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Last night, my wife and I had the immense pleasure of seeing Dan Savage address various topics and questions at his “Savage Love Live!” show at Colorado College. While I am a HUGE fan and supporter of Mr. Savage’s sex advice column and “It Gets Better Project“, my wife didn’t know much about him previous to the show, but found herself laughing uproariously right off the bat, and I could tell Mr. Savage had a new fan!

While most of the questions Mr. Savage fielded from the audience were of the fun and naughty variety, there were a few very emotionally charged moments where I thought he really shined, and I found my “social justice blood-pressure” rising many times throughout the evening. But there was one comment Mr. Savage made in particular that REALLY made my blood-pressure sky-rocket regarding the national battle for gay marriage-equality and acceptance:

“Tony Perkins (Family Research Council) controls the way in which Christianity is seen as anti-gay because liberal Christians acquiesce to his language and rhetoric.” – Dan Savage, “Savage Love Live!“, Armstrong Hall Auditorium, November 28, 2012.

Man, that got me hot! As a very proud and progressive “liberal Christian”, I found it almost insulting that he would insinuate that some how I was “allowing” the hateful bigotry of someone like Tony Perkins to dominate the national debate.

I don’t believe anything close to what Tony Perkins believes! I march in support of Gay Pride Parades, my church is open and affirming to LGBTQ individuals, couples and families, and I have written more than a few times about the topic of homosexuality in the bible, and how Christianity is getting the topic of “gay is sin” all wrong. I cover my Facebook profile in pro-equality images and posts…

So, what is it I am doing again, Mr. Savage, to “acquiesce” to the language of Tony Perkins???

Well, I clearly didn’t ask that question, and I didn’t get an answer back, but that’s okay, I still can feel the answer anyway:

As long as I continue to think that that I am somehow doing “my part” by simply not supporting the Family Research Council’s policies publicly, nor donating any money to any cause or organization that might fund the FRC, I am STILL acquiescing to Tony Perkin’s language and the FRC’s policies.

As long as I still feel Tony Perkins is talking about “them”, and not “me”, I am STILL acquiescing to Tony Perkin’s language and the FRC’s policies.

As long as I allow the national perception of Christianity to remain predominantly an “anti-gay” one, I am STILL acquiescing to Tony Perkin’s language and the FRC’s policies. There is no phrase more impotent than, “Well they may think that way, but I don’t think that way…”

As long as the popular assumption is that by my being a follower of Christ I am probably anti-gay, then I am STILL acquiescing to Tony Perkin’s language and the FRC’s policies.

And as long as I continue to allow Christ’s name and teachings to be soiled and blasphemed by such hateful language as that used by Tony Perkins and the FRC, then I am not a Follower of The Way, I am simply a spineless hypocrite.

Christ stood as one with the outcasts and the downtrodden, the hated and the fearful. Loving, compassionate Christians everywhere must stand up to misguided souls like Perkins and in ever increasing numbers and solidarity, we must take back the Christian identity from the intolerant Religious Right. As long as they speak out against any child of God, even the least among us, we are not fit to be Followers of The Way until we have made the compassionate, tolerant and welcoming voice of Christ the national tenor of Christianity again!

All are God’s children. All are entitled to the same equal rights under the law. The right to love. The right to the pursuit of happiness. And most importantly, the right not to be afraid.

So today, I would ask any of you out there who are not gay, but who happen to be Christian and supportive of the fight for equal-rights for LBGTQ people to pray often and sincerely upon the following quote until you no longer feel separate from this fight:

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that. The time is always right to do what is right. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.

Amen!