I am a Columbia resident who has faced discrimination for being queer, specifically at my church. Speakers at the church said that younger people are turning gay because it’s a trend and preached about a woman turning “straight” after converting her life to Christianity. These were two separate incidents that took place over the span of three months. What needs to change is less hate speech in the church against LGBTQ+ people.
When the speaker at my church said if you believe in the Bible you can “turn straight,’ I felt like there was no point in living and like a pawn destined for failure. I felt like I had no point in life, but I could have had it worse. Speech that occurs in places like my church drives LGBTQ+ people to attempt suicide. According to the Trevor Project, “One study of LGBTQ young adults ages 18–24 found that parents’ religious beliefs about homosexuality were associated with double the risk of attempting suicide in the past year.”
There are also no laws that protect LGBTQ+ rights from this discrimination in the Constitution. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech.” But there is a difference between speech and hate speech.
Hate speech is defined in Oxford Constitutional Law as “abusive or threatening speech or writing that expresses prejudice against a particular group, especially on the basis of race, religion or sexual orientation.”
Abuse is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the cruel or violent treatment of someone.”
These definitions are important. When people tell me that my sexuality is a trend, that can be abusive because it harms me and other LGBTQ+ folks by making them feel stripped of their identity. Then, according to my experience, there doesn’t seem like there is a point to living. Why live when no matter how hard you try, you will either live a miserable life or be an abomination? That is why so many religious LGBTQ+ folks commit suicide –– because the verbal and mental abuse makes them feel like they are worthless.
I interviewed Alex Mayorga, a fellow Christian at MU, about acceptance in the church.
“I think more churches treat minorities with respect nowadays; personally I think that is our job to get people closer to God instead of making them leave the church.” Christians do have good intentions of truly helping those in need. However, my point is to show Christians that the system they’re in can still be used wrongly and cause more harm than good. I want to help other Christians realize this so the Christian community can strengthen under love, something I believe God would truly love.
To the person who spoke at the church I attend: I hope you truly take the message of loving thy neighbor into consideration and put yourself in my shoes. I would like you to imagine that the place that is supposed to make you feel the safest tells you that your identity is a sin and a fake. How would you feel?
Edited by Cayli Yanagida, cyanagida@themaneater.com