How Christians Can Help Gay People
By Andy Heath
Sometimes I run across a Christian that genuinely wants to help gays and lesbians. These Christians want to help us see the light, understand the folly of our ways, and repent to the Most High God so they can get an extra star in their crowns someday when they go to Glory Land.
It's sad that these well meaning Christians long to "help" us in ways that actually hurt us. They want us to be a part of a religion that would have us deny ourselves who we truly are. They would have us lead inauthentic lives. They would have us convince ourselves that we are really straight and that with enough prayer and faith we can change. But I challenge you with this question: Is that really helping us? Does that really make us better?
The Christians will say turning gays into Christians makes us better because it makes us more like them. Well, I understand that. Sometimes I wish everyone in the world lived the way I live and agreed with everything I think too. But welcome to reality. Welcome to adulthood. It's not going to happen. Christians need to realize this as well.
Instead of trying to convert us and save our precious souls from eternal damnation, they might do better to simply accept us for who we are and accept the fact that we are not going to live the way they would have us. Understanding that people are different is part of life; it's part of being responsible and loving adults. If we do not respect each other's differences, the world becomes even more chaotic because the world is a diverse place whether we like it or not.
I challenge Christians to truly practice what they preach and offer us the acceptance we deserve. Acceptance means that we are the Christians' equals, not their projects, not sinners. We really are Christians' equals because everyone in the world is equal. Christians that want to help gay people can do so simply by acknowledging that we are equal to them and by accepting us as we are, not as they would have us be.
