Tag: LGBT

An Open Letter to Those Who Bring Intolerance to the TU Campus

lbhAs you may or may not know, my day job is being Programs Coordinator for United Campus Ministry at the University of Tulsa. UCM, also known as the Little Blue House, is a ecumenical progressive campus ministry focused on peace and justice issues; we are also the only open and affirming ministry at TU. My main duty is that I get to support and work with our amazing students as they try to make TU a better, more just, fully inclusive and safe place.

We found out recently that several other campus ministries are bringing Rosaria Champagne Butterfield to speak at TU on Nov. 17th. I’m not going to provide Dr. Butterfield free publicity by linking to her website; you can Google her is you want more info. Dr. Butterfield speaks on the issue of homosexuality and Christianity. She used to be a college professor of literature at Syracuse, where she focused on queer and feminist literature. She claims to have formerly been gay before undergoing a “conversion experience.” She is now married to a Presbyterian minister, identifies herself as a “homemaker” and travels around telling her story. While she says she does not advocate “conversion therapy”, her message conveys that message, as well as presenting views hostile to the LGBT community. She explicitly claims that homosexuality and Christianity are incompatible.

Our amazing students at UCM have crafted an open letter, to run in the campus newspaper next week in advance of her appearance. Below is  the full text of this letter. If you would like to sign your name in support of the letter, please click here. Thank you in advance for your support, and please share this with your friends, families and congregations.
To the Hosts of Rosaria Champagne Butterfield:

The students of United Campus Ministry, the Society for Gender Equality, HeadStrong, Earth Matters, and Pride at TU want to state publicly that we are outraged that several ministries from the university will be hosting Rosaria Champagne Butterfield on November 17th. Mrs. Butterfield speaks openly not only about her conversion to Christianity, but also her conversion from lesbianism to straightness. Mrs. Butterfield believes that being gay or transgender is fundamentally opposed to being Christian. Inviting someone to speak about orientation as a spiritual or psychological weakness actively creates a hostile environment for all LGBTQ+ students. Many of the students who are concerned about this speaker’s presence on our campus identify as both Christian and LGBTQ+, and we believe that by hosting Mrs. Butterfield, these campus ministries are trying to silence our voices and invalidate our identities.

Just because Butterfield does not openly condemn LGBTQ+ people, does not mean that the things she says are loving. The absence of explicit condemnation is not love, and in this case serves to hide the subtle message that there is something wrong with being LGBTQ+.

While we celebrate our country’s right to religious freedom, major medical, scientific, and governmental bodies have identified conversion therapy as an unethical, and potentially harmful practice that may increase risk for depression and suicide. Any discussion or promotion of such practices, or suggestion that sexual orientation is not immutable is discrimination and a threat.

As students gathered to begin crafting this letter, certain themes arose again and again – anger, fear, and shame. The students who felt outraged enough to attend the letter writing session represented lots of different groups; there were students from a number of racial and ethnic backgrounds, of varying sexual orientations and gender identities, and consisted of both religious and secular students. We were all able to gather around the table at the Little Blue House in solidarity. Regardless of our backgrounds, when one student is oppressed we are all oppressed. We are a community that fights for each other and we will not sit back in silence while discrimination and prejudice run rampant on our campus.

We will not allow our community to be harassed without responding. We will not accept hate speech on our campus without condemnation. We will not allow our loving community to be hurt by this woman’s supposed wisdom. We will not be broken by your hate.

As a community, we do not understand why campus ministries would choose to focus on the conversion of LGBTQ+ students.

It is certainly acceptable for a campus ministry to choose to focus on whatever they think is important; however, we believe it is an egregious misuse of Jesus’ name to choose to be complicit in oppression, rather than working to address tangible human suffering.

We believe that the role of ministry should be to use our power, energy, drive, and resources to promote love, equality, and safety for all students and our surrounding community.

Let this be an open invitation to all campus ministries to talk about the systematic murder of people of color; to create dialogue to discuss the more than 20 transgender people murdered since January of this year; to show concern for the fact that Oklahoma leads the world in incarcerating women, and that an immense number of Oklahoma children go hungry.

As long as students on TU’s campus feel unsafe, United Campus Ministry will be here to support them. We will be here, fighting for equity and justice, fostering student growth, and creating safety until we have a truly inclusive and kind campus. We invite every other ministry on this campus to join in our mission, and to help make TU a safe place for all students – regardless of racial or ethnic background, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, ability, or religion.

We want to be certain that every student on this campus knows that we will still be here, whether or not other ministries choose to join us, fighting for our kind and loving community.

We will not be broken. Our community is stronger than your hate.

Peace and Grace,
The Students of United Campus Ministry, Pride at TU, the Society for Gender Equality, HeadStrong, Earth Matters,

Why Respect for the Courage of Caitlyn Jenner and War Veterans Isn’t Zero Sum

Caitlyn (formerly Bruce) Jenner made her first public appearance this week, on the latest cover of Vanity Fair. If you’ve been through the checkout line of a grocery store at any point in the last six months, you surely have seen her face and been able to keep up with her transition via magazine cover. Now that she is going public, America’s finest and most intolerant are making their disdain well known via social media.

One theme I keep seeing specifically is a take on the “Jenner isn’t a hero, wounded veteran X is a real hero.” Digging deeper, there seems to be special outrage reserved for Jenner’s winning the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the upcoming Espys, over a paraplegic veteran who is now a sprinter. Because the Ashe Award is so terribly important, and we can all name last year’s winner off the top of our head.

I got into it with several folks on Facebook earlier over this specific grievance. Here’s my basic point: why are we treating respect and admiration as a zero-sum game? Why does the praise Jenner is receiving for being willing to step out publicly, put her image, career and business on the line and receive withering amounts of criticism, mean that others deserving of our respect and praise are now being sucked dry of all said recognition? This particular tack really frustrates me because it is a sham, a front to hide the real opinion being held: rampant and virulent homophobia, non-acceptance, disrespect and hate of this woman specifically, and trans people in general for being icky and confusing.

As Christians, we are called to love others as we love ourselves, as we love Jesus, as God loves us. Wrapped up in that love is respect, tolerance, acceptance, non-judgement, comfort, among many, many other things. To get on Facebook, hiding behind a keyboard and a feigned concern for injured veterans, is to act in a way that is not loving. It is disrespectful to Ms. Jenner, and it is disrespectful to the decorated veterans who are being used as a shield to conceal the commenter’s intolerance. In a word, it’s un-Christian.

Caitlyn Jenner deserves our love, our respect, our acceptance of who she is, our welcome with fully open arms. We should praise her courage, and admire her journey of self-discovery and fulfillment. She doesn’t need our judgement, and we are in no place to judge her for anything.

Wounded veterans also deserve our love, respect, acceptance of who terrible war has made them, and a welcome home in honor and comfort. We should also praise their courage, their sacrifice, their hard work, while caring for their hurts, both physical and mental. We should not judge them for the unjust situation they were unwittingly sent into, nor should we condemn them for doing their job competently and fully.

Showing love, respect, honor, welcome and comfort for all these people is possible. To give it to Ms. Jenner is not to take it from veterans, or anyone else. It simply injects more love into the world, instead of dividing up a finite resource. We should never shy away from praising everyone who deserves it, and never begrudge those who rightfully receive it. God’s love, and our reflection of it, is infinite and always a good, holy thing.

It’s Time to Welcome All People to the UMC Table

Update: Edited for clarity.

I read this passage the other day, from Lindsay Harts, on moving from Evangelicalism to an Episcopal congregation:

“Everything is centered around this one moment where people of all ages, gender identities, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, political beliefs, and backgrounds are welcome to come to the table and receive the elements. Whether or not the bread and wine are a symbol or whether you believe that they are the literal body and the blood are up to you. I believe they have enormous power to change hearts, attitudes, lives, tear down prejudices, bridge gaps, and bring peace. I believe that in most cases, the elements speak louder than any sermon or hymn or prayer. Something mysterious and unfathomably beautiful happens at the table. It’s a place where any person, no matter what belief system or background they come from can come and receive the God of peace.”

I think this is a beautiful rendering of the Church, as a place for all people to come together in Christ and share in the table fellowship that breaks down all barriers.

This is what I want in a church.

After trying out a variety of other churches and denominations, I came home to the United Methodist Church because that is where my heart is. I love the Wesleyan theology and tradition, connectionalism, and the unified, global structure of the UMC that does so much good in the world.

But I think the UMC is deficient in one area: treating all people as equal.

As a denomination, we still embrace a discriminatory stance towards our LGBT brothers and sisters. Our Book of Discipline contains language that makes them second-class Methodists, both through their denial of marriage equality and the ability to serve the church as ordained clergy.

Many of the Methodist clergy I have been around include a variation of this phrase in their communion liturgy: “This isn’t just this church’s table, or a Methodist table; it’s the Lord’s table and all are welcome here.” But as long as the Church continues to deny full equality to all, then every time a pastor says this, it is in part a lie. When we as the Church refuse to extend that attitude of inclusion and hospitality beyond just the act of communion, we undermine the inclusivity that it represents to the world.

Communion is one of the most poignant and central rituals in the Christian tradition. The table is a place with no barriers, no restrictions, no rules about who can sit and partake. It is a place of Christian fellowship for all God’s children. The symbolism of all the people coming together around a common table, where all are equally valued and loved, should extend beyond the table to the entire life of the church. I hope and pray the UMC will soon make that true in practice as well as in rhetoric. Because when I am ordained, I want to be able to say that at this table “people of all ages, gender identities, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, political beliefs, and backgrounds are welcome” in all aspects of the Christian life and experience.

Note: I want to be very clear, so that this post won’t be misconstrued or misunderstood – both purposefully or accidentally – that I am in no way implying that the UMC refuses Communion for LGBT people. One of the most wonderful things about the Methodist tradition is that in fact all are welcome at the table. I am of the opinion, as articulated above, that I think that attitude should be extended within the life of the whole church. Thanks to all who commented and engaged in the debate that helped me realize this post needed some clarification. -JD