Bishop V. Gene Robinson speaks at Middle Collegiate Church’s Pride and Passion conference in the East Village. Also pictured, from left: the Rev. Erin Swensen, Bishop John Selders and Dr. Jacqui Lewis.
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By TRENTON STRAUBE
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Middle Collegiate Church’s annual Pride and Passion conference explored the volatile intersection of homosexuality and theology. The East Village church’s two-day event, which included workshops and lectures, couldn’t have been more timely. The same week in November, thousands of New Yorkers protested a local Mormon church and rallied against California’s gay marriage ban Proposition 8.
As the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church, New Hampshire’s V. Gene Robinson knows first-hand the religious wrath often directed at the LGBT community. His 2003 election has split the national church.
“Even nonreligious people have to deal with religion on the issue of LGBTI rights [the ‘I’ stands for ‘intersex’],” he said. “In no other civil rights movement that I know of has scripture played such a roll. We ignore that at our own peril.”
Middle Collegiate Church—part of the Reformed Church of America—has long embraced its LGBTI congregants. “We also have classes about human sexuality,” said the Rev. Jacqui Lewis, the church’s senior minister. “We talk about faith and sexuality because we think it’s a gift from God.”
At Middle Collegiate Church, Robinson delivered a talk titled “Dancing in the Temple: Why Religion Matters in Our Fight for Equality,” and he engaged in an hour-long Q&A session and also spoke with The Blade. The following excerpts—in his words—are highlighted topics from the bishop’s exchanges.
Misogyny and Gay Rights. Part of the resistance to gay equal rights is ultimately about the beginning of the end of patriarchy. The connections between misogyny and heterosexism are astounding. The classic defense against gay bashing is, “He made a pass at me.” Can you imagine if we locked up every man who ever made a pass at a woman? But if you treat another man as a woman, well, we take a baseball bat to your head.
A very common thing in the ancient world when one army conquered another was raping and pillaging. But the raping was of another man—one of the most degrading things you could do to a man was treat him like a woman.
In the Leviticus passage [thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind], the sin seems to be for the man to allow himself to be treated as a woman. There seems to be evidence that the insertive partner did not receive the same punishment.
Homophobia vs. Heterosexism. I almost never use the term homophobia. Most people understand phobias as fears. And a lot of people say they don’t fear us at all—they just hate us. What we are really talking about is heterosexism. Let’s review what an “–ism” is: prejudice plus power. Racism is when white people set the system up to benefit themselves at the expense of others. What I like about using the word heterosexism is that it puts responsibility where it belongs.
The Opposite of Love. One of the principles I operate on is that the opposite of love is not hate, it’s fear. I try to remember that [anti-gay people] are coming from a place of fear. The more hateful they sound, the more fearful they are. What I try to do with detractors is figure out what it is they’re afraid of.
Generally speaking, with the exception of LGBTI people, most people have sailed into a sexual identity without ever having to look at themselves. The ability to just move into already established patterns without soul-searching or self-exploration is a comfort that a lot of people don’t want to give up
What the Bible Says About Homosexuality. The first thing to remember is that the whole notion of sexual orientation is a modern concept. Those seven verses [used to condemn gay people] in the Bible do refer to same-sex activity, but it is a complete misnomer to think they apply to sexual orientation. Some new translations actually use the term “homosexual.” This is egregious. The second thing is that the word “abomination,” which is so powerful in this debate, did not mean the same thing it means today. It was used in reference to holiness codes, a list of rules for the Hebrews to distinguish themselves from surrounding hostile cultures [other abominations included eating shellfish and wearing cloth of two different fabrics].
Blacks vs. Gays. One of the ways the oppressor wins and keeps winning is to get the oppressed to fight each other instead of fighting them. And have we not seen that in the days since the election! It’s a brilliant strategy to get the African Americans fighting with the LGBTI community. But there is not a racial divide on this issue—there is a religious divide. That’s why one of our real challenges before us is for religious voices to be heard loud and clear on this issue.
Marriage Equality. If we can separate the civil r-i-g-h-t from the religious r-i-t-e, we would be much further off. When people go to weddings, you don’t know when the civil part ends and the religious part begins. The clergy serve as agents of the state. If we can separate them, we’d have a much easier time saying everyone deserves this civil right. Then people of faith can take as long as they want—or never!—to bless it. Right now, our call for marriage equality feels like an attack on religion.
Is Being Gay a Choice? A lot of people think that if they can convince people that [being gay] wasn’t a choice, they’d be on our side. Let’s be very careful going down that road. First of all, why should it matter? So what if it is a choice? Second of all, I’ve known some women whose experience with men was so horrendous that they said, “I’m not going to be with a man.” And I want to honor that. I think people choosing how they want to be in the world and who they want to love might be a bigger thing.
LGBTQI etc. About the time we run out of letters for categories to put people in, it will dawn of us that God affirms each of us as we are wonderfully made. Where we’re headed is that we are as many sexualities as we are people.
‘Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin’ Philosophy. There are people called to celibacy, but it is a seldom-used calling. I think the ‘it’s okay to be gay as long as you don’t act on it’ is a way for bigoted people to sound tolerant. Because, to state the obvious, sexuality is so much a part of who we are.
Book of Acts, Chapter 3. One of my favorite stories in all of scripture is when Peter and John are teaching at a temple in Jerusalem and they pass a man sitting at what’s called The Beautiful Gate. He was born lame and is brought there every day and told to sit and beg. He calls out for money, and Peter says, “Look, we don’t have money, but what we have we give you. In the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk!” And he begins to leap and dance—right into the temple where somewhere deep in his heart he knew he belonged all along.
That is our story. We have been told we can come this far, but no further, that we have something in us that makes us unworthy of God’s word. We know what it’s like for somebody to reach out and touch us.
Let’s not be discouraged by all the crap coming our way. Let’s understand that we are onto something. We understand it. And you know what? The people fighting us do too. And so do you and I: It’s the full inclusion of all of God’s people in the church. We’re only arguing over time.
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