Christians Must Condemn Anti-Gay Bullying

Vandals recently struck schools, homes, vehicles and at least one church in Billings, Montana with racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay graffiti. They left behind images including swastikas, obscene images and the message “no gays.” They also left abusively anti-gay literature behind at the church.

Conservative Christians condemn the anti-Semitism and racism. Everyone should know that. It needs a special kind of statement, though, to make it clear that we feel the same way about anti-gay bullying.

Not All Opposition to LGBT Is the Same

I get accused of “hate” all the time for taking a conservative, biblical stand for marriage and morality. These charges are wrong, and the gay men I’ve known as friends would vouch for that. Sure, I’ll gladly admit to disagreeing — strongly — with LGBT activism, but disagreement doesn’t equal hate. If it did, LGBT activists who disagree with me would be guilty of hate themselves. Of course most of them would be quick to deny that. I’m not a hater, either.

But there are haters out there, like these vandals.

There are times Christians must stand up for LGBT people. We need to let it be known that we deplore the kind of thing that reportedly took place in Billings.

The Hebrew prophets were unanimous in denouncing oppressors of every sort, and bullies are oppressors. Jesus tells us to love our neighbors. Loving people includes standing up for them when they’re being abused and bullied. We certainly ought to be able to love LGBT people enough to say we condemn the kind of dehumanizing treatment these vandals subjected them to.

Dehumanizing Behavior

But what is it that makes this sort of behavior dehumanizing, when Christian/conservative disagreement with LGBT-oriented moral and political goals isn’t dehumanizing but loving?

First, the vandals did it secretly and anonymously. There’s nothing “human” about that. Second, its message was essentially, “Get out of here!” — only stated in more abusive language. That’s not disagreement, that’s displacement.

Third, the vandals didn’t respect their targets. Real respect invites dialogue and allows disagreement — as demonstrated here. If I want to talk with you, that means I respect you enough to engage with what and who you are, your thoughts and your person. It means I’m not treating you as too fragile to take some pushback. I think you’re someone I want to talk to even if it means we disagree. These vandals didn’t talk or disagree, they attacked anonymously.

It’s Our Issue, Too

This happened far from where I live, and maybe far from where you live, too. But bullies show up everywhere, so this message applies everywhere.

It isn’t the way to treat fellow human beings, no matter who they are. I call on Christians everywhere to say it loud and clear: Anti-gay bullying is wrong, we deplore it, and we condemn it.