Jesus loves outlaws

Jesus was an outlaw, Jesus loves outlaws. And Jesus even loves these folks too.

I know they say that ignorance is bliss, but seriously, why be ignorant?

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PS- there is no gay agenda! 

ignorance is bliss

... or at least it is for the unaware, unconscious, uncouth and unenlightened.
Yesterday at work a group of employees in another department started holding forth at a volume hard to ignore. Their topic for the day was unbelievably uneducated opinions about religion and the rapture. I just sat there shaking my head. For two reasons. One, generally talking about religion in the secular workplace is a no-no. Two, I have never heard such wacky opinions about "the rapture." Understandably this was a popular topic after that guy mispronounced the "rapture and end of the world" last Saturday (of course, now that it did not come true, he has changed is date). But, I had to let it go because, unlike the kids in that department, the adults in my department had work to do and interventions to make.
Then today at work the same employees in that other department started loudly expressing their misinformed and misguided opinions about gay people as "fact." Some of the low-lights included: "people are gay as a result of their environment," and "I know there are a lot of kids that need homes but gays shouldn't adopt." My ire was a rising... especially compounded after yesterday. I could not believe that such ignorance is still so pervasive... especially among the under 30 crowd. (This group has also offered their toxic teachings on political party issues and abortion -- doesn't seem to just be an isolated incident or two).
Again, I had too much work to perform to attempt an intervention with those half dozen people in an attempt to enlighten and edify them. I did, however, let the management know that a group of employees were creating a "hostile work environment" with their bullhorn level discussions on loaded topics. We'll have to see what happens. 

To quote a line from one of my favorite movies: "morons, your bus is leaving!" Follow the arrow to escort the ignorance out of the building. 


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Why are you gay?

One afternoon I was hanging out at a BBQ with a bunch of friends. Most of them happened to be lesbians. I don't remember how the conversation started, and I don't even remember what I said. What I do remember is at one point of the ladies interjected: "nobody chooses to be gay, you're born that way." I don't think I believed that at that point. The life(style) I was raised within made sexual orientation all about a "choice" and a "lifestyle." So, what else would I have believed about my orientation?

First, some levity on the topic.
See how you do at matching up the terms with the definitions. Pretty funny stuff!  

“In our culture, it used to be that a woman was either gay or she wasn’t. Nowadays we have so many words to describe ourselves; it would take a task force of PhDs in queer vernacular of the day, or a very skilled clairvoyant to decipher them all.”

Match the following concepts with their definitions listed below.

_ born to be a lesbian

_ converted lesbian

_ lesbian by choice

_ bisexual

_ transsexual

_ fluid sexual identity

a) a former heterosexual who finally admitted her disillusionment, dumped her husband & became a lesbian

b) a woman who possesses the yet to be found lesbian gene

c) only her surgeon knows for sure

d) a woman who has experimented with both males & females before deciding on the better sex

e) a free spirit who wants her (beef) cake and Edith, Suzie, Mary and other females too.

Now, secondly... more serious discussion on the topic. 

Why am I gay?

What’s the first answer that comes to your mind?

• I’m being tested by God to see if I’ll remain obedient and faithful.
• I’m being tempted by the enemy who wants to destroy me.
• I was born with a defect in my personality or a genetic flaw.
• Something happened to me in my childhood.
• I gave into sin because I was spiritually weak.
• I was just born gay.
• I’m not really gay. I only fell in love with a woman.

Depending on where you are in the reconciliation process your answer to the question might be different today than it was last week or last month, and different than it might be a year from now. (cont.)

I have thought about that simple proclamation from that friend at that BBQ off and on through the years. Is she right? I don't know.

A blogger friend over at the Unseen Disciple has written a thorough article on this whole ongoing debate over whether one chooses to be gay or is born gay.
Here is an excerpt, but there is much before and after this excerpt worth soaking in.

[...]“It is true that on some level, there is a choice to be gay. But it isn’t a choice about the state of affairs over which we have no control. We cannot deliberate over ends! A state of being is an end, so I cannot choose that state of being. What I can choose is my behavior. So I can choose to be unacceptable but authentic (or ‘congruent with myself’ as my friend has it), which I chose at 40, or I can choose to be acceptable but inauthentic. Ugly choice! But note I don’t choose the authenticity or the acceptability, but the paths or my actions that will promote one set or the other.

...We do make choices. We can’t escape making choices. To quote Sartre, we are condemned to be free—we cannot but choose. And as gays, we are forced to choose between authenticity and acceptability. But that’s speaking loosely. Being more careful with our terms, we are forced to choose between those actions which will promote authenticity and those which will promote acceptability.” [...]

Why are you gay?

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Just say no?

 

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Do tell!

Last night America made another step forward in the sometimes discouraging two steps forward and three steps backward dance that is the slow journey toward equality in our Country.
Back in May the House voted to repeal DADT by a vote of 234 to 194. Last night the Senate took an important step toward ending DADT by their vote of 63 to 33.
You can read about it here, here and here.
So, do tell!

The wages...

There is not a lot in this world that I would say actually surprises me. Watching Rachel Maddow's interview with David Bahati, Author Of Ugandan 'Kill The Gays' Bill, was one thing that did surprise me. I'm not sure why exactly. I mean, we all know that there is a population of people who believe that homosexuality is a behavior. And not only that, but that it is a behavior that can be changed or "cured." But a behavior that is punishable by life in prison or the death penalty?

Quote:

Rachel Maddow devoted almost half of her Wednesday show to a lengthy interview with David Bahati, author of the infamous bill in the Ugandan Parliament that calls for gay people to face life imprisonment or, in some cases, execution if they are convicted of having practiced homosexuality.

Bahati is also a member of The Family, the religious organization that carries substantial power on Capitol Hill. Before playing her interview with him, Maddow recounted some of the history of anti-gay legislation in the United States, and pointed out that they all had one thing in common: their claim that gay people were trying to "recruit" children into homosexuality. 

I really don't know what to say. At one point Rachel persistently tried to get Bahati to actually say that his bill aimed to punish homosexuality with the death penalty. She pointedly asked him what he thought about homosexuality and Bahati said "homosexuality is against God's law and was sin." Then Rachel pointedly lead him by saying "punishable by...?" Then Bahati skirted actually saying he sentenced gay people to death. Instead Bahati said "the wages if sin is death." (Do you see in that newspaper clip with the headline is the yellow "hang them"?)

There you go. Death sentence proclaimed. Other penalties for talking about homosexuality or even knowing someone who is gay are also punishable by years in prison.

Back to the point, since the wages of sin are death, what about all the other sins? What about the sins that Bahati and every other human in every single country on the planet earth has committed? Has Bahati calculated that wage? (What about the "sins" committed at the C Street House subsidized by The Family? What are their wages?)