Last acceptable bigotry

A year ago I bought the book Shaping Sanctuary: Proclaiming God's Grace in an Inclusive Church, edited by Kelly Turney. I was reminded I should take it off my bookshelf and at least look in it when the newsletter from Reconciling Ministries Network suggested it as an important resource for helping a congregation become more tolerant of the different. It has contributions from a large number of people of examples of every aspect of a service. It even includes order of worship for World AIDS Day, those who have died of AIDS, same-sex commitment ceremonies, and even ceremonies for changing a name after switching genders.

One of the introductory sermons talks about the last acceptable bigotry. The sermon is by Bishop Paul Wennes Egertson and includes this excerpt from an anonymous high school student in Massachusetts, as reported in the Winter 1999 issue of Open Hands.

Nobody tells Latino kids in the high school that nobody cares if they're Hispanic as long as they keep it to themselves. Jewish kids aren't told that they're sinners and they could change into Christian if they wanted to. People don't tell Black kids they should put up with racism because they've come so far from when they were slaves. They don't have to defend why there is a Black History Month, or why people want Black studies included in the curriculum. People don't say, "That's so Korean!" when they mean something is stupid or weird. People don't tell disabled kids that the community isn't ready to defend their equal rights and inclusion yet. You never hear anyone argue that breast cancer is God's way of killing off women, or that it's a good thing. If a teacher hears anyone use a slang insult for a Chinese kids, they jump on it. When foreign exchange students ask teachers about dating in school, they aren't sent to the guidance counselor.

But every day in the high school I hear its okay if I'm gay so long as I stay in the closet, and that I'm an abomination against God, that I can change if I want to, and that people like me shouldn't be taught about in school. I'm told that I should be satisfied because our school is far better than it used to be, and that I shouldn't push for my equal rights and inclusion because the community isn't ready yet. I hear, "That's so Gay!," all the time, and I hear that AIDS is my punishment for being who I am, and I hear the word faggot all the time. It’s hard not to walk around angry all the time.