Praise Jesus, but not really
After I first started writing a column in the fall of 2002, it wasn’t long before I heard regularly from those who brandished God as a weapon in opposing LGBTQ rights.
This was not surprising. Back then, I was on staff at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, and I was long familiar with the bigotry in my home state. Most of the hate mail came from strangers, but I got my share of lectures from blood relatives, too. Few things anger right-wing Christians more than a family member insisting she’s acquainted with a different version of God.
Goodness, the hate. That stuff stays with you. Just last week, I was reminiscing with a friend about a 2004 speech I gave at a women’s event. More than 500 women were in the audience, but when it was time to take questions, the first came from one of the handful of men in attendance.
Why, he demanded to know, did I have to “go on and on about the homosexuals?” Grasping the microphone with both hands, he yelled, “I don’t want to think about those people having sex.”
I assured him that nobody I knew in the LGBTQ community wanted to imagine him and his wife having sex, either, so it looked like he had more in common with them than he was willing to acknowledge. When he refused to stop shouting, the floor manager cut off his mic, and many of the women cheered. Of course they did.
That same year the Rev. William Sloane Coffin published his book “Credo.” It was a collection of excerpts from his sermons and writings, and it was a lifeline for me. Worn down by the rage of right-wing believers, I was becoming a too-quiet Christian out of fear of being associated with them. Coffin helped me find the words for my heartache and the map to higher ground.
“The problem,” Coffin wrote, “is not how to reconcile homosexuality with scriptural passages that condemn it, but rather how to reconcile the rejection and punishment of homosexuals with the love of Christ. It can’t be done.”
If Coffin were alive today, I’m certain he would include all of the LGBTQ community. That’s what a Christian should do.
Yesterday morning, one of the first things I heard was an NPR report about conservative faith leaders’ opposition to the Equality Act, which would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to ban discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. It has passed the House twice and is headed to the Senate, where there is no longer a Republican majority to block it.
A partial list of those who oppose it: the National Association of Evangelicals, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Orthodox rabbis’ Coalition for Jewish Values.
As NPR reported, their concern is that if the Equality Act passes, their institutions will no longer receive federal funds if they discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community.
“Many faith-affiliated schools, however, require that students abide by strict moral codes related to sexual conduct, or they have gender-segregated housing that does not accommodate transgender people. Critics of the Equality Act say such policies would mean that students attending those schools could lose access to government aid programs.” In 2021, this is their grievance. I’m back to 2004, when Ohio voters, egged on by too many pastors and priests, passed an amendment that was the harshest such legislation of its kind in the country. It banned same-sex marriage and all civil unions, and stripped health benefits to unmarried couples – gay or straight – at public colleges. This, because of who they loved. As I wrote at the time, in word and deed, Ohio told thousands of gay and lesbian couples that they, and their kind of love, aren’t welcome here.
An elderly man left a long phone message for me. He felt bad for having voted for the amendment. He was raised to be conservative, he said, attended conservative schools and belonged to a conservative church. He was trying, he said, to get where I was on LGBTQ rights.
“Please be patient with me,” he said. For years after that, I tried to be. I found one way after another to nudge people like him to open their hearts – to catch them off guard, which is how love seeps in. Throughout that time, though, I was mindful of what one of my dearest friends had said to me over dinner one evening: “I don’t want to be tolerated. I want to be accepted.”
We’ve seen progress, but it’s not enough, which is why the Equality Act is headed to the Senate. And once again, here they are, those self-declared Christians claiming they can love Jesus while, in his name, conspiring to inflict further harm.
It can’t be done.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Gov. Ned Lamont said he believes Connecticut can meet President Joe Biden’s challenge to make all adults eligible for COVID-19 vaccines by May 1, a deadline that already closely matches the state’s vaccination rollout plan.
“On behalf of the people of Connecticut: I accept this challenge,” Lamont said in a statement released in response to the president’s address to the nation on Thursday evening. Both are Democrats.
“Achieving universal access to vaccines for all adults by May is a bold, aggressive goal coming from President Biden, and this is the kind of leadership that is necessary to get our state and our country back to normal,” Lamont said.
Under the state’s agebased vaccine rollout schedule, Connecticut already planned to allow people age 16 and older to make a vaccination appointment on May 3. Currently, people age 55 and older are eligible. That moves to 45 years and older on March 22, and 35 years and older on April 12.
In other coronavirus-related news:
Single-use containers
Some Connecticut lawmakers and the state’s restaurant association are raising concerns about the General Assembly’s latest effort to phase out single-use food containers, noting that many restaurants continue to rely heavily on their takeout orders due to the pandemic.
Rep. Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, the top House Republican on the Environment Committee, said while the legislation would not bar restaurants from using expanded polystyrene containers until 2023, he still believes it makes sense to wait on passing the bill.
“My biggest concern here is implementing legislation that would put further costs and mandates on these restaurants just as they’re trying to open their doors once again and trying to make some level of profit,” said Harding, noting the uncertainty of when the pandemic will finally be over.
“This could last longer than we all expect, unfortunately,” Harding said. He urged lawmakers to wait on passing the bill until “we’re on the other side of this pandemic,” possibly during the next session.
Harding pledged to support the bill at that time.
The Connecticut Restaurant Association has raised similar concerns.
Sen. Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, the committee’s top Senate Democrat and the owner of a bagel restaurant, said lawmakers purposely waited until July 1, 2023, to ban the use of expanded polystyrene containers because of the financial challenges restaurants have faced during the pandemic.
But she noted the material is “incredibly harmful” to the environment and must be addressed.