I got a lot of response from yesterday’s post about gay marriage. All of it positive, but we know that’s not how everyone feels. As some of you may have heard, folk singer Michelle Shocked went off the rails at her concert on Sunday at Yoshi’s in San Francisco and expressed concerned that gay marriage would bring about the end times. She said more— some of it people in the audience considered hate speech— and the club pulled the plug on her. Since then, every concert date but one on her current tour has been cancelled by the club owners....perhaps because they disagreed with what she said or perhaps over fear that if she does that from their stages, some kind of violence may break out.
I don’t know what’s in her heart and she’s not speaking publicly until Thursday, when she’s agreed to do an interview with Nicole Sandler, but from reports that I’ve read, it almost seems like she had some kind of breakdown -- not because she doesn’t think gays should marry, that’s her opinion-- but from how she acted after, from all accounts, putting on a perfectly fine, enjoyable, first set of the evening.
But I think about what it must be like to be gay and to hear someone spout such vitriol towards you. To really believe that it will be the end of the world, literally, if you are allowed to marry. I don’t usually write about the same thing two days in a row, but it’s just been on my mind. That is inconceivable to me that anyone could ever think that just because someone were gay and decided to love differently than you and, just like you, wanted to marry the person they love, that their action could bring about the end of the world. That would be giving the gay person a little too much power, don’t you think?
Today is Chooseday Tuesday, which means I give the $10 in someone else’s name. Today, I’m giving to The Trevor Project, a national organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LBGTQ youth. Again, I don’t know for sure what point Michelle Shocked was trying to make and look forward to how she explains Sunday night's actions , but how horrible it must be to know that there are people out there who really believe, honestly in their hearts, that you are inferior because you are gay. That God loves you any less because you are gay and, somehow, therefore imperfect (the God I believe in certainly doesn’t work that way). Part of the point of this blog is to fight hate with love. I have no interest in trying to change someone else's mind on any topic. Instead, I want to put good thoughts out that will cancel out their negative thoughts. The Trevor Project does that for people.
My friend, Joel, is on the Trevor Project’s board and he just did me a big favor that helped me with Liberty Hill Foundation, the organization for which I’m on the board, so today’s $10 is in Joel’s name.
March 19: The Trevor Project
Click here to get “Causes and Effects” delivered every day to your email inbox (the subscription link now works) or enter your email in the top right corner.
78 down, 287 to go
No comments:
Post a Comment