Loving Out Loud for Valentine's Day

Hi Mary: While it is true that most of the leaders of this movement not hetero, it is not true that no protestant church has taken a pro-LGBT stance. I invite you to explore the "God Is Still Speaking" in the United Church of Christ as well as the actions of the Episcopal Church at its last few general conventions as examples. There are already numerous congregations and groups in each of the participating denominations (American Baptist, Congregational-UCC, Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran, United Methodist, Presbyterian, Unitarian, Metropolitan Community Church, Disciples of Christ, Quakers, and others) who have been doing pro-LGBT inclusion work for over 20 years, but the ranting of the right wing always seems to drown out any effort we make to tell people our story. One major point of Believe Out Loud is to get past that.

Jesus never said a single word about homosexuality - people who wrote the Bible did. Those were people, not gods, who created the stories that a few centuries later were compiled into the Bible. People always see things through the prism of their own perceptions and feelings. No gay person was ever asked to write a chapter for the Bible, thus the entire sacred book of Christianity is a single-sided, biased story. If you are a true Christian, you should flush the Bible down the toilet today, and ask God directly whenever you have questions. Don't rely on what a random Jewish/Middle-Eastern heterosexual man had to say about homosexuality more two thousand years ago.

Being gay and a member of the Presyberian Church (USA), a mainline denomination, I continue to appreciate the support that straight people of faith give to me personally and to other LBGT persons. It reminds me of the civil rights movement of the 1960's where a small number of white persons of faith were willing to stand with African-Americans. It is true that the majority of whites in the church were either opposed or simply remained silent. The same is true today of the church regarding the LBGT movement. The great news is that what a small minority is willing to do speaks loud words that others will hear and eventually follow just as happened in the 1960's. Rather than being skeptical and critical of these faith movements, I encourage LBGT persons to embrace this as truly good news!

Let's face it - this isn't a group of Protestant Church leaders who are calling for equal rights for gays - it's a group of GAY PROTESTANTS who are doing so. To make it appear as if Protestant Churches are going to start being tolerant of Gay Civil Rights is dishonest as hell. Having one black man put on KKK robes and saying the KKK is now inclusive of blacks would be the same thing - and just as dishonest. It'll ONLY be honest when the leaders of the Protestant Churches - STRAIGHT CHURCH LEADERS - come out in support of us and in denunciation of homophobia and discrimination. Then again, expecting CHRISTIANS (straight OR gay) to be HONEST is expecting a bit too much, I think.

I'm afraid the message wouldn't be heard by the people who need it the most. It is the preachers of HATE in Churches who goad their congregations into treating gays and lesbians like something you would scrape off of your shoe onto the curb. These hate mongering fake Christians will not be speaking on our behalf in the Bible Belt. This idea is not profitable.

Put your money where your mouth is. What a great idea.

It is very very nice seeing real followers of Christ stepping up and shut the liars and haters up with a campaign about love and respect.

I have to agree with Scott; I may approve of a religious community's message, this does not mean I want them, any of them, in the political arena.

As nice as the intentions may sound from this article, I have to stand by my own principals. I think church business belongs in the church and they should not be trying to impose it on all of society. You do not need to believe on "god" and fear going to hell to do the right thing and treat eachother with equality and respect.