Many of you are aware of the photos people are having produced to denounce the passage of Prop 8 here in California. Graig, one of our straight allies contributing much to San Francisco’s gay scene, had such a photo done with his son (above). When he posted the photo to Facebook, he received a condemning message. His response is excellent. This all speaks for itself so enjoy and share with others! It is quite eloquent.
A stranger wrote a facebook message to me in regard to my NoH8 picture. Here is the dialogue from Graig’s Facebook page. It speaks for itself.
Ginger Reddell wrote:
How sad you have your child pose for something he has no idea what it stands for, this country is a disgrace if you think that same sex marriage is normal you need to seek the truth and the truth will set you free. Remember Jesus loves you.
My response:
Ms. Reddell,
I appreciate your comments, as I enjoy discussing this subject, and I’m happy to explain my views to you.
First, as responsible parents, we have an obligation to guide our children down a moral path that we feel is best for them until they reach a level of maturity to choose such a path for themselves. For example, I would guess that you made your children attend church services before they truly understood what Christianity stood for, before they understood that there are hundreds of other religious beliefs to choose from or that there is a mountain of scientific evidence that stands in opposition to religious belief altogether.
Further, wouldn’t you agree we can’t give our children complete free will to choose what they wish to do? My son doesn’t understand the importance of eating his vegetables, but I make him do it anyway.
These arguments aside, however, the truth is that my son DOES understand what this picture stands for. Nearly all children from an incredibly early age understand the importance of fairness, that people should be treated equally. What’s unfortunate is that, for most, these intrinsic values are eventually torn away and replaced by religious indoctrination.
I’ll close by asking you to reflect on Jesus’ love. The Bible teaches that the only path to salvation is a belief in Jesus Christ (John 3:16-18 – “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned”). For those who don’t believe, the Christian God feels that an appropriate punishment is an eternity of enslavement and torture. Of the roughly 6.7 billion people alive today, two-thirds, or about 4.5 billion, are not Christians and face an eternity of brutal torture. What sort of love is that? What sort of person must you be to wish Christianity to be true in the face of such a cruel understanding of the fate of most people? I would hope that even if someone could prove to me that Christianity was true, I would have the moral fortitude to reject it, on the grounds that I refuse to follow any teaching that would impose such an immoral punishment upon even one single person.
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On another note, Graig also isn’t too bad to look at…for a straight guy:
