Testimonial

Here it is, almost October in Michigan. The nights are getting cooler and the days are not so warm any more either. I understand that autumn is in the air. That the end of summer has come. But tell me why the big maple tree in my yard is the only tree in the neighborhood that is turning color. While every tree around us is a lush dark green, my maple has turned a burning shade of red and is loosing it's leaves all over the garden and the cars. Now, before you tell me that it must be the species of tree, I present to you that the tree that was planted 200 feet away from a seed that came off from the flaming tree, is still green. What's up with that?!

At work last night, I was approached by one of my co-workers. She had been invited to another co-workers church on Thursday for what he calls a testimonial. So she asked what this testimonial was all about. He informed her that it was a young man in their congregation that had cured himself of homosexuality. That he wants to share with the world how he overcame the sin and remorse. How he is now a happy healthy and married straight man doing God's work.

I found it interesting that he is giving this testimonial to the church and not at the local gay and lesbian center. And that our co-worker chose to invite a straight woman to attend, not a gay man. You would think if he was doing God's work, he'd be trying to save me. Then it hit me. It's not about saving me or any other gay person in the world. It's about politics. If they can convince your average person that being gay is wrong, then everything that the GLBT community has worked for, for so many years can be reversed. Instead of loving everyone, like Jesus instructed, they choose to hate. Oh yeah, they'll love me and accept me, if I change my evil ways. Gay people come from straight parents. That's the way it works. If the parents don't accept a gay child, then maybe they will be able to convince that child to be straight. Why would you want to make your child suffer and hide who he or she really is? How is that loving your child? This particular church is advocating this type of behavior. They are advocating hate. In a time when there is too much bullying going on in our schools, we are teaching our children that it's OK to pick on that kid, because they are sinners and are going to die for their sins anyway. That's the cold hard truth.

At first I laughed off the mention of the invitation. But as the day wore on, it started to really bother me that this is going on right here in my own town.

I heard someone saying recently that an acquaintance had told him that the thought of homosexual sex disgusted him. I loved his reply. He told his friend that the thought of his parents having sex disgusted him but it was the ugliness of their sex that brought him in to this world, so he'll just have to live with it.