Ah, it’s that time of year when the weather turns warmer, bees buzz, flowers bloom, young men’s fancies turns to love, and drag queens take to the streets to demonstrate what riches the world will reap from a new sexual tolerance, all while dressed in this year’s most fantastical sequins and CFM pumps.
It’s Gay Pride Parade Season! It’s the time of rainbow flags, mascara abuse and ruby red lipstick. Young homosexuals use this as an excuse to play outside almost naked while older homosexuals voluntarily share the privacy of their own bedrooms by publicly using words such as “Gay”, “Bi”, “Lesbian” and “Fag” to describe themselves, while “Breeders” mostly watch from the sidewalks.
Every year the bar is raised, more shock and awe is added for “straight” society to deal with, and in spite of the best efforts of the event planners, it’s getting more difficult to get “straight” society’s attention since that community is growing more accustomed to the flaunting flamboyancy that Gay Pride brings.
But it doesn’t matter! No costume is over the top! The top hasn’t been invented yet for this event! Nothing is too revealing! Nothing is too depraved! This is GAY PRIDE AT IT’S BEST, BUDDY! IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT YOU CAN JUST MOVE ON, YOU HOMOPHOBE! YOU HATER! Because nothing says love and tolerance like hot pink ball-hugger short shorts and a neon green boa on an overweight, middle-aged man. (And yes Sweetie, those shorts do make your ass look fat.)
I have a different thought when it comes to Gay Pride Parade season – embarrassment. While the Gay Pride movement certainly has political and social value to its members, the parade itself seems to be made up of gays-for-a-day and attention whores versus real people with real feelings, people I think of as “real”.
Real gays don’t want a parade, they want someone to come home to, someone who listens to them, cares for them, laughs at their jokes, just like straight couples. They don’t want to be treated differently than anyone else; if anything they just want to blend in.
But it’s often not like that, and sometimes it’s the gay community that has itself to blame. Excuse my fashion sense, but if you wear something in public that Richard Simmons would dare not wear to work out in, then perhaps your goal was never to blend in. Enjoy the negative backlash.
Other times gays are not allowed to blend in because they are called out by people, supposedly Christian, speaking for God. God often gets a bum rap. His arms are long enough to include everyone, but there are those dedicated to shortening His reach until only they can fit in His grasp. Wrong answer, kids.
Sexual preference is between each person and God, whoever they conceive God to be. In the end, it’s still one person who stands before God regardless of anyone’s opinion of them pre-mortem. Berating a person for not heeding your interpretation of scripture will likely never change his / her mind. If you’re in a berating mood, maybe we should berate ourselves for not teaching better, or for not being the living examples of what we believe in. Saint Augustine said that you become the God you worship. Who knew mirrors could be so theologically powerful?
Yes, there will always be people afraid of change, but those casting others into hell with their words, regardless of how deeply they believe in them, risk being found guilty of a spiritual arrogance, an intentional choice to judge others based on Old Testament “eye for an eye” traditions versus the “love one another as I have loved you” message of the New Testament.
Murderers, adulterers, thieves, cheaters, slanderers, liars and people who take advantage of others are all in the same deep trouble, there is no ladder of guilt, no sin is more important than the other. And there are no degrees of guilty. God cannot be in the presence of sin, any sin. Congratulations, your sins however minor, qualify you as guilty and you’ve just joined the rest of the human race. Try not to stand too close to “those people”.
Conversely, if you are just as guilty as the rest of us and are forgiven your transgressions like all of us hope to be, will you protest if you see gay people in heaven? How about murderers? Pedophiles? How about people who drive slowly in the left lane? Write checks in the express lane at the grocery store instead of using an ATM card? Will you storm out the gates of heaven in righteous anger?
My point is that you are not the judge, nor is your opinion consulted when it comes to the judgment of others. I will be honest, I have opinions and beliefs about the actions of others just like you do, including opinions and beliefs regarding their sexual choices. Please do not read this as tacit support for gay marriage or any other political position. My beliefs and opinions are personal, and that’s how they will stay, but I don’t know of any words in the New Testament where it says I can treat anyone like a second class human being based on my opinion.
(Also, as a care giver to a cancer patient I could not imagine the pain I would feel by being denied access to my wife if she were hospitalized or near the end of her life. That would be human cruelty beyond words for me.)
Simply put, scripture is not there for you to cherry pick from. It’s also not there to use as a blunt force weapon in culture, politics, or self-promotion. The God I worship does not need a majority in the House or Senate to be powerful, nor does He need to sit in an oval office as a sign of His authority. Perhaps I’m just easily impressed, but creating the heavens and the earth were sufficient proof for me.
While many in the media continue to spread fear about gay marriage in exchange for ratings, I believe there are far more important issues more worthy of this hyper-attention than gay marriage is getting. If you are truly concerned about saving our country and our way of life, perhaps we should be discussing how a small group of influential people are stealing our democracy from under our noses. Or let’s bridge our political divisions that are rising to irrational, irreparable levels. These are the kind of issues that will do far more long term, even permanent damage to our society than gay marriage could dream of doing.
For a “Christian” nation, America often seems hell-bent on taking direction from fiery and noisy pulpits instead of quietly accepting the simple mandate given to the world in the New Testament. Ironic, isn’t it? All this noise about what God said but so few act like they’ve heard it for themselves.
If we the people don’t stop creating arbitrary divisions (however well intended) and start listening to each other soon, we can cease worrying about Gay Pride and focus our boundless energy on new parades showing our pride in the Demonocracy we’ve all helped to create.
I’ll get back to you on the fashion code for the event, but I advise sackcloth.
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