July 29, 2012: I remember standing in front of my church congregation wearing a white robe with my bathing suit awkwardly showing underneath. My youth minister took my hand and led me down a few steps into the Baptism pool. The water was warm. My heart was full. My youth group was proud. Then I was submerged into the water and baptized. I was so excited. It was and still is the best decision I have ever made. Giving my life to Christ is my proudest moment to this day. I've met so many people that dove into his word and learned so much about myself and his purpose for me.
Inevitably, I was very confused about the world around me and what to believe especially when it came to sexual orientation. I want to preface this with the fact that I am very much a heterosexual woman, but the "gay debate" troubled me. In church, I was taught that being gay is sinful, but it is as sinful as murdering someone or stealing. God does not rank sin. I have also been told that being gay is a choice. I'm sorry, but that's bull. I did not choose to be attracted to males. I cannot choose to truly be attracted to females tomorrow. It has also been suggested that gay feelings come from lack of male/female attention or abuse. This is also false. There are plenty of heterosexual women whose dads have left their families, and those women are attracted to men. Heck, my mom's friend's brother is gay, and she can tell you that both parents were very involved in his life.
When I found out that sexual orientation wasn't actually a lifestyle choice or a result of defective parenting, I was super confused. What was I supposed to believe? I didn't know. I'd figure it out later. I had always been on board with marriage equality because everyone should have the right to marry whomever they would like. However, I had no clue what to believe that would promote acceptance and line up with my faith at the same time. When I was on the computer and found some LGBT statistics, my mind was changed.
LGBT youth are four times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual peers. Some have also been kicked out of their parents' homes. There are actually shelters for LGBTQ youth. There actually have to be homeless shelters for this population. We should all be immensely concerned.
You see, this is the huge issue I have. People are dying. People are homeless. People are hungry, and us "Christians" are adding fuel to this fire. What does this say about us? Are we really loving our neighbors? Are we being patient and kind? Nope. As a Christian woman, I want to be gentle, compassionate and Christ-like. I want to help people feel welcomed and reinforce the fact that they matter. Go right ahead and think gay relationships are wrong. That is completely fine, but if you think that they deserve to live next to the garbage can on a street, then you really need to reevaluate where you are in your thinking.
As a nation, we have come so far regarding LGBT acceptance, but we have much further to go. If you've watched the news lately, own a computer, or have heard of Target, you probably know what I'm talking about. We need to educate ourselves and think about what Jesus preached the most: love.
