No, Bert and Ernie Did Not "Come Out of the Closet"

It's just the wishful thinking of a graphic artist.

The New Yorker just published a magazine cover that depicted Bert and Ernie watching the Supreme Court (who had just declared DOMA to be unconstitutional) on TV while Ernie lays his head, affectionately on Bert's shoulder. These two guys live together, so they must be gay, right?

Of course, this has garnered all kinds of reactions, but it's most important to point out that Sesame Street denies this interpretation, saying that Bert and Ernie have no sexual orientation, whatsoever. Some LGBT enthusiasts have long desired to see these two as a gay couple, but it's nothing more than slash fiction. On the cover of the New Yorker.

Bert and Ernie teach kids about friendship - can't that be enough? Can't we even watch a puppet show without politicizing it?

A Space of Grace

I'd like to say I planned this post to be as timely as it is, but I mostly live under a rock called Grad School. Ask the person I had this conversation with yesterday:

"Man, Facebook is blowing up today."

"Really? Why? What happened?"

[incredulous look] "Gay marriage."

"Oh yeah." I shrug and go back to grading papers; make a mental note to stay off Facebook for 24, no make it 48 hours just to be safe; promptly forget.

That this post is timely is pure coincidence, or not; you choose.

About a week ago, my friend Julie wrote about the grace she experienced from a rather controversial place. I asked her if I could highlight it here because I value the fresh dialogue she opened up about conservative Christians and homosexuals. This nuance is perhaps particularly important this week as so many who call themselves Christians are proving the sad stereotypes true. I hope this story of grace will challenge all of us to act and speak and better yet, listen, with grace toward one another.

A Space of Grace: The Truth about Many Ex-gay Ministries

I had breakfast this morning with the man who’s been the single most influential person in my life outside of my family. His name is Ricky Chelette, and he’s the Executive Director of Living Hope Ministries. I met Ricky when I was 16 years old, and he was just a Baptist minister who mentored kids like me in his free time. About 5 years later, he became the director of Living Hope, which is an Exodus member ministry and could be referred to as an “ex-gay” ministry” (since that misleading term is often used to refer to ministries associated with Exodus).

These ministries have been flogged by the media for the past several years, vilified as an oppressive movement of people who are devoted to making gay people straight. Some of that criticism has been necessary—there have been ministries who have been judgmental, oppressive, and downright abusive at times. Many of them deserved to be vilified. I’m concerned, however, by the way all ministries seeking to walk with people in this manner are lumped together and caricaturized for the whole world to mock. You clearly haven’t been told the whole story.

Read more.

Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality

This book was recommended to me by a friend in the business of recommending good books, and once again, her recommendation has turned out to be one of the most important books I've read this year.

Washed and Waiting is, at its most basic level, a spiritual memoir of a gay Christian who does not believe the Bible's prohibition of homoerotic sex is outmoded or culturally bound---he believes homoerotic sex is a sin. At the same time, however, Hill's experience as a homosexual Christian does not jive with the metanarrative from other theologically conservative Christians that same-sex attraction is a choice that can be changed.* Hill, therefore, practices celibacy.

Here are the reasons I found Washed and Waiting so important:

1. Understanding. Conservative Christians are generally told homosexuality is a choice that can be changed or a coping mechanism that can be healed. While this is true for some, it is not true for all or even most people who experience unwanted same-sex attraction. It's time we stop being so one-dimensional, which generally leads to a lack of understanding and therefore a certain lack of empathy.
2. Empathy. As a spiritual memoir of sorts, Washed and Waiting provides heterosexuals the human super power of walking in an other's shoes. Even for those who can skip number one on this list, the glimpse of the immense and unrelenting loneliness and frustration Hill experiences is invaluable.
3. Relief. For those with similar stories to the author's, Hill's brave telling of his story is an affirmation and encouragement, if nothing else, that they are not alone.
4. Challenge. Washed and Waiting ends with an afterword from Kathryn Greene-McCreight who challenges the church: "Can we [heterosexual Christians] continue to ignore the isolation these brothers and sisters experience within the body of Christ?" The answer, of course, is no.

For a well organized and more in-depth review of Washed and Waiting, click here.


*Neither of these points is up for debate in this post, the goal of which is simply to point to one book; anything else would be beyond the scope and therefore counterproductive here.

Christians Don't Hate Gays

This burns me up to no end.

I've gone to a lot of churches. Small intimate ones (30-40 in attendance) and exciting mega-churches (with 6,000 each Sunday). I've never met anyone who hated Gay people. I've never been told to hate gays. I've read the Bible front and back and it simply does not teach hatred. In fact, quite the opposite.

I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church in Paris, Tx. It was traditional, old-fashioned, and not very edgy. (It was difficult for the older crowd when a kid showed up with something shaved into the back of his head.) But the most important teaching I ever received about homosexuals came from this church.

I was a young man (middle school?) and had only a little understanding of what homosexuality was. We had two television channels in our town so I probably learned about this from watching shows like Picket Fences. Anyway, in every TV show involving gays an entire society would be nervous and uncomfortable about the new guy in town and his alternative lifestyle. I learned from the television that I was expected to treat homosexuals with caution. I didn't understand why.

Later, in church, Pastor Fortenberry told us about a congregation that had shown love to a local gay man by befriending him instead of shunning him. They did not shove a Bible down his throat and did not treat him differently. On TV, gays were treated with hostility, but in my church I was being taught to show them love. Every time I have heard about homosexuality in church it has been a repetition of this same teaching; within Christianity there seems to be solidarity here.

I know that there are exceptions. I know that there have been some fools who have used the Bible to justify their hatred, but I grew up in the Bible belt and have yet to meet one of these rare individuals. The church is not the enemy of the homosexual community and every Christian must work hard to overcome the hateful image we have unfairly been given.