The American Center for Law & Justice was created by Pat Robertson as a counterbalance to the ACLU. Whereas the ACLU seeks to protect the “wall of separation” between church and state, the ACLJ seeks to give Christians special rights to decide how others should live. So if a Christian business wants to discriminate in hiring or policy, they can call ACLJ. If a conservative Catholic group wants to make sure women can’t get reproductive health care, they can call the ACLJ. If people from a small town want to make sure a gay or lesbian family does get the same rights as a heterosexual family, they can call the ACLJ.
One problem the Christian right has always had in its crusade against the “menace” of gay marriage, is that only closeted gay men can truly feel that threat. If a gay couple moves in at the end of my block, as a heterosexual male, I won’t give it a second thought. But a closeted gay man may lie awake at night imagining the “terrible” things what they might be doing. The Christian right can get all kinds of people upset about the issue of gay marriage, but only a closeted gay male will truly feel gay marriage as a threat to his own.
So it isn’t surprising when two men working together to rescue gay men from the “sin” of homosexuality, fall in love with each other, as happened with Exodus International. Or when the attorney for the ACLJ was fired for using Facebook to look for men. A person’s gender orientation is part of who they are. We cannot lie about who we most fundamentally are and be faithful in any other way.
One day we will hopefully realize how wonderful each and every other person on this planet truly is, how we were all made in G-d’s wonderful image, and celebrate – rather than fight – our diversities and differences.
Thank you. Well said.
I think that the first paragraph should end with “does *not* get the same rights”?