A reader writes:
I’m your Christian brother and I am gay. Living in Alabama doesn’t make that fact any easier. Being a former Baptist preacher doesn’t make the painful history any more tolerable.
A couple of weeks ago, I was down in Montgomery and stood on the steps of Alabama’s capitol in the exact spot where one of my ancestors, Jefferson Davis, assumed the mantle of leading the Confederacy. It’s also the very spot that George Wallace must have crossed many times during his long tenure as our state’s segregationist governor. About a hundred yards down the main drive from the capitol is a small, unobtrusive brick Church. If you blink, you’ll pass it without a second thought. That building is Dexter Street Baptist Church, where Dr. King breathed fire into the Civil Rights Movement. It’s an amazing thought, as my pastor pointed out, to realize that it is entirely possible that these two men, King and Wallace, one representing the inevitable rise of a new world and the other representing all the repression that goes with holding on to the old world, were within easy shouting distance of one another in their prime.
As God often does, he raises giants from small huts, and triumph from the humble. That’s the nature of His love, isn’t it? I know that God loves me and it was refreshing to hear you say that on CNN. I felt as though I could break out in tears as I heard the pain in your voice.
Given the fact that Alabama just voted overwhelmingly to reject the right of gays to marry, I found myself feeling like a stranger in a strange land. This state has been my home all of my 41 years. My parents, thank the Lord, are still here. I graduated with a degree in Mathematics from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. There have been days when I’ve felt the brush of God’s grace through the warm, southern winds. And the sun rose like a thousand diamonds in the sparkle of the trees as I go on my long, crazy drives, praying to God. But now, I feel isolated, numb, as though I’ve been rejected by the very people I love. Never mind the fact that I’ve been partnered for 12 years.
Then, I remember Someone else who was similarly rejected.
Perhaps our faith will smoothe over the dark times for all gays here in Alabama and elsewhere. Perhaps the light will return, and the strong fragrance of the wind will be equally welcome as it was before. In a state where accents sometimes fall like flowers on the ear, it’s sad to know that hatred can dwell so deeply in the heart.
But the most important thing we can do is to rise above our bitterness, as you have, and love God, and love Him with all our heart. No one has the right to take Him from us!!
Amen. We shall overcome. In our own hearts and souls, many already have.
The Dish 