.

Until the latter part of the Middle Ages, the Christian church in Western Europe, and thus the general culture, had largely tolerated or ignored homosexual acts. Everything changed when Thomas Aquinas and other religious writers labeled not only homosexual acts but all non-procreative sexual behavior "unnatural." ...

I don't intend to single out the Roman Catholic Church for criticism. For several years my own denomination, the United Methodists, has presented invitational ads on national television proclaiming the church to be one of "open hearts, open minds, open doors" while declaring in its Book of Discipline that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching." Like many others, it remains deeply divided over this issue. But the anguish of our rejection of gays and lesbians, as horrible as it is for them, affects us all.

I know because I've suffered deeply as a result of America's prevailing views about homosexuality. I was married to a closeted gay man for 15 years; we had three children before the truth of his sexual orientation emerged. The emotional devastation of that revelation and our subsequent divorce was profound for us all, as well as for our extended family and friends ...

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/guests/s_480359.html

[ThomCat]

1. Very cool.

It's always nice when a straight person, and even someone who's clergy, gets it.

[Jamastiene]

2. These are the liberal Christian voices I wish would be heard

more often than the hateful right wing rhetoric of people like Falwell and Robertson. Great OpEd. Thanks for posting it. :thumbsup:

[Erika]

3. What a great post

The closet is no place for anyone to live.