Coming Out- LGBTQ+ Proud

I’m in favor. In fact, I’m so in favor I’d like to nominate another category to fill in the +. But first let’s look at the blessings of LGBTQ.

L is for love. Who could be opposed to love? Of course it is always helpful to define our terms. Love is, according to some, summed up in permissiveness. True love, however, does no harm. Perversion does harm. Long before it does any harm to the broader culture, it does grievous harm to those who are caught up in it. Love for these dear people means calling them to repentance, letting them know about the grace and power of the living God. So yes, most assuredly, I’m in favor of love.

G is for girls. Who could be opposed to girls? Of course it is always helpful to define our terms. Girl is, to some, anyone who thinks he or she is a girl, or who wants to present him or herself as a girl. True girl, however, is one who is born a female. Out of love for girls we don’t want to turn girlhood into a costume anyone can wear, nor do we want males put into their safe spaces, or their athletic competitions. In fact, central to human history, however clouded it might be by sin, is this, that boys protect girls. That’s why we send men off to war and women and children onto lifeboats.

B is, not surprisingly, for boys. Who could be opposed to boys? Of course, it is always helpful to define our terms. Well, you get the picture. Boys are those who are born male. Out of our love for boys we don’t want them to be looked down upon as the root of the world’s problems. We don’t want them deluding themselves into thinking they are girls. We want to see them encouraged in their callings as providers, husbands and fathers.

TQ is for top quality. Who could be opposed to top quality relationships between husbands and wives? Of course, it’s always helpful to define our terms. Top quality relationships between husbands and wives is defined by husbands loving their wives as Christ loves the church and wives submitting to husbands as the church is to submit to Christ. There is surely more to it, but when Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, this is what he emphasized.

Which brings us to the +. I’d like to fill in that vague and amorphous, almost-all-things-are -acceptable with something clear, distinct and utterly unacceptable- h. H is for homophobic. Who could be against people objecting to sexual perversion? Just about the whole world, that’s who. Of course it is helpful to define our terms. By homophobic we do not mean what the roots in the word actually mean, an irrational fear of homosexuality. What those who oppose it mean by it is any form of disapproval of homosexuality. What we mean by it is embracing a biblical view of sexuality.

The reason I believe we should include homophobia in our list of people who need support is that there is no demographic in the west more hated and despised. We homophobes, who simply wish to live our lives in peace, who were in fact born this way, who ask nothing more of the homo-phil world that we be respected for what we are, are the constant target of cultural derision, legal prejudice and even violence. I know many homophobes who are in the closet for just this kind of hatred. Why shouldn’t they march proudly in an anti-gay parade, just like those marching proudly in a pro-gay parade? It’s a complete double standard. Even publishing this brief piece could, as others have, spark various threats of violence from the privileged of this world, the rainbow coalition and their fellow-travelers. It could likewise bring down the shadow ban.

That’s okay. By His grace I live under the cover of His rainbow.

That said, let me encourage my fellow H’s to come out of the closet. It is dangerous, but it is freeing. You just may be surprised how many of your family and friends are secret members of this oppressed tribe. They can hate you, mock you, threaten you, sue you, arrest you and kill you. But they can’t change who you are. Live free. Live proud.