Affirming.

Churches I believe can be divided in to two types… Affirming and Non-affirming. And they can be in the same religion or denomination, different sects can have different views about us. For an example there are sects within the Episcopal religion that are accepting of us and others that want to damn us to hell. We had an Episcopal Bishop testify in favor of the trans non-discrimination bill.

How should Black churches respond to the fight for LGBTQ rights?
A recent panel explored Black Christians’ responses to the Equality Act and Fairness for All Act
Desert News
By Kelsey Dallas
April 30, 2022


In the Rev. Cedric Harmon’s religious tradition, the prayers offered at church almost always start the same way. Worshippers acknowledge God and then give thanks for life, health, strength and safety, four blessings that every human needs.

“We thank God for those blessings and recognize how core they are,” he said.

The Rev. Harmon reminds people of those prayers when they question why the Black church should fight for LGBTQ civil rights protections. He tells them to stop feeling like gay and transgender Americans are seeking special treatment. What they want, he says, are the same basic blessings you ask for at church.

“The legislation we’re talking about would guarantee access to housing, health care, food and employment — blessings that everyone should have the ability to enjoy,” the Rev. Harmon said during an April 27 webinar titled “The Black Church and LGBTQ Rights.”

[…]

In the past, many Black churches chose silence over difficult conversations. Not too long ago, the only time you’d hear church members talk about LGBTQ issues was in secret, behind closed doors, Anderson said.

I see two facts here, the first is that the affirming churches are afraid of stepping up and saying that that they support us. Second, it is like the debate on marriage equality where the mainstream media loves conflict. Having religious leaders on the news that supported marriage equality didn’t sell ads but having anti-marriage clergy on sold ads. They don’t want everyone signing Kumbaya instead they rather have a Jerry Springer type people on the news, with all the shouting and shoving.

As of 2021, nearly 8 in 10 Black Protestants (78%) supported laws that would protect members of the LGBTQ community from discrimination, but just 55% supported same-sex marriage, according to Public Religion Research Institute.

Despite that strong level of support for LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections, the Black church’s engagement with modern gay rights debates is still relatively low. Through their participation in the panel and their regular work, Anderson and the other speakers are working to disrupt the status quo.

We are now in another time of Martin Niemöller famous quotation “First they came for the socialists…” they are coming for us now.

Right now all the anti-LGBTQ+ hate is coming from non-affirming churches, it is time for the affirming churches to say ENOUGH!

The affirming churches  can no longer remain silent, remain silent tacit approval of the bigotry.

We need those who call themselves allies to stand up and be counted. Their voices carry more weight than our voices.

They need to go to legislative hearing to testify against anti-trans bills and tell the legislators ENOUGH!

They need to go to the Board of Education meeting and say about the book bannings… ENOUGH!

They need to stand up next to us and say ENOUGH to the hate!