Reply #21: The ELCA is in a tough spot here [View All]

Say yes to gay rights, and they will probably lose most of their rural and many suburban parishes, especially after the Republicanites have put so much energy into demonizing GLBT people, and this denomination is heavily based in rural areas and suburbs in the Midwest. Given the demographics of the rural Midwest, many rural Lutherans are elderly.

Say no to gay rights, and they will be condemned in the GLBT community, and rightfully so, because they are going against their own doctrine that God loves all people equally.

Two churches in Minneapolis have already been censured by the national church for accepting non-celibate gay clergy.

We're dealing with a rural-urban gap here. If you talk to someone who comes from a place (or an era) where all the gays and lesbians are closeted, it's genuinely hard for them to understand why all the gay people just can't turn straight.

My mother is over eighty, and after marrying my stepfather, a musician, twelve years ago, she first met "out" gay people. "Why do they have to do that? Aren't there enough nice women around?" I tried to explain, but she's had a hard time getting her mind around it after all those decades of social conditioning. However, she thought that the Republicans were crazy to emphasize gay-bashing when the country faced so many serious problems, so she voted for Kerry.