By Believe Out Loud

This week the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) made a choice to uphold their anti-LGBT policy. The number of Former Eagle Scouts continues to climb.  More than 13 Eagle Scouts gave up their hard earned awards and vowed to not associate with the BSA until the policy changed.  Each of these Former Eagle Scouts wrote a letter to the BSA administration. You can read their letters here.

We posted this story to our Facebook page on Wednesday. Here is a comment someone posted in response:

“When my two older brothers turned in their Eagle badges, after I was thrown out of the scouts at the age of 11 for being a little to effeminate. It made me cry to finally know that the two men that meant the world to me, would always be there for me. I congratulate every scout that made that decision. I know some think we ought to leave it to their business, but I adored my time in the scouts and at least for me that act when I was 11 was my first taste with homophobia and regardless if I was gay or not, so many young boys have now also know that feeling.”

This week there has been a lot of discussion surrounding Chick-Fil-A’s anti-LGBT and Traditional Marriage stances. People have suggested that we boycott Chick-Fil-A restaurants.  The idea being we should not financially support a company that does that support the LGBT community or equal rights.  While boycotting Chick-Fil-A might sound like a good idea to some people, we should also ask ourselves, how would Jesus handle this situation.

This week we posted a blog entry that talked about this very issue. You can read the blog post here. The blog entry talked about how to show Chick-Fil-A love inspite of their anti-LGBT stance. One way would be to “turn the other cheek”, as Jesus did frequently. There were many Facebook comments stating how people could not understanding how we could show them love. Here is one Facebook comment that explains it well:

“Just a reminder, “turning the other cheek” doesn’t necessarily mean letting someone do whatever they want to you. There’s one interpretation that says that, if you look at the social mores/code of the ancient Mediterranean/MidEast, it’s a bid for equality. Someone superior would strike someone of lower social position with the back of the right hand (right = moral authority, clean purposes). It was saying that the person is not worthy to be attacked as an equal- it’s something a master does to a servant. If the “servant” gives the other cheek, the attacker has 2 options: strike with the open palm (indicating that the person is an equal) or use their left hand to backhand-strike the person (an unclean act – the aggressor is in the wrong).”

I like this explanation because it shows that Jesus was on the side of social justice, fighting for the outcast.

This week we posted a picture of a beautiful butterfly with a caption that read, “Just when the caterpillar thought its life was over, it became a butterfly”. This picture had many comments in response to it. Here is one of those comments:

“I love it! Thanks for being real Christians and welcoming ALL people! It is appreciated.”

This week we posted a picture of two people holding a sign that said, “Clergy for Same-Sex Marriage”. Here is a comment someone posted in response to the picture:

“Thankfully I can put my pastors behind that sign!! So blessed to have found my progressive church!”

I love it when people find a church that is a good fit for them, and especially when that church is on the fore-front of equality for all.

Lastly, here we have three comments from three people that love our Facebook page and our mission:

“thank you for proving it is possible to be Christian and a fighter for equality!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Yaaaaay…finally ….my family has a page just for gay Christians like me !!!”

“Thank you for this. I am a Christian and an LGBTQ ally. Trying to find a church or community that supports both of these aspects is difficult, but I’m quite glad I happened upon here!”

This week has been full of people supporting LGBT rights and equality. Thank you to all the LGBT people and Allys that support this community.