[Vision2020] Climate

[Joan Opyr]

Doug writes:

>Melynda was sympathetic with our situation in this because of the form she 
>is more familiar with (e.g. "Fags must die."). But you remember, don't you, 
>our church's public opposition to the Fred Phelps approach? As some of you 
>probably know, we are a church that practices church discipline -- not for 
>people who differ with the pastor, or the needy souls who send Vera our 
>emails. We practice church discipline for big ticket items like adultery 
>and auto theft. And if someone in our congregation took the "fags must die" 
>approach, we would discipline them for it, putting them out of the church 
>if they did not repent of their malice.

I think we can all agree that spitting, vandalism, and assaults on one's 
person are bad.  That said, where would you class deliberately provocative 
acts like, say, anti-gay evangelicals turning up at gay and lesbian student 
group meetings or gay and lesbian dances for the purpose of proseletyzing, 
disrupting, and/or hectoring attendees?  While evangelicals might sincerely 
believe that this is a means of offering us "a way out of sin," or, if 
they're less sincere, that it's just jolly hijinks, we in the GLBA community 
generally perceive this sort of thing as harassment.  We go to GLBA meetings 
and dances because we want a safe space in which to be ourselves.  Being 
pestered and pampheleted is at best aggravatiing, at worst, threatening.  
How can we tell who's there to convert and who's there to bash?  Especially 
since they so often spout the same rationale.

Please note: I'm not questioning evangelicals' right to attend these 
meetings or dances, and I'm certainly not questioning their right to be 
provocative.  I am all for a vigorous First Amendment.  However, there can 
be no denying that these actions create hostility and ill-feeling; if 
conversion is your goal, then this is clearly counterproductive.

Remember back in the '80s when ACT UP used to disrupt Cardinal O'Connor's 
worship services?  I didn't like that, either.

Joan

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