A few weeks ago, when protesters demanded that teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity be removed from schools, I stayed home with the doors locked.
In North Perth, to the best of my knowledge, those protests did not spill over into vandalism or violence against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, but the worry was there. You may deem such worry irrational, but one of my United Church colleagues in another community received a death threat and there was vandalism at some affirming churches. Similarly, I am afraid that writing this article will put me, my spouse and my churches at risk of vandalism, hate mail or worse.
There is a large part of me that says shut up and don’t antagonize the people who believe you shouldn’t exist as a lesbian Christian minister. But, silence is complicity. Silence is erasure. Silence won’t really reduce the risk. Silence will leave young people questioning their own sexuality or gender identity feeling all alone, especially Christian young people.
Sometimes, you just have to say, “ouch!” When you suggest that it hurts children to know that there are families like mine where two women or two men love each other, it hurts. When people intentionally spread falsehoods like the idea that accepting folks using the bathroom that conforms to their gender will lead to litterboxes in schools (this is a complete hoax, Google it!), it hurts. When I hear stories about vandalism of Pride flags and churches with Pride signs, it hurts.
I am reminded of the Bible passage that says, “Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many… If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part gets the glory, all the parts celebrate with it.” (1 Corinthians 12: 12, 25) I am part of the body of Christ. Just as the hand cannot say to the foot that it does not belong, no one can say to me that I do not belong. And when I suffer, I need to let the rest of the body know. One of the more dangerous things for a body is when it becomes unable to feel pain from one or more of its parts. When that happens it is more likely to injure the part that is numb. In the same way, the community needs those who are hurting to shout “ouch!” If we don’t, then the body doesn’t know it is experiencing injury.
So today, I am saying “ouch!” because I think the community needs to know that. At the same time, I am trying to hear the protests as a cry of pain as well, even as I long for the day when those things are expressed with an “ouch” rather than an attack on others.
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Beth Kerr serves as pastor at Atwood United Church and Trinity United Church in Listowel.
