People of Faith for Equality in Virginia

Op-ed: On Day of Decision, How Will You React?

When the Supreme Court issues its ruling this month, how we react will send a message to the country.

by Lucas Grindley

(Reprinted from The Advocate)

If the Supreme Court says it's wrong how California has treated my husband and me, that it's wrong to pretend the wedding we had in our church in Washington, D.C., in 2010 was merely dress-up, then I don't know that I'm prepared for how I'll feel.

Lucas Grindley_400xTall_0 Maybe it will be like getting married all over again. Maybe I'll have to hold back tears, like I did on my wedding day, because I'm the strong one.

When the Supreme Court issues its much-anticipated ruling, as is expected to happen any day now, the media will predictably turn its cameras on LGBT people across the country and ask us how we feel. But when the reporter levies that expected question, what will we say?

Those of us living in California might be cheering in the streets because Proposition 8 is overturned. Or we might be caught off guard while lining the sidewalks at a Pride celebration, like one in New York City where plaintiff Edie Windsor is a grand marshal. We'll surely applaud loudly as she passes by, a true hero, having challenged the Defense of Marriage Act and won. It might be hard to remember, though, that despite legitimate reason to celebrate, no matter the outcome at the Supreme Court, this isn't the end.

Hardly anyone with legal expertise expects the justices will make a sweeping ruling that sends marriage equality throughout the country. Even if DOMA is struck down or if Californians can marry, we need only look to New York City and its recent spate of violent antigay attacks for a reminder that marriage equality won't solve all our problems.

No matter what the Supreme Court says, Florida teen Kaitlyn Hunt will still be put on trial over her relationship with her girlfriend. Transgender people will still be barred from military service. The Boy Scouts will still fire gay scout leaders due to a senseless fear we will molest children.

People of Faith for Equality in Virginia

Who We Are:

We are an interfaith network of people who all share one thing- a deep commitment to our faith tradition, which kindles our deep commitment to social justice. As rabbis, ministers, priests, and lay people, we are all dedicated to working for equal rights for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community in Virginia. We recognize that LGBT citizens are not faceless and nameless, but are members of our religious communities and our families, friends, neighbors, and people with whom we do business. We also recognize that God loves and sustains all of creation and that we must act when any part of that creation is endangered- physically, emotionally, or spiritually- by misunderstanding, hate, and discrimination.

Bishop Jackson: Change Your Tune, and Your Tone

[The following OpEd piece, by our President, Rev. Dr. Robin H. Gorsline, was offered to a number of Virginia publications more than a week ago; each declined for their own reasons. We are running it here, even though in recent days Bishop Jackson has seemed to modify his rhetoric. But, in fact, he has not yet disavowed anything he said about anybody. He just seems to be saying that what he believes, and preaches, in church, has nothing to do with how he would govern. At POFEV, as people whose faith informs us in all parts of our lives, we are mystified by this "compartmentalizing." And troubled. Will the real Bishop Jackson please stand up?]

Bishop E. W. Jackson Many are saying that the comments by Bishop E.W. Jackson (right), the Republican nominee for Lt. Governor of Virginia, are so far outside the mainstream that they need not be taken seriously.

If only it were so.

Bishop Jackson’s public attacks on gays and lesbians as “perverted” and “very sick people psychologically, mentally, and emotionally” do real and significant harm. These words dehumanize gays and lesbians. They are words of humiliation. They suggest gays and lesbians should be feared and shunned, should be pushed to the margins of society, are unworthy of the protection of law, and are unworthy even of God’s love.

As people of faith, we must publicly reject Bishop Jackson’s denigration and marginalization of others because of their sexual orientation. We must do so especially because Bishop Jackson claims he speaks for the broader faith community. As he told The Washington Post this week, “Attacking me because I hold to those principles is attacking every church-going person.”

The truth is that he does not speak for all people of faith. Far from it. By an overwhelming majority, Virginians of faith disagree with Bishop Jackson’s beliefs, beliefs he refused to renounce this week after his nomination.

Indeed, as Virginians in recent years have considered how the Commonwealth treats its gay and lesbian citizens, a majority now even support Virginians having the right to marry persons of the same sex. According to a recent Washington Post poll, over 60% of African Americans, of White Protestants in mainline churches, and of White Catholics in Virginia support providing gay and lesbian Virginians the freedom to marry the person they love.