This week the Houston City Council votes on an equal rights ordinance. While I think there are some problems to be ironed out, I support the passage of this ordinance. I know Annise Parker as a friend and neighbor, and I believe she and our city counsel are working and will work to get this right.
Many in the conservative branch of my faith tradition oppose the ordinance. I understand their view, and I would like to express mine. Not surprisingly to those who know me, it grows out of my understanding of the way of Jesus, and it represents my decision to follow that way.
Jesus was a powerful man and he always used this power for the marginalized and the oppressed. In his context that would be women, prostitutes, adulterers, tax collectors (translated governmental traitors), and lepers. No one should be surprised! In the opening chapters of Luke’s gospel, he publicly declares his mission.
I have a gay son who is one of the great gifts in my life. I have seen and heard how he has been treated as he came out and learned to live with courage into his sexual identity. I have spent the last fifteen years of my life ministering in the heart of the gay community in Houston. I have listened for thousands of hours to the personal stories of men and women in the LGBTÂ community. I’ve heard their suffering. I’ve felt their pain. I’ve been heartbroken over the indignities they have experienced and the disrespectful, inhumane ways that they have been treated.
I believe that if Jesus lived in Houston today, these are people with whom Jesus would dine. They are for people for whom he would stand. So that is where I am casting my lot.
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