The liberal whim that conservatives use to combat allowing same-sex marriage or LGBT leadership in Christian churches is the same whim that was thought to depose things like slavery and serfdom. It was only 52 years ago that nearly 10 million people voted for George Wallace, a man who is quoted saying, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” The majority of the people who voted for Wallace were, of course, white, Christian people. In a similar way, today, the same voices who oppose LGBT marriage and leadership over a generation later are white, Christian traditionalists. According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 25% of the country identifies as evangelical Protestant, and 76% are white. Among those, 55% say that homosexuality should be discouraged. From the time that Europeans spotted land in the Americas to today, white, heterosexual people have made it their duty to impose their teachings and traditions on those who don’t necessarily want it.

It doesn’t matter what our personal lives consist of when it comes to receiving God’s everlasting mercy. In the Bible, Jesus Christ was accompanied by and preached to a leper, a prostitute and a woman of a race that Jews of the time rejected. Somehow in the past two centuries, we have fallen further from the mercy and acceptance that Christ gave us. Christians of any sect have a duty to be accepting of all people who are walking in the light of Christ, not to try to deny them access to the love and salvation that they receive because of a holier-than-thou attitude. 

In my opinion, the Catholic hymn “All Are Welcome” is the epitome of what all Christian churches were intended to be. The opening line “Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live” shows that it is the duty of God-willing and believing people to accept and love those who live different lives. The opposition of gay rights in church is yet another abomination that good Christian people must live in the shadow of. We must overcome the discrimination of the past and set an example of compassion for the future.

As a Catholic, I understand the background and reasoning behind this traditionalist movement by the conservatives of the UMC. However, ask yourselves if Christ would do the same. John 17:32 reads, “I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Jesus has never and will never turn anyone away from his church because it is meant for everyone on Earth. It was his words that called for his church to be united, not divided. 

It’s been thousands of years since the dawn of recorded same-sex sexuality, and to this day it remains a certain level of taboo and, depending on where you’re from and who you ask, is a discriminated part of society. To say that LGBT people aren’t righteous enough to be allowed the same rights as all other Christians is, in my view, wrong. As sinful people, which reportedly, according to the Christian God, we all are, we must look at ourselves first. The Book of Matthew affirms this: “You hypocrite! First, remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.”