Our Gay Agenda

In my circle "gay agenda" is something we joke about. The adversaries of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality like to refer to the "gay agenda" in the way anti-semites used to refer to the "protocols of the elders of Zion." "Homosexuals" according to this mind-set have a nefarious plot, known as "the gay agenda" to drag down Christian civilization

What was on our gay agenda this Thanksgiving holiday weekend? My partner, Jim, and I spent Saturday painting & decorating an expected granddaughter's room. One of the two daughters that Jim & I raised together lives only a few miles away. She and our son-in-law are expecting a baby in April. We are looking forward to be grandfathers for the first time! Our "agenda" is no different than any other family--except maybe that we have a particular concern that all our family members will have the liberty to pursue happiness no matter what their sexual orientation or identity.

I attended church this morning. One of the readings for the day was from Isaiah 64. Israel is longing for God to appear, a God who, for the time-being, seems to be hidden. Aren't we in the same fix? Their are those of us in the United Methodist Church who are so certain of our own knowledge of God that we have no hesitation in telling a person he/she cannot be a member of the church because he or she is a "unrepentent homosexual." Don't get me wrong--I believe in the first baptismal vow that demands that we "renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world and repent of your sin." There is a disagreement in the United Methodist Church over the question of whether homosexuality, in and of it self, is a sin. The United Methodists that I worship with in Madison do not consider the mutual devotion of Jim and I to be a sin--quite the contrary! The United Methodists I worship with view the loving relationships of LGBT persons to represent to be among the positive forces in our world--not "forces of wickedness."

Well, time to wrap this up. Jim and I are off to a dinner party this evening with our local Affirmation group, which includes other LGBT persons among whom are another long-term couple who went to Canada last year to be legally married. They call each other "husband," and they say it really does make a difference! We look forward to the day when we don't need to leave American soil in order to enjoy freedom.