I’ve been exchanging e-mails with a pastor who believes the Belmont soccer coach deserved to be canned. I just sent him this e-mail—it speaks to my views 100 percent, so I decided to run it …
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There is nothing wrong with being gay. Nothing. I don’t care what the Bible says. I don’t care what priests say or pastors say. Some of the most loving, most decent, most compassionate, most moral people I know are gays. Some of the best parents I know are gay. In this case, the Bible is just wrong, and the fact that this text has allowed people (like yourself) to deem people immoral and sinful based on their sexual identity is unforgivable. You, and your ilk, are largely responsible for the sheer unhappiness of hundreds of thousands of gay and lesbian Americans who feel as if they must hide their identities. Make no mistake—THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Do you know the suicide rate among gay teens? It’s staggering. Not because they’re immoral, I assure you, but because they have been told they’re immoral—over and over and over again. Just what about gays make them immoral? Anal sex? A woman going down on another woman? What? Quite frankly, if my kids tell me one day they’re gay, I’ll be as happy as if they were straight. I don’t care—my concern is that they live happy, healthy, charitable, decent lives. Whether they love men or women matters not—just as long as they love, and are loved. But that’s not good enough for you. You read in a book that gays are sinful, and therefore they are. A respected college coach tells her team that her partner is expecting a child (a child they’re planning on raising as a family), and you believe the right thing to do is fire her? Would Jesus Christ support you on this? Would he really? No. No way, Sir. You’ve done a lot of lecturing these past few e-mails. I’d suggest some genuine introspection. Instead of solely relying on a book, rely on judgment. Speak with gay parents. See how they’re raising their children. See how they live. And love. If you still consider their lives to be immoral, well, there’s no helping you, I fear.
As you’d say, God bless … Jeff
