Will We Move Beyond LGBTQ Hatred?

  

                                                   Jeopardy Host Ken Jennings with Amy Schneider

There is no longer Jew or Greek;

 there is no longer slave or free; 

there is no longer male and female,

 for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

                          Galatians 3:28 NRSVue

Earlier this week the Jeopardy Tournament of Champions came to an entertaining conclusion when Amy Schneider won her third and decisive game. Along the way Amy has become a minor celebrity, as many Jeopardy champs do, with an invitation to the White House and throwing out the first pitch at a couple of Major League Baseball games. Amy has also been open about being a transgender person and explained a large tattoo on one arm which is of Princess Ozma, kidnapped and enchanted to be a boy but eventually freed to be the princess she always was. 

It is impressive that society has shifted in awareness and acceptance to the point that a trans person can be in the public eye and able to thrive in this way. Yet only a couple of days before her achievement a gunman walked into an LGBTQ2S+ night club in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and opened fire, killing five and injuring many more. This a horrific event and may be the outcome of the hateful rhetoric of recent months which vilifies LGBTQ persons and falsely accuses them of grooming children.Some of the "thoughts and prayers" politicians are hypocrites having openly engaged in these conspiracy theories. 

                                               Club Q Colorado Springs Memorial to Murder Victims

 Often these are religious people, supposedly Christians, who have no qualms about engaging in conspiracy theories and hate speech. In the toxic mix of conservative supremacist religion and right-wing politics the racist and homophobic tone becomes harsher. Elizabeth Pixie lost a friend in this shooting and angrily observed: 

They can call it religion, they can call it politics, they can call it saving people. Whatever fluff or s--- they want to sprinkle on it, they can do that, but at the end of the day, these people are murderers.

The murders in Colorado Springs brought to mind the even more deadly Pulse night club shooting in Orlando, Florida, in 2016. This was so obviously a hate crime and while it occurred thousands of kilometres away I organized a midday vigil at Bridge St. Church where we tolled the bell for the 49 innocent people who were killed. Many of the people who attended were not part of our congregation, and one gay couple began attending worship and became quite involved. A Bridge St. member in his 90s, a quiet man, showed up as well, somewhat to my surprise. He told me with some emotion that he was there for his daughter, who is a lesbian. I was quite moved by that act of solidarity. 

There were other members of the congregation who were not happy that Bridge St. hosted this solemn occasion, especially because it was covered by the media. Apparently they didn't appreciate this public expression of acceptance. Nor did they like the fact that we provided space for the LGBTQ prom at the end of the high school year. I attended this event long enough to welcome the teens without realizing that one day a young member of our extended family may one day be attending something similar, although I hope that by that time there will no longer be prejudice and stigma. As Christians we express our love for her and affirm who she is. We're grateful that she attends a Roman Catholic school which is very supportive of LGBTQ2S+ students, as is her church home. 

It is a terrible irony that this past Sunday was the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998.It's chilling that the Colorado Springs murders occurred on the same weekend. We still have a long way to go.