“Although fundamentalists and many others equate homosexuality with sin, it’s generally agreed there has been a softening in the positions of some churches, and a re-examination of homosexuality in many others.”
That was the opinion expressed in an article from the San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle in 1977. Since then religious fundamentalism has grown into a major political force in Washington and in many states. Internal debate on inclusion of LGBT members led mainstream churches to greater acceptance and diversity among congregations.
This “diversity” led many churchgoers to abandon their church in favor of more fundamentalist churches. Freedom of religion, religious liberty laws, and variations, prevent state or federal interference in church polity. That is as it should be.
Mainstream churches “softened” their views on gays by internal debate. The same change can occur in fundamentalist churches. Which century remains the question.
As a youth in the Deep South, I saw mainstream resistance to inclusion of African Americans in white-only churches fade with passage and enforcement of state and federal civil rights legislation. Inclusion of the disabled, and church accessibility, arrived in the same manner. There were always some churches that voluntarily allowed inclusion of African Americans and the disabled, but they were in the minority of the faith movement in the Deep South.
Dixie churches became more tolerant because of laws, commitment to Christian faith, and a willingness to embrace diversity regarding African Americans, other people of color, and the disabled. Efforts by mainstream Dixie churches to act similarly for the LGBT community of faith caused an exodus of members to fundamentalist churches.
To an extent, LGBT people of faith, rejected by their own churches, opted for more accepting churches and voted with their feet by going to the predominantly LGBT Metropolitan Community Church, founded by Rev. Troy Perry in the late 1960s, and more liberal minded and accepting mainstream churches.
Despite religious progress toward LGBT inclusion by most American churches, significant work needs to occur to bring greater inclusion. Many LGBT organizations and individuals seemingly have written off religious institutions as an area for advocacy. It is always a bad idea to ignore any community in a broad struggle for greater social acceptance.
Fundamentalists may have written off the LGBT community, but it is poor strategy for the reverse to occur. Leadership is needed to work toward LGBT inclusion among religious faiths that have traditionally practiced exclusion Christianity. The reason should be obvious: If not challenged, exclusion, and the hateful stereotypes it fosters, grows. As religious exclusion grows, LGBT workplace discrimination grows. Similarly, political resistance to LGBT issues grows and social and economic progress is, as it has been for decades, stymied.
The LGBT movement cannot afford inertia on fundamental social and economic issues vital to its members and their families. Leadership in the LGBT community must mature and work cooperatively to find solutions to long lingering problems.
The history of the civil rights struggle for minorities in the United States is a series of compromises until just legislation provides, on paper anyway, relief from discrimination. Compromising justice is never easy for those hurt by discrimination.
As one who has tasted the bitterness of workplace discrimination and felt the economic consequences, compromise was never in my mind, vocabulary, bargaining positions, or demand letters. Leadership and progress are dependent on creative thinking, logic and strategy to get to mutually acceptable and just resolutions of complex issues regarding sexuality.
The inner order of America intrigued De Tocqueville who, in the 1830s, famously observed, “Patriotism and religion are the only things which will make the whole body of citizens go persistently forward towards the same goal.” This observation is historically accurate nearly 200 years later.
One, however, cannot force progress for LGBT Americans as patriotism and religion circa 2015 have a far different meaning among Americans, such as those who compare anti-marriage Kentucky clerk Kim Davis to civil rights icon Rosa Parks, than De Tocqueville encountered when our nation was in its infancy.
Human Rights Advocate Jim Patterson is a writer, speaker, and lifelong diplomat for dignity for all people. In a remarkable life spanning the civil rights movement to today’s human rights struggles, he stands as a voice for the voiceless. A prolific writer, he documents history’s wrongs and the struggle for dignity to provide a roadmap to a more humane future. Learn more at www.HumanRightsIssues.com
