The Other News from Last Week — Hate Crimes Bill

In the excitement of last week’s announcement from the Vatican last week, quite  a few folks (me included) failed to mention something really important.

The United States Senate passed legislation making it a crime to assault someone because of their sexual orientation.

This bill, which earlier passed the House of Representatives, is on its way to the President’s desk for signature, which makes it federal law.  Unless I am mistaken, this is the first time that there is any federal law of any sweeping protection over those who are LGBT. Whether you are on the streets on New York, the suburban jungles of Connecticut, the back woods of the deep south, or in the wilds of Montana, it will be a crime to assualt anyone on the basis on their orientation just as it is because of their gender or race.

This is the camel’s nose under the tent. To quote the Arabian proverb in full, “If the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow.” It is a step to full civil equality in the eyes of the federal government.  The question is no longer “Will this happen?” but rather “When will this happen?”  and more importantly, “what can we do to hasten the day?”

Many, if not most, of us probably already live in areas where there are some similar protections or even greater benefits, so it is easy to see why this would have registered as a blip on the radar where we said “oh good!” or “it’s about time!” and moved on.

What did annoy me, though, and moved me to post about this was that I heard or read of some people saying “so what?” or “why do we need hate crimes legislation anyway?”  This is not coming from the usual sources.  I even remember reading a post on Andrew Sullivan’s blog about it … written by Andrew … you know, that conservative HIV-positive, legally married gay man.

This bill is absolutely necessary, and Americans should all rejoice at its passage.  The Episcopal Bishop of Wyoming is even attending the signing ceremony, in no small part because the bill is named for Matthew Shepard, who was beaten and left to die in October 1998.  Matthew, I understand, was a faithful Episcopalian and active in his parish.  Lest we think this bill is just about LGBT folks, I would like to remind you that James Byrd, Jr., an African American, was dragged to death that same year in Texas.

If there are any further doubts why this is necessary, consider this …

As long as racism, sexism, homophobia and heterosexism are still very much alive and well in this world, there will be a need for hate crimes legislation.

A New Way of Living: Integrity Eucharist, NYC

If anyone is interested, below is the sermon I preached at the Integrity Eucharist in NYC yesterday … After a brief word of welcome, I dived right in …

Text:  Mark 9:30-37; James 3:16 – 4:8

Anyone who has been following the news will note there is quite a rather large power struggle going on within our society.  A sizeable portion of our nation laments that the country they grew up in is not the country they’re living in today.  On many levels, they’re right. The United States today is certainly not the United States from 50s or 60s, or even 70s 80s or 90s!  Change is inevitable as history marches on.  Speaking of change, another sizeable portion of the country is saying that the change they supposedly voted for almost a year ago is not happening.  Depending on how certain bills get through Congress, they could be proven right as well. What these two sides have in common is that, rightly so or wrongly so, they are giving each other a large dose of bad press in no small part because we live in a world of instant communication, tweets, blog posts and a 24 hour news cycle. We live in a world where civil discourse has been thrown out the window, where anything can be said and anything goes.  It seems that any chance of intelligent discussion has been discarded in favor of sound bites, talking points, and over-the-top rhetoric.

The disciples get quite a bit of bad press in the Gospels.  They are shown saying inappropriate things, shooing people away from Jesus, and constantly misunderstand what Jesus is trying to tell them.  Sometimes we can see quite a bit of ourselves in the disciples.  Much too often for our liking, we can be rather slow to get the point of what Jesus is talking about or what he is doing.  The Good News, however is that if we read through to the end of the Gospels, we learn the disciples are restored, redeemed and reclaimed following the Resurrection of Christ.  Reading further into the book of Acts, we witness the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all sorts of different cultures and tribes and nations.  So then, we shouldn’t lose hope as we look at what is going on in the world.  Consider the place of African Americans, who once were required to sit in balconies during church services so as to be out of site of their white masters.  Consider the place of women, who only gained access to the discernment process and the sacrament of Holy Orders within our lifetime, and could not even vote a century ago.   And now, consider the place of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Christians and the road we are on today.  Slowly but steadily, the Church has expanded its embrace to include everyone who Jesus has already included.  It is a long road, and at times it is a hard road.  Quite frankly, I’m sure many of us have just wanted to give up and get off the road altogether!  But in the end, just like the disciples, we all get caught up in the radical welcome of grace and peace that comes of living in relationship with God.  This is a precious gift, and one that is given freely.  But, like many things worth having, it is a gift that, while it is given freely, does not come cheaply.

DOMA Appeal Introduced in US Congress

Move over DOMA, here comes RFMA (Respect for  Marriage Act).

A bill was introduced in Congress this week to allow for federal recognition of same-sex marriage.  Unless I’m wrong, though, it doesn’t force states to recognize marriages that take place elsewhere or force states to marry same-sex couples.

You can read more about it at the Huffington Post.

Oh, and by the way, the guy that introduced the legislation with an impressive 90 co-sponsors is my own Congressman, Representative Jerrold Nadler.

There is also a nifty press release on his site:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, following the introduction of the Respect for Marriage Act by Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO), the legislation has already gained key support from important corners.  Among the bill’s backers are former President Bill Clinton, who signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) into law in 1996, and former Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA), who first introduced DOMA.  They join the dozens of civil rights organizations and 91 original co-sponsors of the bill who are pushing for a full repeal of DOMA.

Today, President Clinton said: “I want to thank Congressman Nadler for his leadership on this issue, and Reps. Baldwin, Polis, Conyers, Lewis, Velazquez and Lee, for introducing the Respect for Marriage Act in the House of Representatives.  Throughout my life I have opposed discrimination of any kind.  When the Defense of Marriage Act was passed, gay couples could not marry anywhere in the United States or the world for that matter.  Thirteen years later, the fabric of our country has changed, and so should this policy.”

Today, Bob Barr said:  “I join with former President Bill Clinton in commending Rep. Jerry Nadler for introducing the ‘Respect for Marriage Act of 2009.’  This legislation would strengthen the principle that each state is free to set the definition of marriage the citizens of that state have adopted.  Rep. Nadler’s legislation would also repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, and by so doing, remove the federal government from involving itself in matters of defining ‘marriage,’ which historically and according to principles of federalism, are properly state matters and not federal.”

Deep Thought

What if we started labelling all those folks who are against gay marriage or adoption by gay couples, “anti-family?”

The Root of All Evil

Hat-tip to Balloon-Juice, my new favorite non-religious blog ….

Page One Q reports:

In a September 25th blog post titled ‘The Nation Will Right Itself If It Fixes Sex’, Christian Civil League of Maine Executive Director Michael Heath writes that the financial crisis facing Wall Street is a symptom of America’s sinful sexual culture, including the acceptance of gay unions.

“Our crisis is a symptom, not the cause,” writes Michael Heath. “I am not saying I know whether this financial crisis is God’s judgment or not. It is not for me to know that definitively.”

So once again it’s The Geeeyyys (as Sistah Girl, herself a geeeyyy calls all of us LGBT folks) that are the root of all evil in this country.  I’m sorry I thought it was the love of money.  Where did I get that from?

Look up I Timothy 6:10

More and more more I am convinced that many fundamentalists and quite a few so-called evangelicals really don’t know too much about the Bible …