raising godzillas

I don't want to talk about reality TV. But I need to speak about our public discourse

Somebody is in the news again for saying something unkind about LGBTQ people. I wasn't going to say anything about this, because me talking about the stance of a reality TV personality would be a lot like me saying I'll boycott crappy fast food chicken sandwiches.
But I feel compelled to speak about the meta-issue, because this affects real people.
You see, when somebody is in the news for denigrating a group of people: whether it's gay people, people of colour, or people of a certain religion (or lack thereof), I will inevitably find that people I know and care about agree with these people. And most of these people have children in their lives: their own, their grandchildren, nieces and nephews, students.

And some of these kids are gay, bisexual, or trans*.

And ALL of them are watching you.

And if you are supporting people who disregard a whole group of people, and the young person in your life belongs to that group, you are telling them that they are "less than."

And friends, our young people are too precious to treat that way.

I have almost my entire adult life working with children, with the last 14 years in the church nursery. I also work with the church youth. Some of the kids I've cared for spend an hour in my care and move on; others have been in my ;life long enough to graduate from toddler eating Cheerios while I read about how much Jesus loves them to teenager making sure I'll be at their rite of confirmation. And yes, some of these kids ARE LGBTQ. Some share with me, some are out and proud, and some kids you just KNOW.

Every single one of them is precious to God and to me. And it hurts my heart to know that some of these kids are hiding who they are because they *know* how Mom, Dad, or the grandparents feel about "people like them". It hurts even more to know that some of them will, probably, think about taking their own lives because it seems less terrifying than their family's rejection. Do you really want that to be the result of stating your beliefs?

So please, even if you do believe that marriage is "between one man and one woman", think about how you say that. Think about whose words you support. And let all the kids in your life know that you love and support them, no matter what.

posted by gojirama @ 1:27 PM