blog in the round: what would my lifestyle be...

...if i were gay.

i am sure that the person who gave me this topic was hoping for some hilarious speculation about how different my life would be if i liked men. and it would be different, at least in that i probably would not be married. and fred phelps would hate me. but isn't it easy to perpetuate stereotypes and poke fun at people who are not like us by playing to the wildest and most outrageous things that we think about them?

and i never take the easy way.

or i try not to. and in this case i thought that maybe an open letter of sorts to the faithful might be the best way to go. so here goes:

dear christians,

gay people are not aliens. that are not so drastically different than us that we can assume they all are dancers. that is not fair to anyone. because after all, they are people. people who love and mourn and have jobs and families and friends and, many times, relationships with jesus. (many do not, because they have been so turned off by our actions) why do we find that so hard to believe? even if you believe that homosexuality is a sin, does that give you an excuse to look on their lives and say that you are better than them? of course not.

i think that we just feel better when we have a common enemy. we like for the world to have easy distinct categories that divide us and assure us that we are the good guys. if we lump all homosexual people into this scary category of "militant, gay, wants to steal our children" then we have someone we can look down on and hate. it makes us feel good about ourselves. the fact is, all people are loved by God and we have no right to set up categories to divide us from them. we have no right to set them into stereotypes that make them a cartoon version of humanity that is easy to despise. that is not what Jesus would do.

so i would suggest that we start by referring to all people as people. not gay people or straight people (or any thing else for that matter). we should recognize that they are people who deserve our respect and that we all are people who are covered by grace and therefore that which might separate us is cast aside as we are drawn to the arms of God. that we should love all people and treat them the way we would like to be treated. and i don't want to be stereotyped as a redneck just because i am from the south. and neither does anyone else want to be stereotyped. we just, i believe, want to be loved.

so love others.

all others.

everyone.

yes, even them.

and them.

them, too.

because you were first loved by God.