Why I Want to Speak at Churches but Am Afraid to Do So
By Andy Heath
Do you know who the most powerful political group in the Southeastern United States is? You might find it hard to believe that it would be fundamentalist Christians, but in my humble opinion that is who really runs things in this area. The fact that Christians hold so much power is especially true in the rural areas of the Southeast where the residents are less likely to have high levels of education and are therefore more susceptible to ideas of absurdity.
You say, oh Andy, you have such disdain for the Christians. Why do you want to speak to them in churches? Indeed, why do I? Why does anyone fool with this unreasonable group of people? The answer can be found in the first paragraph of this blog post. Believe it or not, I think it's entirely possible that fundamentalist Christians are nearly as powerful in this area of the country as the Nazis were in Germany during World War II.
Like it or not, (and I certainly don't) we need the Christians in order to effect change and grant gays rights in this country every bit as the blacks needed some whites to be on their side during the Civil Rights Movement. I wish some churches would let me come in and speak to a Sunday School class, if nothing else just so I could listen to what they have to say. Christians LOVE to do a lot of talking and not much listening, but that might be the only way to win some of them over. I have changed the saying, "If you can't beat them, join them." I now say, "If you can't beat them, convince them to join you." That is exactly why I would like to speak to Christian groups.
And there is nothing devious about that or about my intentions. I simply believe that if many fundamentalist Christians came to actually know some gay people in their lives, they might find that we don't have a conspiracy to take over the world. They would find that we really are good people who can have loving relationships and that God really doesn't care whether your follow Christianity's arbitrary rules or not.
If I had the chance to speak to some Christian groups, I would probably start with a discussion question like, "Tell me why being gay is wrong? Why do you think God chose to make homosexuality a sin? " Or perhaps, "How would the world be a better place without gays?" Maybe, "What would happen to Christians and to conventional marriage if gay marriage were legalized federally?" I would not ask these questions to try to trick these people, but rather to try to understand them and find some - any - common ground that we could begin working with.
Part of the problem with Christianity is that Christians tend to avoid gays like the plague, and gays hide themselves among - but also from - Christians. The only way to bridge that cap is to begin a dialogue with this unfortunately powerful group of people. We must begin that dialogue, but to be honest, I am terrified to go in and talk to them.
I feel like they would sit over me and judge me. I feel they would condescend, and I HATE being treated like a second class citizen. Perhaps at some point I will work up the courage to go and speak to them, but I think that is a long way off for me. I'm human, and yes, I'm afraid of them. I'm perhaps even more afraid of Christians than they are of me.
