One session I attended at the conference was organized by a group of professors concerned about LGBT legal issues. I am not L, G, B or T, but have loved ones who are. And I am supportive of human rights generally, so the LGBT legal issues are of great interest to me. Because the LGBT experience is not one I know first hand, I also learn a lot by listening to the experiences and concerns of others.
This year’s session featured a relatively large number of scholars essentially brainstorming ideas of LGBT topics to be developed in future scholarship, and discussing more generally the direction that LGBT scholarship should evolve. I was struck that many of the speakers’ scholarship ideas involved the “Religious Right” or “Christian Right.” Indeed, one of the last speakers half-jokingly observed that the two phrases he had heard most in the session were “undertheorized” and “Christian Right.” Indeed, I began to get a little uncomfortable at the pervasive invocation of the “Christian Right”-as-enemies theme. I remember looking down self-consciously at one point to see if I was wearing my cross necklace that day. (Turns out I was not.)
My discomfort arose because I was concerned that as a Christian I might be viewed as part of the problem if my beliefs were known. As a straight woman to boot, I guess I was a bit worried that I might be held up as an unwelcome fraud and asked to leave the room in disgrace. This was a silly reaction, which makes me laugh now as I think back on it. Though I am a “Christian,” I don’t think that anyone who knows me well would think I fall within the scope of the term “Right.” Moreover, during the session, I was very impressed that each speaker was cautious to refer narrowly to the “Religious Right” or the “Christian Right” as the antagonist to LGBT rights. There was never a broader brush approach that attempted to vilify all Christians or all people of religious faith. I took this as an enlightened sensitivity to the fact that not all Christians and not all religious folks are homophobic. I very much appreciated that sensitivity, and it was encouraging to me.
I think that this theme of antagonism towards the LGBT community is something that more Christ followers need to be aware of and to try to rectify. It is not limited to this one session of law professors in New Orleans. I have witnessed it in many other contexts. When some of the most vocal Christians in society are publicly condemning homosexuals for their “choice” or “lifestyle,” and spending millions of dollars in tough economic times to foreclose any possibility of marriage equality in secular law, it is not surprising that the LGBT community feels under attack by the “Christian Right.” Moreover, that reaction is even more predictable when less vocal Christians acquiesce to the stance of our more outspoken brethren without really studying what God’s Word says (or doesn’t say) about homosexuality, and when we fail to follow our Lord’s teaching to love all of our brothers and sisters compassionately and without judgment. We in the church have failed our LGBT brothers and sisters horribly by our words and by our failures to speak. As the body of Christ, we must do better.
This year’s session featured a relatively large number of scholars essentially brainstorming ideas of LGBT topics to be developed in future scholarship, and discussing more generally the direction that LGBT scholarship should evolve. I was struck that many of the speakers’ scholarship ideas involved the “Religious Right” or “Christian Right.” Indeed, one of the last speakers half-jokingly observed that the two phrases he had heard most in the session were “undertheorized” and “Christian Right.” Indeed, I began to get a little uncomfortable at the pervasive invocation of the “Christian Right”-as-enemies theme. I remember looking down self-consciously at one point to see if I was wearing my cross necklace that day. (Turns out I was not.)
My discomfort arose because I was concerned that as a Christian I might be viewed as part of the problem if my beliefs were known. As a straight woman to boot, I guess I was a bit worried that I might be held up as an unwelcome fraud and asked to leave the room in disgrace. This was a silly reaction, which makes me laugh now as I think back on it. Though I am a “Christian,” I don’t think that anyone who knows me well would think I fall within the scope of the term “Right.” Moreover, during the session, I was very impressed that each speaker was cautious to refer narrowly to the “Religious Right” or the “Christian Right” as the antagonist to LGBT rights. There was never a broader brush approach that attempted to vilify all Christians or all people of religious faith. I took this as an enlightened sensitivity to the fact that not all Christians and not all religious folks are homophobic. I very much appreciated that sensitivity, and it was encouraging to me.
I think that this theme of antagonism towards the LGBT community is something that more Christ followers need to be aware of and to try to rectify. It is not limited to this one session of law professors in New Orleans. I have witnessed it in many other contexts. When some of the most vocal Christians in society are publicly condemning homosexuals for their “choice” or “lifestyle,” and spending millions of dollars in tough economic times to foreclose any possibility of marriage equality in secular law, it is not surprising that the LGBT community feels under attack by the “Christian Right.” Moreover, that reaction is even more predictable when less vocal Christians acquiesce to the stance of our more outspoken brethren without really studying what God’s Word says (or doesn’t say) about homosexuality, and when we fail to follow our Lord’s teaching to love all of our brothers and sisters compassionately and without judgment. We in the church have failed our LGBT brothers and sisters horribly by our words and by our failures to speak. As the body of Christ, we must do better.
Luke 6:41 (New American Standard Bible)
"Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Matthew 12:17-21 (New American Standard Bible)
This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN; MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL-PLEASED; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES. "HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS. "A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. "AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE."
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