Last week, former ELCA presiding bishop Herb Chilstrom asked questions of church leaders opposed to the gay friendly policies of the ELCA. Although the former bishop has taken much abuse for his comments, no critics have offered a response to the question that lingers.
What will you say to your sons and daughters, sisters and brothers and others in your churches when they tell you they are homosexual?
Let me expand the question to include the youth of your community. What influence and effect do your church’s policies have on the gay youth in your community? Do you add to their angst or is your church a sanctuary?
Here in Minnesota, the question has become critical with three gay teen suicides in the last year in a single school district. Today, I received an email about the crisis in gay teen suicides, which I reprint below in its entirety.
One suicide is one too many.
But three suicides in one year, within one school district, all by students who are gay or lesbian? That’s nothing short of an epidemic, and it’s the problem currently facing Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin school district.
The most recent incident occurred in July, when a 15-year-old student took his own life. A concert cello player in his school’s orchestra, the student was incessantly bullied because of his sexual orientation.
“I’m not asking you to accept this as a lifestyle for you,” his grieving mother recently said in testimony before the Anoka-Hennepin school board. “I’m only asking that you please make the school safe for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students still alive and in this district today.”
Statistics underscore the danger to LGBT students. Nationwide, gay youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual classmates, in large part because of toxic environments where anti-gay bullying can thrive. Nearly 90% of gay students have experienced harassment in school, and almost two-thirds say they feel unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Yet in the Anoka-Hennepin school district, a “neutrality” policy has tied the hands of school administrators and teachers to combat homophobia. This policy was put in place due to the influence of anti-gay groups such as the Parents Action League, which believes homosexuality is a behavior that can be cured, and it requires teachers and school officials to remain silent about subjects pertaining to sexual orientation.
Because of this anti-gay influence, the school board turned down a request by Minnesota’s largest gay rights organization to conduct a district-wide anti-bullying program. And it prevented the district from taking action against two teachers who harassed a student believed to be gay until an investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights intervened and punished the teachers.Stopping the harassment of people based on their sexual orientation shouldn’t be a liberal or conservative issue. It’s a humanitarian issue, and can literally be a matter of life and death.
The only way to fight the suicide trend in the Anoka-Hennepin school district is by changing the climate in the district. Call on the Anoka-Hennepin school board to stop ignoring the problem and end the policy that prevents school officials from effectively dealing with anti-gay bullying.
Suicide doesn’t occur in a vacuum. As we commemorate National Suicide Prevention Week this week, let us remember that we all have influence over the environment in which harassment thrives. If we sit idly by and do nothing, we’re part of the problem.
Our churches are a significant component of that environment. What message does your church convey to the youth in your community? Amidst all the negative and esteem shattering messages emanating from too many churches, the ELCA should be a beacon of inclusivity and hope, bearers of good news and not of judgment. Our ELCA congregations should be in the forefront of creating a safe environment in our schools and communities, and our church leaders should be leading advocates for the bullied and bruised. If we fail in these responsibilities, we are, indeed, part of the problem.
What a sad commentary. We as parents and grandparents have our hands full trying to guess the mental health of our kids anyway. Does this mean that any kid who is somewhat feminine and likes music will be teased and called gay even if he just isn’t ready to date girls yet ? Teens are so vulnerable anyway and it doesn’t take much to make them want to give up. Is it that parents of known gay and lesbian students who are being bullied should avail themselves of virtual schools ? I don’t know the answer but as an educator now retired I do know how mean kids can be to other kids and grown people can be mean to other grown people. I am not sure what the answer is because any time a child is labeled, others may take advantage of the label. At this point , I am not sure most churches are ready to deal with this.
How many of you out there have read any medical literature about homosexuality ? It would seem, not many. While there is a difference of opinion in the medical community as to whether homosexually is a genetic mutation or simply a variation in the way the genes line up, I think it would help some of the teens to be told that science believes that this is genetic and/or biological and that they are as they are. When the church gets involved, often science is a no-no or many pastors and other church people don’t know much about science. By the way is the world round or does the sun go around the earth? These were opinions in the church at some time.
“By the way is the world round…?” I’ve come to see that ‘orthodox’ people often think that fidelity to Christianity means maintaining the pre-modern worldview despite all the evidence; with consequences ranging from silly (6000 year old earth) to personally tragic (indirect complicity in the suicides described in this article). I looked at my calendar recently and noticed it was 2010; I wish the church at large would discover what has been learned in the last 600 years and make some adjustments.
I would really love to see some of the folks who have been hell-bent on leaving the ELCA address this issue. I’ve tried asking Pastor Jeff about it, but he sidesteps the question. Every single one of our churches has LGBT youth in it. Every one.
Just chiming in again to say how disappointed I am that folks have avoided this topic. I really think this is *the* key issue in the insanity surrounding CWA 09.
@Ann
I couldn’t agree more. We can argue Biblical interpretation and moral theology, but then we miss the real point, which is how do we witness to the gays amongst us? First and foremost, this is a human issue. Frankly, the notion of “hate the sin but love the sinner” is not a satisfactory response that actually does more harm than good. (insert a collective rolling of the eyes here) Reparative therapy even moreso. (insert a collective shudder) And then there is the whole gay community outside the church–what do they think Christianity stands for? What message are we sending? “Here, let me clobber you over the head with our holy book, one more time, does that make you feel better? Ready to join now?”
@Obie Holmen
First of all Amen.
I have been reading parts of the last Discover magazine about how far science has come in the last 30 years. It seems that they have barely scatched the surface of the human genome project. As soon as someone even mentions something like that it seems that every science fiction movie or TV show or even some sci-fi books come to mind. The vision of the mad scientist comes to mind or the vision of the mad psychologist comes to mind. Now the Nazis tried some things that we don’t want to see repeated and there is always potential for misuse but could it be that the popular view of science is science fiction and that is what is influencing conservative Christians ?