Can an LGBTQ Person Be a Christian?
On July 6, 2016, my wife and I celebrated our 20th anniversary at the Cheesecake Factory in Austin and was waited on by a very gracious and professional server named Trey, who told me that he had good news: that he was getting married soon to his boyfriend. My wife and I said, “Congratulations.”
I wrote a post about the incident and it blew up! (Read it here.) Though the vast majority of my Christian friends understood what my intent was, there were a few who missed the point entirely. What was my point? To be gracious to a member of the LGBTQ group. Christians for too long have made a big deal of homosexuality as if that was the only sin that mattered and believers have been an absolutely horrible witness in this post-Christian society with their judgmental attitudes, pointy fingers and furrowed brows. I understand that some may not want to say “Congratulations,” but don’t I have that right? That was the point. (By the way, if it should ever happen again, I will probably say, “I wish you well.”)
Flash forward one year. The Facebook app called “On This Day” reminded me of this post from a year ago. Of course, I posted it again. This time though, I tagged a few of my Facebook friends who are LGBTQ. Wow! Not only did I get clobbered by the judgmental Christians again, (no surprise), but also from the community I was trying to be gracious to. They also entirely missed the point, saying I was publicly shaming our server, that I was judgmental, and a few even used some family-unfriendly words and blasphemous memes to make their point.
So much for tolerance and inclusiveness.
I consider myself to be a friend to all. I want Jesus to be reflected in everything I do. Still, I fall short as everyone does, but my over-arching purpose for writing that post and re-posting it, was to demonstrate what I consider a better way to reach those who disagree with what I believe. I also try to do this with a good dose of humor. I’m not mad at anybody. I hate no one.
The big question, I suppose, is this: Can a person be LGBTQ and a Christian?
My Queer, Communist Friend
I WISHED A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY RADICAL, LEFT-WING, COMMUNIST, QUEER ACTIVIST, 30-year-old Facebook friend whose nom de plume is Cher Guevara. He would add this to his description: He would add this to his description: “anarcho-syndicalist, gender non-conforming, poet, journalist, performance artist, actor.”
We have had many spirited yet respectful conversations over the past few years. He knows where I stand on the issues and I know where he’s coming from. We have a lot of fun discussing the various social, political and religious topics that make their way onto social media. Even though his viewpoints are always completely off-the-wall and 100% wrong, I’m glad to have him as my friend.
He asked me some questions a while ago about who I am and why I held particular views; here is how I
answered him:
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