Make a Bigger Effort for Spiritual Truth
The Holland Sentinel has generously published my op-ed on the anti-LGBTQ Nashville Statement and the precarious legal situation members of the LGBTQ face in Michigan. Please take a read and share.
FROM the Nashville Statement to Washington policy, it has been a difficult month for myself and other LGBTQ folks.
Here in Holland, I have been increasingly discouraged by the promotion, even by those I consider friends, of articles and other rhetoric that misconstrue our situation in this community. One such piece is an August 28 MY TAKE by Sharon Masten, which “assure[s]” us that “the majority of Christians” in this city are “compassionate for their LGBTQ neighbors.” Thus, she reasons, a city ordinance protecting our basic rights is unnecessary.
By this logic, the Michigan law protecting equal opportunity based on “religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, or marital status” (MCL 37.2102) might also be deemed unnecessary—“the majority of” people are compassionate, after all. Yet any Bill of Rights is meant to protect minorities who cannot fend for themselves. It seems incredible that humanity’s Godlike compassion should be highlighted in this case, when Holland usually stresses its sinful nature instead.
As it turns out, the contention that LGBTQ folks undergo no discrimination in Holland is tragically false…
Read the full article HERE.