One of the main excuses (read: THE main excuse) people use to justify their homophobia is religion. We hear time and time again, the Bible says this, Leviticus says that, and so on and so forth. The LGBT community has been burned time and time again by people hiding behind various religious texts. As someone who classifies himself as a Christian, this irks me to no end. It feels like my religion is being hijacked and used against me at the same time. These are the same people who seem to forget that the Bible also says things like "If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right," [James 2:8] and "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins," [1 Peter 4:8] "Judge not, lest ye be judged," [Matthew 7:1] and many other verses besides. That is the bad news.
The good news is that despite the fact that the loudest Christians tend to be adamantly homophobic (I'm looking at you Tony Perkins, Bryan Fischer, and Peter Sprigg), there are groups of Christians out there who the diametric opposites of the likes of Focus on the Family, the (so-called) American Family Association, and the (so-called) Family Research Council (all of which are considered hate groups, by the way). Believe Out Loud is one of these positive forward thinking organizations. This organization is a collaboration between Protestant clergy, LGBT activists, and others which aims to make the religious community more accepting of the gay community. Since religion in general is a major roadblock for so many Americans when it comes to supporting gay rights organizations like this are incredibly vital for the LGBT community in its fight for equal rights. Building bridges like this is the way we can win.
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