Is your place of faith anti gay?

So many churches and other places of faith express that they "welcome all". Many have cool pastors or clergy or whoever leads them. They are friendly, loving and seem like awesome places to worship.

But many of them are anti gay. To be specific, they believe that gay people are going to hell. To be a little more specific, they believe that gay people who have sex are going to hell.

They might not talk about it. They might try to convince you that no matter what you believe, no matter how many gay friends and/or family members you have, that being in a sexual gay relationship means hell.

They say things like "we're not against something we are just for Jesus" and "it's really between the person and God". Yet invariably something negative will be said about gay people. My favorite is when these same people refer to our marriage as "so called gay marriage".

I acknowledge that this is a difficult topic for many, and that biblically speaking it is a topic with a lot of feelings and emotions.

I also believe that it is well past time for equality-loving folks to stop supporting anti-equality places of faith.

One of the most difficult things for me to experience in my life is watching people I love, and who I know love me, support places of faith that teach that I am going to hell.

I see this often. I am reminded by it all of the time by posts I see on Facebook. It's heartbreaking.

It's heartbreaking because I know these folks love me, and Mike. I know they support us 100%.

Financially supporting places of faith that denigrate gay people, in any way, is taking action against gay people, against equality.

Our church does not believe that we are going to hell. There is absolute love for us as a married couple. Those who preach at our church believe fundamentally that our love, our marriage, is not "sin".

This is a tough topic for both of us. We both have experienced hate and persecution from religious people.

Please don't support them. As with many things, we can vote with our dollars.

Thanks for reading. 

Have you heard of Kate Kelly?

Until last month, Kate Kelly was a Mormon.

I just started learning about Kate Kelly when we were recently in Salt Lake City.  Mrs. Kelly is the founder of Ordain Women, a group of Mormon women seeking equality and priesthood.

In June she was excommunicated from the Mormon Church, a church led by men. Only men.

This post is not an anti-Mormon post. It is a post to let our readers know about this atrocity, an atrocity that is common in many religions where only men have real power.

I do not know Kate Kelly, yet she seems to be a woman of devout faith, devoted to her church, to Jesus and to God.

As far as I can tell, the only problem is that she thinks women should be able to be priests in the Mormon church, that they should be equal to the men of the church. Imagine that.

We live in the United States of America. Doesn't that mean that women can freely express their opinions when it comes to religion?

Hardly.

I am not Mormon. I do not know much about the Mormon church. The most I know about the Mormon church I learned during the Prop 8 vote in California, when the Mormon church poured millions of dollars into the campaign that would make gay marriage illegal.

The Mormon church can do whatever they want to their members.

Excommunication seems a bit harsh. Their spokeswoman (women can be spokespeople in the Mormon church) said that there are right ways to disagree with the church and that there are wrong ways.

I haven't read the official verdict from the church, the one that made the excommunication of Mrs. Kelly official.

What is said in it doesn't matter to me. I disagree with what they have done to Kate Kelly.

I think Kate Kelly is incredibly courageous. And faithful.

I imagine that those men in power at the Mormon church are frightened of people like Kate Kelly. Just as they are frightened of so many in their churches getting disgusted with the way the church has treated gays.

If you would like more information on Ordain Women, click here: http://ordainwomen.org/

Thanks for reading.

The Boy Scouts of America and equality

Being an openly gay man who believes in equality and fights every day for it, I have never really cared for or about the Boy Scouts. I have friends whose kids are involved in the Boy Scouts, and on that local level I think it can be great. The policies I have a problem with come from the top, the leadership of the BSA.

In some ways, I look at them as simply as an extension of the bigoted and discriminatory thought process of the Catholic and Mormon churches.

Their policy against gay men having anything to with the Boy Scouts has been hurtful to some, devastating to many more.

Before I continue please remember that I was raised Catholic and loved it. A lot of my family members and friends are Catholic, and I still believe that the work Catholic priests and nuns did in Central America in the '70s and '80s in regards to human rights was incredibly brave and part of what convinced me to be an activist. And what strengthened my faith. Social justice and human rights are still at the core for some in the Catholic church.

Back to the Boy Scouts. You might have heard that they are considering changing their policies around gay men. I haven't read all of the press reports yet but what I have read isn't that promising. This chapter over here could be safe for an openly gay man but this chapter over there, well no thank you. After years of telling chapters across the country who they can or cannot allow in, they suddenly feel that telling chapters who they can allow in is wrong. Seriously?

Yes, seriously.

On the other gender side of this you have the Girl Scouts. No policy against openly lesbian women participating on any level and they are thriving. By the way, I need to buy some Girl Scout cookies! Mike just told me that there are two vegan options this year. Those of you who know a girl scout, send them my way!

Bigotry is ugly. It harms more people than we know, and on more levels than we can even comprehend. And the biggest problem that I have with it is that is is absolutely unnecessary.

Bigotry is unnecessary.

We don't have to like everything about a person to honor their humanness. To respect them. To realize that they have the right to exist and to live in a world free of hatred or violence, whatever form that violence takes.

The Boy Scouts of America still don't get it.

Thank you for reading.