dcnovice
Posts: 37282
Joined: 8/2/2006 Status: offline
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FR Mistaken? Ignorant? I wish I shared your easy confidence, but my experience has been different. Hatred of the "sin" has a disturbing way of taking itself out on the "sinner." Extreme examples, of course, are countries in which LGBT folk are imprisoned or even executed. Then there are states where it's legal to fire someone simply for his or her sexual orientation. Or to deny a gay person an apartment. And to bar or impede loving, committed same-sex couples from adopting children. The Anglican Communion has all but fractured, because the "orthodox," as they style themselves, cannot abide worshiping with non-closeted LGBT folk. And it's easy to forget, a few decades and chemical cocktails later, the widespread indifference to the outbreak of AIDS, the clear message that gay lives were expendable. Not to mention those who touted the pandemic as evidence of God's wrath. If memory serves, there were a fair number of "godly" folks lionizing Kim Davis for deciding that her hatred of the "sin" trumped the legal right of the "sinners" to marriage certificates. On a more personal note, I doubt there's an LGBT person of my generation without firsthand experience of antigay bullying, verbal abuse, and/or violence. It was also not unknown for devout parents to banish gay kids from their homes and families. All this seems to be less true for those coming out now, for which I am deeply grateful. So I hope you'll forgive my difficulty in believing the tired old language of "love the sinner."
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No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up. JANE WAGNER, THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
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