The Truth

On April 25th, thousands of students had the opportunity to voluntarily participate in an annual 'Day of Silence' in support of their GLBTQ classmates who have suffered bullying and violence as a result of homophobia. In response to this successful annual event, the Alliance Defense Fund, one of those anti-gay conservative groups hosted their 'Day of Truth' protest which apparently was not as successful, since virtually all references to it online ceased about 2 days before the event.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7517.html

A supporter of ADF responded to this article by saying this:

Joe wrote:
"The truth is that being gay is wrong and immoral.Personally I don't care if you are gay or not, but when groups like GLSEN start to infiltrate our schools and try to indoctrinate our Children I draw the line.The reason that the ADF doesn't have more support is that most parents don't know that GLSEN had infiltrated our public schools starting at the Kidder Garden level.As more and more are being made aware of this, ADF is gaining support. "

You know me, I can't resist telling the truth. Here's my response:

No, it isn't. That isn't truth...it's conjecture on your part.

The truth is there is nothing immoral or wrong about the ability to love another human being, gay or straight.

The truth is there is no 'infiltration' and no 'indoctrination' of children in schools.

The truth is fundamentalists coined these phrases as part of the 'dumbing down' of their followers(read 'voters.')

The truth is that instead of accepting the opinions of thousands upon thousands of medical, psychological, psychiatric, sociologic and pediatric professionals who all say the same thing, fundamentalists expect you to follow along with their hate filled agenda like good little sheep, voting for discriminitory laws and supporting legislation that deprives good, honest, tax paying citizens of their basic fundamental rights based solely on the gender of their partners. They do this by insulting your intelligence through the use of these typical inflammatory buzzwords designed to engender strong negative feelings in people in an effort to illicit the response they want.

The truth is that children need education regarding diversity and tolerance. Tolerance does not mean acceptance...it just means 'live and let live.' Have your beliefs, believe in them with all your heart if you choose to, but don't force them onto people who have a different truth than you, especially when their truth is backed up by thousands of professionals, and yours comes only from your choice of religion.

The truth is diversity and tolerance education makes the world a safer place to be - from people just like you.

Oh, and 'kidder garden?' Lol...dumbing down, indeed.

I chose to be gay the same day you chose to be straight...

'Show me irrefutable, scientic proof that being gay is a gene that you are born with. Show me how you equate homosexuality with the color of one's skin. Show me where it says in the Bible that God created Adam to be with Steve or Dave, and that homosexuality is not wrong. Show me that changing the definition of marriage to include homoseuxality won't encourage other "alternate" lifestyles to have the definition changed to fit their wims. Don't tell me that there is all kinds of research going on.....I know that, I follow the news. Show me that you are BORN gay.'

-pa resident post commenting on a letter to the editor regarding the proposed legislation banning marriage equality

Oh great..another 'christian' demanding proof of a gay gene. How fascinating that those who profess a belief in a supernatural God, for which no scientific proof exists, demand that same scientific proof when it comes to a person's sexual orientation. There's no specific gene that has been isolated for left handedness either, but you don't hear people running around saying 'being left handed is a choice' anymore. If they did, they would be laughed right out of the room. Homosexuality is no more a choice than heterosexuality. Some people are born gay, just like some people are born black, or left handed or with blue eyes. Marriage traditions in the bible included polygamy, a widow having to marry her dead husband's brother, a rape victim having to marry her rapist, among other atrocities that obviously would not be acceptable in this day and age. It's interesting how some christians will overlook these bible examples, but still believe that their idea of 'traditional marriage' is the only one that God condones. Nowhere in the bible are loving, committed same sex relationships looked upon in a negative light. Nowhere. Two women or two men falling in love and choosing to express that love through marriage would cause not one single bit of harm to you, to your marriage, nor to the 'sacred institution' of marriage.

"You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

That quote is credited to Anne Lamott. It's one of my favorites.

There is a growing and hotly contested debate amongst progressive and more conservative Christians regarding what God and the Bible really say about homosexuality. On the one side are Christians who believe it is a 'sin' to be homosexual, and that God condemns all acts, including acts between same-gender couples, even if they are married. On the other side, there are a growing number of christians and biblical scholars, gay and straight alike, who don't see it the same way.

I'm not going to waste my time debating scripture, since I'm sure most people have already heard and either accepted or dismissed anything anyone has to say about it. All it proves is that different people can get very different messages from God and from the same bible, and not a single one of us can know which message is 'right.' Personally, I don't even think it's about who's right or wrong, because all we really know is the truth that God has placed on each of our hearts.

I know for a fact that MY God - the one who created me just as I am, loves me, redeems and sustains me - would NEVER condemn me for my sexual orientation, which is as innate and God-given as my eye color and right handedness.

This is God's truth to me...and I share it with as many people as I can in hopes that they can wade through the negative and judgemental messages that so many 'christians' feel the need to share. The only thing these 'christians' are really doing is driving gay and lesbian people, who KNOW that their sexual orientation is not a choice, away from God. Why put your faith in a God who would condemn you for something you can't change about yourself? Driving people away from God is not a Christian's job. Yet it is what countless 'christians' have done when they spread this message.

I have to ask, are you really serving God when this is the outcome of your words? I think not.