Elijah White

Guest Columnist

Elijah White is a recent graduate of Austin Peay University and now lives in Chattanooga.

As a gay man in Tennessee, I have never truly felt comfortable in the environment that surrounds me.

When I am with my partner, I feel the stares, the glares, the judgment as we walk by. Whether I'm in Nashville, Chattanooga, wherever, I feel the eyes of passers by on me. The minute I look at them, they dart away.

In saying that, Detective Grayson Fritts' sermon on how my community is "a bunch of freaks" who should be ultimately executed for being gay comes as unsurprising but still terrifying.

He thinks we should be arrested, tried, and executed. Just for being who we are. He calls us "Sodomites" and that we should be easy to spot because we're supposedly wearing girls' clothing and are so flamboyant.

Fritts builds wall built on fear

The beliefs of Fritts' and possibly the congregation of his church instill fear in me. A fear of not being accepted, a fear of being attacked for loving a man, a fear of possibly even being murdered by someone. Just for being me.

His sermon often talks about Leviticus 20:13 and goes on about how some Christians "cherry-pick" their beliefs out of the Bible.

To me, it certainly seems he is doing the same to convey the idea that the LGBTQ+ community is "not normal" and should be executed within a government that uses the Bible to set the precedence of the law.

The Christians who believe in a Bible that spills hate have used that to build a wall between them and the gay community instead of embracing the love that Jesus taught. I remember the last sermon that I went to, when I was a teenager, was about how the gay community was going to Hell.

It wasn't near the same ferocity as Fritts' sermon, but it seemed to purvey a clear message: that Christians wanted nothing to do with the gay community.

'I shouldn't be afraid of being myself'

Of course, my view there has changed, as I've come to learn that that is not true. Many friends and family members who are Christians accept me and my community for who we are. But after seeing Fritts' sermon, it strikes a fear in me that I've felt before, a fear that the teenage me felt.

Fritts' call for the systematic murder of LGBTQ+ individuals is honestly terrifying. Ever since I watched the video across social media, that fear of what may happen to me for just being me has grown immensely. In a country where the amount of hate crimes increases everyday, I'm at a point to where I'm afraid to show any sign that I'm gay in public.

I'm afraid to hold my partner's hand. I'm afraid to lay my head on his shoulder. I'm afraid to kiss him. I shouldn't have to be afraid to show my love and affection. I shouldn't be afraid of being myself. Yet, Detective Fritts is putting that fear back in me.

But if it's one thing that I know about the LGBTQ+ community and myself is that we are resilient. We've fought to love out loud for a long, long time. And it's going to take much more than a man spouting hate into the world to get rid of us.

Not only that, a man with those beliefs should not be a detective. Fritts should be relieved of duty. Not placed on paid leave.

Elijah White is a recent graduate from Austin Peay University’s psychology program and now lives in Chattanooga.