DESCRIPTION: A pastor introduces a woman to the congregation: "So, just before we vote NO on whether LGBTQ people should enjoy equal right and privileges in the Church, we're going to hear Tammy's stories of being shamed, rejected, and alienated by us for being a lesbian so that people can't say we didn't listen. Tammy?"
This cartoon is brutal.
But it is reality.
For many of our LGBTQ friends and family, reality is brutal.
This happens all the time.
I wanted to show the pastor as cool and hip with an awesome worship band setup to illustrate that even the most apparently progressive churches continue in their discrimination against LGBTQ people.
Someone will say that we shouldn't allow the feelings of others to dictate what is right and wrong.
Okay.
Then how about we allow the persecution and sufferings of others to dictate how we treat them?
"Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain" means that we all walk on the same level ground.
Or ought to.
We don't force people off into the ditch. We don't block pathways to freedom. We don't barricade roads to equality. We don't charge change for access. We don't close lanes to the privileges we enjoy.
Stop pretending to listen when it's just pretense.
These are real people who suffer because of a hateful hermeneutic.
