BattleCreek Inquirer: Celebrate each person as a child of God

We were dismayed reading a recent letter to the editor equating Gay Pride Week activities in our schools with the demise of societal morality and Christian values. From our Christian perspective, we view such activities as a deepening of character and a ridding of prejudice, bias and hate within our community. For our schools to designate a week to celebrate young people for being exactly who they were created to be, instead of the targets of physical violence and emotional battery by their peers and adults alike as is often the case, is the most Christian thing our schools have ever done. Finally we are able to celebrate each and every person as a child of God worthy of pride.

Reading the Gospel accounts of Jesus, it is clear that if he were here today, he would have participated fully in such activities. In fact, he would have been hanging out with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and allied kids long before any formal activities were ever arranged. As he did throughout the Gospels, he would have stood in solidarity with the vulnerable and marginalized. Then, he would have handed a stone to the rest of us standing in judgment, inviting us to cast the first one as a way of jarring us out of our piety and into reality.

That reality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth is this: 33 percent attempt suicide. This is an epidemic whose cure is not found in denouncing or attempting to save them from their sexuality. The cure is found in our community's response to and support of GLBT young people and their families. Let's not be a community that stands in judgment, frozen in fear, galvanized by hate and perpetuated by ignorance. Let us instead be a community which surrounds all of our members in loving support and affirmation.

The Rev. Leah
Robberts-Mosser

The Rev. Thomas J. Ott

First Congregational Church,
United Church of Christ,
Battle Creek
Battle Creek Inquirer