Bon–>I have a cartoon on left-handedness I need to post that’s perfect for what you wrote about how it was once stigmatized in ways all too familiar, and as to your comparison to GLBTQ Christians mirroring the same experience as the early Church, I think we equally share in the story of the early Gentile Christians and how Paul advocated for their acceptance into the church by reminding the Jewish believers that Christ came for all. Dei ja vou!

Susan–> I believe the testimony of our lives is the greatest thing we each have to give to others especially in communities like yours where there’s much to be undone from the past. We might not make interesting fodder for mainstream films but it’s more than wonderful enough for us, eh?

D–> Oh, those are difficult conversations to listen to, aren’t they? It helps to know that while we can’t get to everyone, there are people just like that young man in our own lives we can reach out to with encouragement and hope.

Glad you all liked this post. I love that your comments are nearly as long as my post….well…almost!

I was listening to a Christian radio station yesterday morning, and the topic for the particular show was homosexuality. The host was talking with a young man who was distraught over his sexuality and called in for help. Listening to that conversation was so difficult, because all the host really accomplished was miring that poor lad in guilt and shame cloaked in the garb of freedom and peace. Hearing that discourse and reading this post really helped me to realize once again how vital it is for each of us to stand firmly in the joy and peace of living as God has made us and to bask unashamedly in His love.

Thank you very much for posting this.

And you others, commenting! Deb on our being different, on our being scary. So true! How often is the “Other” considered sinister? Heck, even in the etymology of “sinister”! That is the Latin word for “left” (and “dexter” is for “right”). So, look at the history of so-called “south paws,” or left-handed people (like me). Until about fifty years ago, it was “sinister” to be a lefty, evil, gauche (yeah, the French word for “left”). Righties were dexterous, gracious, elegant. And this all because left-handednss wasn’t the dominant tendency! And let’s not even get started with the notion of the “green-eyed monster” (green eyes also being a recessive trait). Lord, help me, I’m a left-handed, green-eyed lesbian. BOO!

Scary me.

And Eliz! You hit the other side of the issue begun by Deb. People either aggressively persecute us (fear gone rabid) or passively tokenize us (fear gone underground). I don’t know which is worse—probably neither. But there’s another kind of tokening—I’m currently adjusting to being a token lesbian at my church and among my good friends, neither of which I think arises from fear (those who know in my church truly don’t care whether I’m gay or not, for this I am truly grateful!—my friends seem to have taken me as the spokeswoman for all homosexuality worldwide, as if my perspective on an issue is the universal word on the matter!). It’s an odd responsibility that I (and it seems you, too, and the authers of GIfted by Otherness, too) seem to now bear: to be a witness to the church.

And what strikes me is this: we are witnesses to the religious establishment, to the religious cultural traditions, like the early Christians were to theirs. To be a Christian today, in a Western nation, anyway, is not exactly a hard road to hoe. But to be a gay in the church is to challenvge the legitimacy of a very long tradition, much like being a follower of the Way in the Jewish culture was such a potent challenge. I thank God for the examples I have, and pray I’m up to the task!

I read all the way through nodding my head, and got to the last phrase and it left me with a big smile.

Regards, and smiles to everyone.

Eliz-You wrote….”When we live our faith and our lives in the graceful strength of God’s love, He is revealed to others in a way they many not have seen before. Our very presence challenging the myths and prejudiced ideas of religion.”

So very well said, this really is the call for ALL of us.

“I belong and so do each of you.”

I hope everyone reading this, who is struggling, will claim this line right here because it is so very true!