The elephant of privilege.

November 26, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

One of the ELCA blogs caught my eye because of this single word:  “privilege.”  It is about time that it gets called out in public discussion. 

RE: Hunger Rumblings http://blogs.elca.org/hungerrumblings/post/privilege-22112011/

I was surprised that this post, while taking two paragraphs to set a context for his observation, never connected the dots between lack of privilege, hunger and justice. People with privilege— certainly a group larger than “the 1%” identified by the Occupy Movement—actively resist not only the loss of their privilege but even the identification of their privilege as such. They rationalize what they have as necessity, or earned, or in their contract or as the result of doing “nothing illegal.”

There are many voices in the current strident partisanship in America who decry the sense of “entitlement” in programs for people at the bottom of society, and from that argument they are earnestly trying to unweave our badly-frayed safety net for the poor/elderly/hungry/vulnerable. Ironically, the most strident voices are themselves coming from the most privileged segment of our society.

Privilege itself has balkanized our society. It is the “elephant in the room” of political discourse on many hotly-debated matters, including federal bail-out programs, immigration reform, and access to health care, education, jobs, and criminal justice. Even the sexuality wars of our times stem from the sense of entitlement which heterosexual people typically feel gives them the right to deny equality before the law to LGBT people.

Unfortunately, a sense of privilege has long since permeated the mainline church, especially in those denominations and congregations that cater to suburban upper/middle class (and mostly white) people. This sense of privilege is a cancer which continues to attack the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus. Need we look any further than the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3–12, the Parable of the Judgment (Mt. 25:31–46), or the Rich Man and Lazarus (Lk. 16:19–31) to see where privilege or lack of privilege is found in Christ’s teachings?

But privileged Christians can begin the “critical self-reflection and repentance” to which Creech refers, and hopefully resist the corrosive power of privilege by seeing what we have not as privilege but as gift. It is easy to rationalize our privilege as entitlement. Before God none of us has, or deserves, privileges. But that truth should not be easily “spiritualized” as simply a matter of forgiveness or justification by grace (gift) alone. All that we are, and have, and hope to do with our lives, are gifts of God. Even that we can get up every day, and use our health and wealth productively, is a gift. We do not deserve life itself. Life is a gift.

We have all heard the lame jokes about a family sitting down to a table of leftovers where someone who thinks it is unnecessary to give thanks says “This food was already blessed once before!” But when I give thanks at each meal, it is not the food which is blessed. I am blessed that I am able, once again, to eat. So recognizing that our whole lives are gifts may help us to begin to see those all around us for whom food, health, shelter, safety, dignity and justice are all still deeply felt hungers.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in LGBT Rights, Bible & Interpretation, Living by Grace, Health, Public Affairs, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Not all are negative on same-sex marriage.

August 31, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

Thanks to Elizabeth for this link. The Atlantic Wire (Atlantic Monthly Group) has a brief article on American attitudes on same-sex marriage ~ they call it “gay marriage” ~ that shows that not all religious people are of the same mind.

Well, duh! We knew that but it’s helpful when the general public is given information to help them separate the sheep from the goats on this issue.

According to the chart, based on a study from the Public Religion Research Institute (based on data collected in July 2011), Catholics and “White Mainline” churches line up as slightly positive on the issue (52 and 51% in favor), and Black Protestant and White Evangelical church people decisively negative on the issue (60 and 76% opposed respectively).

Three years ago in the post mortem hand-wringing as to why Proposition 8 passed in California, you will remember, it was these two groups which helped to push Prop 8 to victory. the LGBT community in California was especially dismayed that we had not communicated our core message effectively to the Black churches. That reality appears to prevail today, even while general attitudes and even “White mainline” Christians have been moving steadily into our column.

Read the article linked here, because the most important finding is not represented in the Atlantic chart:

” the main theme of the study was that younger people are supporting gay rights at much higher rates than their elders. It found “at least a 20-point generation gap” between 18 to 29 year olds and adults over 65 on every public policy issue concerning gay rights. And seven in 10 people in that younger age bracket say that religious groups that come out against homosexuality are alienating them.”

This last sentence confirms a finding from the Barna Group published four years ago. See Indwelling Spirit comments here, which was based on a September 2007 Barna news article.

Today, the most common perception is that present-day Christianity is “anti-homosexual.” Overall, 91% of young non-Christians and 80% of young churchgoers say this phrase describes Christianity. As the research probed this perception, non-Christians and Christians explained that beyond their recognition that Christians oppose homosexuality, they believe that Christians show excessive contempt and unloving attitudes towards gays and lesbians. One of the most frequent criticisms of young Christians was that they believe the church has made homosexuality a “bigger sin” than anything else. Moreover, they claim that the church has not helped them apply the biblical teaching on homosexuality to their friendships with gays and lesbians.

— Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Lesbian/Gay Marriage, Catholic matters, Ecumenical Issues, LGBT Christian, LGBT Rights, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

Justice delayed, again and again.

June 23, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

It is more than a mere “cliff-hanger,” that the New York state legislature went home for the night without voting once and for all on the same-sex marriage bill. It is justice denied.

William Gladstone, the 19^th century British politician is attributed with the quote “Justice delayed is justice denied” —something that politicians forever have simply ignored. But again tonight, the citizens of New York are being denied justice while the Neros of the Senate fiddled with funding and financing and pensions and economic matters over which the two major parties love to disagree.

It is becoming quite clear that the Republican lawmakers want the clock to run out on the legislative session (which was supposed to have adjourned last week) without having to take a vote either way on Governor Cuomo’s bill. The last count was that 31 of the necessary majority of 32 Senators would vote for it. The rest of them apparently don’t want to vote for it, and don’t want to identified as being against it either. So the bill could die again because justice was delayed.

This is our legal system in America, folks. This is our court system, too, because legislators (not judges) hold the cards on appointing judges. Dozens and dozens of federal benches sit empty because the U.S. Senate refuses to confirm the nominees—another political maneuver to deny justice by postponing it.

Lawsuits take years to work their way through the courts, because attorneys afford themselves all the time in the world (someone else is paying them by the hour at prices they set without any form of regulation) to argue over technicalities. All the time in the world is justice denied while justice is debated, deferred, derailed, in courtrooms full of detached parties. In California, neither the state courts nor the federal courts seems to be able to get to the core issues raised by the ludicrous manipulation of our voters’ initiative system to shove Proposition 8 into the state constitution. While New York Senators fiddle, no one is taking charge over the clearly unconstitutional denial of fundamental human rights for gay and lesbian people because they have to think about whether outside parties—who are not harmed in any way by my marriage or yours— have the legal standing to defend the proposition in court. If the legal issues about “standing” aren’t clear by now, is it unfair of the citizens to ask, “what the hell have you attorneys and judges and legislators been doing with your time for the last century or more?”

The filibuster is another device with which everybody is familiar. It ought to be outlawed—absolutely and forever—but the bastards who filibuster are the bastards who write the laws, and do it to favor themselves rather than justice. But the filibuster is a blatant and intentional abuse of the democratic process to delay and therefore deny justice.

It isn’t that New York’s legislative “good night” this evening at 11:00 p.m. is so awful in and of itself. But it is simply one more nail in the coffin of democracy. What’s been holding up the vote for weeks? Republican lawmakers want to argue some more over whether there are enough legal protections for religious groups who don’t want to perform same-sex marriages. Was that an issue with Loving v. Virginia, that religious groups who didn’t believe that interracial marriage was moral wouldn’t be compelled to perform them? To my knowledge, no minister, rabbi, imam or other religious figure is ever compelled to preside over a marriage ceremony of any kind. We all have the freedom to say no. So the Republican misgivings about the bill in New York is an obvious stalling maneuver—to suggest that there are just too many unresolved issues to move forward. I’m not buying it.

—Dan Hooper

Posted in Lesbian/Gay Marriage, LGBT Rights, History, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

A June roller coaster.

June 21, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

This is an unusual month so far for “gay pride,” even by the unusual standards of contemporary life. The President of the United States formally proclaimed it as LGBT Pride Month ( a first). Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared June as the city’s first LGBT Heritage Month and the City Council had a special (and amicable) pre-session observance on June 3.

But the word “pride” doesn’t convey both the challenge and the agony we face. HIV/AIDS turns 30 this month (the first identified cases were labeled in June 1981) and AIDS is still a curse on the world, especially to minorities and nations where medications are not readily available. I will post my article on AIDS in the prison system separately.

In the meantime, both a federal Bankruptcy Court and U. S. District Court made decisions to bolster the appropriate legal recognition of gay people. The Bankruptcy Court (Central District of California) basically found that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which was signed into law by our friend Bill Clinton—during a senior moment when he forgot to be our friend?—is unconstitutional. This ruling comes down beside the Justice Department’s announcement that they aren’t going to defend DOMA in court cases any more, so it will be interesting to see how an appeal plays out.

Meanwhile the original federal Proposition 8 is still working its way through the appeal process, but Judge Walker’s finding that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional will not be tossed out because of Walker’s personal prejudice. “Protect Marriage” [sic] had argued that, since Walker is himself gay and did not reveal he was in a same-sex partnership for ten years until after the trial was over, his decision was somehow tainted. The conservative fringe has trouble understanding that if their “logic” was sustained it would eliminate white, Black, Asian, married, single, or indeed all human judges from deciding all cases because their own existence would somehow prejudice their view of the law.

We thought, too, that New York’s state legislature was about to legalize same-sex marriage by June 17, but that hasn’t happened yet. June 17, 2008 was the date that same-sex marriages briefly became legal in California, before Proposition 8 blew then out again that November. Reuters reported last night that we should look for a vote by mid-week (in a hold-over legislative session), which may make New York the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage, … or not.

— Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Lesbian/Gay Marriage, LGBT Rights, History, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

Another June “First.”

June 20, 2011 by Pastor Dan.

http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2011/06/un-adopts-groundbreaking-resolution-affirming-that-lgbt-rights-are-human-rights/

UN Adopts Groundbreaking Resolution Affirming that LGBT Rights are Human Rights

By Paul Guequierre • June 17th, 2011 at 10:34 am

The following post comes from Mark Bromley Chair of the Council for Global Equality:

For the First time, the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva has adopted a resolution expressing concern at acts of violence and discrimination committed against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The text calls on the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a global study outlining discriminatory laws, practices and acts of violence directed at LGBT individuals, with recommendations on how to put an end to such fundamental human rights abuses. The study will be reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council next year. The resolution was tabled by South Africa and it enjoyed strong support from the United States and a broad coalition of voting states from all regions of the world. It was adopted in Geneva today by a vote of 23 countries in support, 19 against and 3 abstentions.

The United States was represented at the adoption by U.S. Ambassador Eileen Donahoe and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Baer. Baer noted the importance the United States placed on this vote, emphasizing that “this resolution confirms to millions of people around the world that every person – every human being on this planet – matters. As Secretary Clinton said, ‘Gay rights are human rights.’ So are the rights of religious minorities, the disabled and so many others who have been historically ignored or persecuted, not for what they do but for what they are. This is an important step in the quest for dignity for all. And I am proud that the U.S. is a part of it.”

This is the first official UN resolution to focus exclusively on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, and it is the first time that gender identity has ever been included in such a formal UN text. A vocal coalition of civil society advocates, coordinated by ARC International, also gathered in Geneva to push the UN to adopt the text. Those advocates, together with non-governmental leaders in South Africa, worked with the South African government to refine the text and then lobbied hard for its adoption. See the full text of the statement from the NGO coalition that supported the resolution here.

The United States was an official co-sponsor of the resolution and worked with South Africa and other co-sponsors from Europe, Latin America and Asia to secure its passage. Under President Obama and with the leadership of Secretary of State Clinton, the United States has become a strong voice for LGBT rights at the United Nations. The Human Rights Campaign is a founding member of the Council for Global Equality whose mission is to bring together international human rights activists, foreign policy experts, LGBT leaders, philanthropists and corporate officials to encourage a clearer and stronger American voice on human rights concerns impacting LGBT communities around the world. You can find more information on the Council for Global Equality and their work on this action here.

— Dan Hooper

Posted in International, Violence, LGBT Rights, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

One vote away from a slender majority?

June 14, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

The New York Times is reporting this afternoon that the New York Senate is only one vote away from passing the bill that would legalize same-gender marriage in that state, making it the sixth state and the largest state to do so. It is important in the larger struggle for rights and recognition because it will come as a result of legislative action, not court opinion.

Lawmakers are fond of counting their chickens before they hatch, and the vote count stands at 31 out of 62 votes. Only one more is needed for passage by simple majority. Two Republican lawmakers are already behind the bill.

A Senate vote is likely to come up this week in the Senate. The lower house of the legislature has passed this bill twice before and is considered likely to pass it again if the Senate comes through. Governor Cuomo had introduced the bill in both houses simultaneously. If passed by both houses, the law would take effect in 30 days.

Catch the New York Times story here. The Human Rights Campaign, which has delivered 25,000 postcards to New York law makers in support of this bill, is also offering instantaneous voting results directly to your cell phone: “Be the first to find out the result! Text “NY” to 30644. You’ll join HRC’s Mobile Action Network – and we’ll let you know as soon as the vote tally is in.”

If the New York vote happens by Friday, it will make an interesting and bittersweet historical footnote in the struggle for marriage equality. It was on June 17, 2008 that the first same-gender marriages were performed in California (and the last ones were performed in early November when Proposition 8 passed on the general election ballot—by a slender majority).

— Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Lesbian/Gay Marriage, LGBT Rights, History, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

Is California education FAIR?

April 14, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

Mark Carlson of the Lutheran Office of Public Policy brought me up to speed on this. Senate Bill 48, introduced last December 13 by Senator Mark Leno (D–San Francisco) is the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, which would amend the California Education Code to include social sciences instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, and prohibit discriminatory instruction and discriminatory materials from being adopted by the State Board of Education.

Senator Leno is introducing this bill on the Senate floor on Thursday morning. Go to http://www.calchannel.com and click on Live Webcast, Senate Floor Session. It’s not exciting television viewing, but it’s useful if you want to see how our legislature actually conducts itself. If you really want to see change, get involved by contacting your representatives and sharing your views on matters of public policy. To make it easier, download the Pocket Directory of California State Government from the LOPP web site.

Leno, who is openly gay, has been a responsible proponent for legislation that would not only benefit LGBT citizens of California but contribute to a social and political environment of authenticity, justice and understanding between people of all sexual orientations.

SB 48, by the way, has already passed the Senate Education Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee.  And for more background on this bill and a lot of other important pending legislation, I recommend Equality California’s web site, www.eqca.org.

—Dan Hooper

Posted in LGBT Rights, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

A step to rectify the past.

February 12, 2011 by Dan Hooper.

It is wonderful to read that Hawaii may have finally said “welcome” to a community it had shunned a decade ago.

Hawaii’s Supreme Court was the first in the nation to say, in the Baehr v. Miike case, that it was unconstitutional to deny the right to marry to same-sex couples.  But because it was so far ahead of its time, the backlash was severe, and the citizen’s voted it down.

Now the Hawaii Legislature is rectifying the small-minded mistake of a generation ago.  By a vote of 31 to 19, the House passed a Civil Unions bill already passed by the state Senate and set to be signed by the new governor.  (Is it any wonder that an Abercrombie would side with gay people? — probably concidence, I know.)  See the Advocate story here.

This is not likely to trigger a wave of romances going to Hawaii to get married, however.  LEgal marriage is not yet on the horizon.  Too bad, because it would be fun to stuff a piece of wedding cake in former Governor Linda Lingle’s mouth for vetoing the same bill a year ago.

— Dan Hooper

Posted in Lesbian/Gay Marriage, LGBT Rights, Public Affairs, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

The mile high club reaches new altitude.

December 20, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

You gotta love it. You know that same-sex marriage is being normalized (no matter what the Family Research Center says) when it gets commercialized. SAS offered the world’s first in-flight gay marriage ceremonies earlier this month as part of its “Love is in the Air” advertising campaign.

Here’s the international twist: On SAS flight SK903 from Stockholm to New York, a lesbian couple and a gay couple exchanged vows (legal in Sweden and wherever Swedish marriages are legally recognized): a German gay couple and a Polish lesbian couple. Germany and Poland do not allow same-sex marriage, but there isn’t a heckuva lot they could do to stop these, short of an anti-gay hijacking of the flight.

The story and the photos are all gushy and cute on 365Gay.com.

And since the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden said OK to gay marriage more than a year ago, the flight must have truly been blessed.

— Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in International, Lesbian/Gay Marriage, LGBT Rights, Public Affairs | Print | No Comments »

We asked, and we got what we asked for.

December 18, 2010 by Dan Hooper.

This was never my fight, but it is emblematic of the struggle for all to be treated equally. According to the Human Rights Campaign this morning, the repeal of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law has passed the U.S. Senate. It had passed the House already.

Breaking news: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal has just cleared its last congressional hurdle.

This discriminatory law will be relegated to the dustbin of history. This stain on our nation will be lifted forever. . . .

Today, America lived up to its highest ideals of freedom and equality. Today, our federal government recognized that ALL men and women have the right to openly serve the country they believe in. That it doesn’t matter who you are, or who you love – you are not a second-class citizen.

Think of the kids out there tonight, watching this on the news – kids who are bullied for being different, who live in fear daily that their parents will hate them if they find out the truth… Think of the relief, the empowerment, the sense of possibility they’ll feel, knowing that the U.S. military has said: if you’re lesbian or gay, you are worthy. We want you to join us, side by side, as equals.

Well HRC is a bit triumphalistic here. and it of course ties the “breaking news” to the same fund-raising appeal you find in every e-mail. But the true still sinks in. After the procedural, majority-only vote later this weekend, President Obama will sign the repeal bill into law.

This is sadly overdue for a nation which believes in due process and equal protection. Yes, there are shrill voices in the Marines, etc., that don’t want “open” homosexuals in their ranks. According to a chum who used to be a military chaplain, it is not true a quarter of the U.S. Marines are really gay. It’s much closer to half, he told me. Is our nation any safer, or is morale any higher, when people are secretive? We have been over this ground many times, of the dangers and inherent climate of catastrophe that develops when people are deeply closeted and then don’t develop the self-respect or good judgment to avoid “slipping.” Men and women who are out to themselves and others, and have learned to feel self-esteem, are better judges of how to behave that the closeted and fearful who have never developed the friendships or done the emotional and mental homework of working through their sexuality.

I don’t know where to track this quote originally, but a couple of months ago it was none other than Lady Gaga who commented that cohesion and morale in the military would improve not by kicking out the gay and lesbian people but by kicking out the homophobes! She’s pretty much on target there.

If you are a letter-writer or e-mail writer, send your representatives in congress a big thank-you for their courageous votes (if they voted courageously). If your senator or congressman voted against repeal, please act accordingly.

— Dan Hooper

Posted in Bullying, Homophobia, LGBT Rights, Public Affairs, Coming Out | Print | No Comments »

Is it any wonder?

November 11, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

All of us are still stunned but energized by the wave of gay suicides in the last two months. (I am trying to get access to a camera to tape my own “It Gets Better” story.) But is it any wonder that young LGBT people, even in the year 2010, have a hard time preserving their own self-esteem and walking confidently in this world when there are hate-mongers out there trying to pass as Christian?

In his weekly column, Wayne Besen (Truth Wins Out) reports on another month-old issue, that Andrew Shirvell has been fired from his position as Assistant Attorney General for Michigan. Besen describes Shirvell as a nutjob and sicko–probably overstepping the line in his speculation that Shirvell may be a closeted homosexual, too—but there is evidence that the former AAG obsessed about a 21-year old college student (and University of Michigan Student Body President) Chris Armstrong, even stalking his residence in the middle of the night and attempting to defame him online. According to MSNBC, “Shirvell’s boss, Attorney General Mike Cox, said the firing came after a state investigation revealed that Shirvell ‘repeatedly violated office policies, engaged in borderline stalking behavior and inappropriately used state resources.’”

What continues to amaze and distress me is why individuals who, for whatever reason, don’t like or approve of homosexuality don’t just avoid it. There are plenty of things I don’t like, don’t approve of and wish would go away (for example, gratuitous violence in society and in the movies), but my disapproval usually stops with my brief rants at the dinner table or watching the evening news.

What sets people like Shirvell apart is that he can’t give it a rest. In fact, he uses his so-called Christian faith as justification for going on a mission to defame or hurt gay people. According to material quoted by Besen, “In a September CNN interview, Shirvell used religion and the constitution to defend his bullying. ‘I’m a Christian citizen exercising my First Amendment rights,’ he told Anderson Cooper. ‘I have no problem with the fact that Chris is a homosexual. I have a problem with the fact that he’s advancing a radical homosexual agenda.’”

But Shirvell’s supposed motivation for his weird behavior doesn’t set him apart at all. He is just one more public figure who has spouted the predictable rhetoric of reactionary hatred. A key part of this predictable rhetoric is denouncing the so-called “homosexual agenda.”

Let’s tell the truth. There is a “homosexual agenda.” But it is hardly radical. Sexual minorities want to live their lives like everybody else, and to be treated with the same respect that any person alive deserves. For Shirvell, or anybody else, to appeal to or claim “First Amendment rights,” for example, is also claiming a right to respect. When someone’s right to free speech is disregarded or silenced, it is major disrespect — a way of saying, “no you’re not entitled to be heard in the larger community.” Well, Mr. Shirvell, my homosexual agenda is closely allied to my First Amendment rights. And as a Christian, I am exercising them, too, by saying that I deserve respect in the public forum, not only because the U. S. Constitution affirms those rights and that respect, but because our Creator and Lord have affirmed them.  So I hereby claim as a personal truth this promise: “I will give you words and a wisdom,” says Jesus in Luke 21:15, “that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.” Can your views, and your screwball stalking behavior, meet this test, Mr. Shirvell?

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in wingnuts, Bullying, LGBT Christian, LGBT Rights, Public Affairs, Coming Out | Print | No Comments »

This bullying thing, writ large.

October 28, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

Once our society becomes more aware of the extend of personal bullying and its role in violence and criminal behavior, things would have to get better in this country, right?

I wish that were true.  Many naysayers are found of using the term “slippery slope” to describe moral points of no return. We are afraid of legalizing marijuana, for example, because it may/will lead to harder drugs, etc. Chief William Bratton, when serving the New York Police Department, subscribed to the “broken windows theory” that ignoring trivial things like broken windows in the city leads to the deterioration of entire neighborhoods: vandalism first, then, bigger crimes against property and against people.  In other words, “it gets worse.”

Why, then, do we allow child and adolescent bullying to go unchecked? Is it not a slippery slope for adult aggression, violence and crime?

There is a lot of conversation now about the bullying which has led to the self-hatred on the part of lesbian or gay teenagers which led to them taking their own lives. Another slippery slope that should be corrected, right?

As President Obama says in his It Gets Better Project video: “It breaks my heart. It’s something that just shouldn’t happen in this country. And we’ve got to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal right of passage.”

Bullying is a sign of a deeply-rooted psychology of violence. School bullies often go on to become violent criminals as adults. If they are sufficiently motivated not deflect their own rage, it can often come out in resentment, hatred, racism, and those odd and dangerous political views that hold other people in suspicion and try to deprive them of equal rights and equal opportunity in our society.

If bullying were a “right of passage”—or something Jamie Nabozny was told by his high school principal, “boys will be boys”—then theoretically bullies would “grow out if it.” Instead, many “grow into it” and become more violent in their lives.

The story of Jamie Nabozny has just been released: “Bullied” premiered in Washington three weeks ago. Nabozny was a gay teen in small-town Wisconsin who was harassed relentlessly, attacked and even urinated on in the school bathroom. He tried running away from home, attempted suicide, and finally sued his school district and won a $900,000 settlement.

Ironically there is an anti-bullying law in California which has been on the books for seven years, but it has no teeth: no definitions of either bullying or of protected classes of people, and no penalties against schools or educational executives who decline to stop the harassment and violence in their schools. Nabozny’s successful lawsuit should have made a forceful point to all of America’s educational system that one school bully is like a “broken window” in a community, and it will almost always lead to a meaner, less civil, more violent society.

It is interesting to see the letter published in the Ashland, Wisconsin paper this week that shows some progress in local thinking there. Kaylie McCarthy, a 10-th grader there wrote, “Now, I ask the Ashland School Board this: do you choose to accept the mistakes made in the past, to help move on for the future and prove not only to us students, but the entire community, that leadership comes from acceptance? Or do we cover up the mistakes, and halt the progressions that’s been made thus far? As a proud Ashland High School student, all I know is that I look forward to seeing the documentary for myself.”

Looking at the larger society, In my view, the present political climate in America is a form of bullying on steroids—when inexperienced political wannabees think they can buy an election through forceful negative advertising and saturation of our TV channels; when a minority caucus or segment of elected officials think they can demand to have their way or shut the government down in retaliation. And is not war itself the ultimate form of bullying? —when one nation thinks that by intimidation, sheer force and aggression, violence and bloodshed, it can have its way in the world.

We live in a big city, and the bullying that takes place on our streets and highways has also reached a serious, fevered level. I have personally followed drivers in traffic, for example, who barely slowed down in slipping through stop sign after stop sign on the same route. Twice I have had a driver of a truck stop and get out of his vehicle and threaten me verbally for something he didn’t like. (One of those times I was a pedestrian who had yelled out “slow down!”) The slippery slope created by the dangerous, aggressive driver is convincing others to say “everybody does it.”

I doubt, however, that the civic discourse in this country will take that direction in reacting to the tragic suicides of recent weeks, because to see bullying as pervasive in our society would cause a great deal of social self-examination. America is no longer very good at self-examination. Like the playground or locker-room bully, our society tends to blame everything external for our own character flaws. It is always somebody else’s fault: socialists, communists, jihadists, the poor, the wealthy, illegal immigrants, people of color, the homosexuals and their “agenda,” etc.

If any good comes out of the tragic deaths of at least six gay teens this fall, it would be to trigger a serious self-examination of the American way of aggression.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Violence, Bullying, Homophobia, LGBT Christian, Public Affairs, LGBT Rights, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

Change. For the better.

October 27, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

I am hopeful that America is not going to let this fall’s tragic rush of gay teen suicides just slide into the past without a deeper understanding of the pain and anguish that LGBT teens are facing. All of us need to do something about it, whether or not we have teen children.

Now this past week, we learn of the suicide of 19-year old Corey Jackson. This is becoming a national emergency.

But I am encouraged by two resources on the web. The one is the “It Gets Better Project“ on Youtube, launched by gay columnist Dan Savage, which features the voices of literally hundreds of Americans who offer their stories and their encouragement to LGBT teens. As of this week, even President Obama has posted his offering. The Human Rights Campaign’s Religion & Faith News” contained a link for Susan Russell’s video (on her personal blog). Rev. Canon Russell is the senior associate priest on the staff of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.

The other is the Make It Better Project, which I just learned about in an e-mail from Robin McGehee, Director of Get Equal, “President Obama, you can make it better,” which was posted yesterday. In it, McGehee shares the letter from Tammy Aaberg, whose son Justin Aaberg took his own life because of bullying. The Make It Better Project is produced by the GSA Network, where you can see young gay/lesbian people offering their experience and encouragement.

On that site, you can watch several video segments, including a 5:00 minute trailer for a new documentary “It’s Elementary” from Ground Spark there are other excellent-looking resources on their site about gender, bullying, family diversity, etc.

Personally, I was moved by the amateur videos on It Gets Better to write my own script, with a little bit of my personal story, but as yet I don’t have the camera to go visual. Work with me, people, and I may wind up on Youtube.

— Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Family, Bullying, Violence, Homophobia, LGBT Rights, LGBT Christian, Coming Out | Print | No Comments »

A Sad Season for Teens

October 11, 2010 by Pastor Dan.

Today is National Coming Out Day, and it’s no reason to celebrate this year. Gay teens are dying, and it would have been better by far if they could not be out until they were older and a little better to defend themselves or get away from the hostility of their teen peers or hateful parents.

The suicides of several gay youth in the last several weeks, because of relentless bullying they experience, causes me dismay and deep sadness.

It never seems to end. Fifteen years ago Leroy Aarons published his book Prayers for Bobby about a gay teen —harassed by his own fundamentalist mother about his sinfulness until he jumped off a freeway overpass to his death.

A few years ago, in the film The Bible Tells Me So, which traces the stories of five families trying to cope with the coming out of a gay child, one mother must also cope with the fact that her lack of acceptance of her daughter led to her daughter’s suicide.

If you’re really young and you know you are a sexual minority, where can you hide from the evil, the physical abuse, the taunting and bullying? When public schools have become such dangerous places, where can you run to? Is the church a refuge, where a lesbian or gay teen can feel safe? Not yet.

In the Washington Post recently Debra Haffner, the Executive Director of the Religious Institute, reported a startling figure about gay teens:

“All of us have teens and young adults who are gay or lesbian in our congregations, many who are suffering in silence and are at risk. A study done by my colleagues at the Christian Community, found that 14% of teens in religious communities identify as something other than heterosexual. Almost nine in ten of them have not been open about their sexuality with clergy or other adult leaders in their faith communities. Almost half have not disclosed their sexual orientation to their parents. And nonheterosexual teens who regularly attend religious services were twice as likely as heterosexual teens to have seriously considered suicide. Our young people are dying because we are not speaking out for them.”The 14% figure startled me but doesn’t surprise me, since so many young people, who begin to discern they are “different” or “don’t fit in” with their peers—coming up in Christian households and churches—may be drawn to the genuine message of love and acceptance which the Christian faith has always proclaimed. Gay kids may be more likely to “stick around” seeking that love and acceptance when their heterosexual peers grow bored with the message because they don’t have the same self-doubt or self-esteem issues.Or maybe they used to. When I grew up, the Lutheran Church was so repressed that nobody talked about sex at all, period. I didn’t hear negative messages or positive ones, so I didn’t internalize any homophobia from my church. But today, it seems every evangelical pastor (not really, but it seems so) continually rants about homosexuality, and so the message of love and acceptance has qualifications, “fine print” that clearly excludes the teens who are bright enough to figure themselves out at an early age.Seth Walsh, 13, hung himself. Asher Brown shot himself in the head. Tyler Clementi jumped from the George Washington bridge into the Hudson. Tyler’s suicide cannot be attributed to bullying, even cyber-bullying, which figured into the tragic deaths of four other teens. Tyler was publicly shamed. But from the dark days decades back when homosexuals were considered a security risk because of the likelihood of blackmail—playing on the same dynamic of shame—bullying, intimidation, blackmail and shame have been almost one continuous spectrum from gray to black. For the love God, this must stop.The church of Jesus must stop promoting homophobia, and stop profiting by selling its own self-righteousness by being vehemently anti-gay. I am glad to say that more and more congregations are becoming open-hearted if not open-minded, realizing that while they may still have huge issues with homosexuality, it is not something for which any teenager should be driven to suicide.

However, as the welcoming movement grows in many Protestant denominations, for too many of them it is a very lame and generic welcome that now includes gay and lesbian people as long as there’s no real risk to the congregation. But there is some risk to openly saying that gay teens are welcome —not the least is the sense of “recruiting” the young to “the gay lifestyle.” The only way the church will get past that one is to work harder at educating their own members and the community around them that recruiting is a dangerous and cruel myth.

—Pastor Dan Hooper

Posted in Fundamentalism, Bullying, LGBT Rights, Public Affairs, Ministry, Coming Out, Ex-Gay | Print | No Comments »

Ask. Tell. Call your Senator.

September 10, 2010 by Dan Hooper.

I was both surprised and dumbfounded by the news in this morning’s Los Angeles Times that another domino has fallen in the war against reality. “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” has been dealt another significant blow, certainly equal to the House of Representatives’ vote to repeal the idiotic 1993 law. You can read the decision here.

The “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” Act, signed by President Clinton, was supposed to stop the witch-hunts in the U.S. Armed Forces by saying, basically, if you keep your mouth shut about your private life we will ignore your sexuality. The problem was the homophobic witch hunters are still homophobic, and DADT simply gave them a slicker way to guarantee the expulsion of “openly” gay/lesbian service members—who were “open” often only because they were pried out of their closets by the homophobic witch hunters. Since 1994, according to some sources, more than 13,000 personnel have been discharged.

Did anybody mention that the falling dominos also represent “circular reasoning”? The bottom line is that DADT didn’t “work” for anybody, and Judge Virginia Phillips’ decision yesterday illustrates this very well. Not only does the law treat gay/lesbian service members unfairly by denying them equal protection of the laws of this nation, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t protect our national security or combat readiness or unit cohesion or anything.

Judge Phillips, according to ABC News, will issue a permanent injunction against enforcing DADT in about two weeks.

The decision, from yet another California-based federal court, sounds amazingly like Judge Walker’s decision in the Perry v. Schwarzeneggar federal suit against California’s Proposition 8. Maybe it’s because it is attacking the same circularly-reasoned homophobic point of view of the original framers of DADT.

The government’s attorney, Paul G. Freeborne, apparently argued (in court?) that the whole issue is a political one that should be decided in Congress. The House already voted to repeal it. And now the court has said that matters of civil rights are not to be left to the political winds. According to the Times, we can thank backward-thinking Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) for blocking the Senate from debating DADT.

There is another parallel. The U.S. Justice Department mounted a pathetically weak defense in the lawsuit (because the law is nearly indefensible). In the Perry Propo 8 case, the defense called only two witnesses to speak on behalf of Prop 8, one of whom sort of caved in under cross-examination. In this case, Freeborne called none.  So while the public chatter about why we need to keep homosexuals out of the military—or at least why we need to stall making any big shocking changes within our military—went on and on among the homophobic conservatives, they could not actually produce witnesses to demonstrate, show or prove how exactly the presence of a gay or lesbian person who wants to serve his or her country in uniform was causing the downfall of our armed services.

Maybe they could have called Rev. Fred Phelps as a witness. He has tons of experience running around the country and telling everyone with his megaphone that God has damned America because we tolerate homosexuals, and that’s why our troops are being killed in two simultaneous wars. Hey, I didn’t say he would be a credible witness, but at least he has his testimony all prepped!

Seriously, this is the moment for the Obama administration to prove it wants to dump DADT. Could not Mr. Obama, for example, instruct the Department of Justice not to appeal the federal court ruling? According to 365Gay.com, attorney Freeborne has not commented on his loss in court. And according to Associated Press, the DOJ is “reviewing” the decision before it says what it will do next. We must wait and see whether the Department of Justice wants to press on with its official homophobia.

And timing is everything. According to the Washington Post Robert M. Gates, Obama’s Secretary of Defense (and the official defendant in this case in his official capacity for the United States of America), has wanted to wait for the Pentagon itself to complete its internal review of whether it could get by without DADT. But their report is not due until December, and that’s long after the November elections, in which it is possible that the Democrats will lose their grip on Congress. Hey, I have an idea: repeal it now, or don’t appeal the ruling at all, and let the law die for its own sins.

I said I was also dumfounded by the news, and that’s because the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay political organization [oxymoron not withstanding] was the plaintiff in the lawsuit. Like many so-called activists, I have long disregarded the Log Cabin Club as a powerless bunch of privileged/moneyed oppressees who cannot bring themselves to admit that they are feeding the mouth that bites them. Maybe now, after a six year lawsuit, some of the oxymoronic homosexuals will clearly see how hard it is to stop the homophobes when you have already gotten into bed with them.

But attorney Emma Ruby-Sachs, writing for the invariably liberal Huffington Post, doesn’t think that this win can save the Log Cabin Republicans. “They support a party that doesn’t support their equal treatment under the law. Despite claims to work within the party for socially progressive change, lending any support to Republicans in this day and age simply undermines equal rights and constitutional protections in this country.” In fact, Ruby-Sachs is pretty withering in her criticism, and she has some interesting factlets about the case itself.  And you can read LCR’s own comments about its victory here.

— Dan Hooper

Posted in Homophobia, LGBT Rights, History, Public Affairs, Coming Out | Print | No Comments »