Wait, what? Did you read that right? Go ahead, read it again. Yes, yes you did read that right. Surprised? Shocked?
Read on.
Yes, I am a Christian. As a Christian, my views on sexuality are quite unpopular. But within my community of Christians, my views on same sex marriage are equally unpopular. As an outspoken On again Off again Christian with a great number of views, it’s not unusual to have two or more groups of people upset with me at a time. It’s okay. As an Ex Convict, I’ve developed a thick skin and amazing ability to push through the attitudes and hurt feelings with my beliefs intact.
About a year ago, I came across a post on someone’s Facebook page complete with a photo of him holding up a sign that read “Gay Pride Day!” I shook my head and retreated to my personal facebook page to lament about how there isn’t a “Straight Pride Day” or a “Hetero Pride Day”. Several debates later, my friends list was missing half of my friends I was unfazed. I am proud of my belief system, and I am not ashamed to show my straight pride.
But over the course of the next few months, I thought about that situation, about those debates. A few things stood out to me. First, every supporter of same sex marriage who replied to my post responded vehemently about how wrong I was. Every non-supporter replied ferociously about how on track I obviously was in my faith. Not one single person understood that I just wanted there to be a day where I could stand in the streets and shout to the world that I am PROUD to be straight! This bothered me. The debate about sexuality is so focused on religion that people are unwilling to see the people on the other side of the debate. Then, there was that whole fiasco with Chick-Fil-A and Dan Cathy right around the same time. People hated on Cathy, they boycotted the restaurant. I supported his stand, I respected his opinion, and I respected his right to voice it.
And then a beautiful thing happened. I read an article, by Shane Windmeyer, a 40 year old gay man. The founder of Campus Pride, Shane Windmeyer has been married to his husband for 19 years. The article was profound and deep. In it, Shane makes this comment, “It is not often that people with deeply held and completely opposing viewpoints actually risk sitting down and listening to one another.” The article goes on to discuss how he managed to build up a friendship with Dan Cathy after the COO of Chick-Fil-A publicly defended his view on same sex marriage. This single quote made me stop and reflect on the “same sex marriage” discussion going on around the country between Christians and non-Christians, supporters and non-supporters. Was anyone really sitting down and listening to what was being said?
