I write today in response to the thoughts and concerns raised by Pastor Doug Bryce in "As a pastor, same-sex issue is a difficult one" (April 28).
I am thankful for Pastor Doug's spirit of empathy, sincere concern, desire to find common ground and his passion to maintain diverse relationships. Pastor Doug is a fine pastor and an example of someone who has struggled with integrity in discerning how to respond to an issue, same-sex marriage, that has risen with no small amount of pain to the top of our cultural landscape.
First, let me be clear. I come from a point of view informed by my identity and training as a pastor, as a lawyer and as a human rights advocate. In my case, notwithstanding a view to the contrary for many years, I have come to believe passionately that what our sacred scriptures, our secular constitutions and our sensible consciences have to say about human dignity, human nature, companionship, relationships, marriage and community all point to the essential legitimacy of human rights and responsibilities and that these rights and responsibilities are epitomized in that most beloved and honored human capacity: love -- love that is not bound by heterosexuality, love being, for the believer, the essence of God's nature, love that can be seen as the commitment to care for the well-being of the beloved, a well-being which in society is articulated, organized, promoted, protected and enforced by our concepts of rights and responsibilities.
The forbearance of rights that pastor Doug alludes to is an option for any given individual relative to their own rights. To insist that someone else be denied the equal and fair protection of their human dignity can not be said, in my view, to be either Christian or civil or sensible.
Civil rights are one manifestation of justice, and justice, some say, is what love looks like in what Martin Luther King, Jr. called "beloved community" and what Jesus called the "reign of God."
I fully support the right of our friends of whatever sexual orientation to enter into the covenant of committed love called marriage. I am part of the loyal opposition in my denomination. Thank you, Pastor Doug, for contributing to the dialogue. It's the right thing to do.
