The article is behind us. Letters have been written and sent. Ozark Christian College representatives have sent out their canned replies. Jonah has withdrawn from the spotlight. Things are getting back to normal, and no concessions on this issue have been made at all. What I personally heard from OCC was this:
“My heart is heavy to hear of the pain you’ve endured.... I certainly believe you are created by God, made in His image, worthy of dignity and respect, and wholeheartedly loved by God.... This morning I am praying [for you].”
– Matt Proctor, OCC President
I’m worthy of respect, but I’m not worthy to enroll in a biblical studies or biblical languages program. I am created in God’s image, but in me that image is apparently marred (by my “personal choices” or “sin”) in some more damaging way than straight people experience. I’m worthy of dignity, but OCC’s administration intentionally caused me to feel that I was “sinful” and advised me to receive counseling to get past my sexual identity – not to mention their giving me straight F’s on my transcript for my final semester there. He’s praying for me... that I will “see the error of my ways” or “that God will lead me into truth and delivery.”
• He is not praying that people will stop discriminating against gay people.
• He is not praying that we will see an end to the feelings of humiliation and shame associated with being other than heterosexual and cis-gender.
• He is not praying that the Christian community will be the epitome of love and acceptance that it needs to be in order to make up for the pain that it’s caused.
He is praying only that I will change. Not that the world will change. That I will change. Because the bad here, the wrong here, the sin here is me. It’s me. The homo. The queer. The bender. I’m the problem. I’m in the wrong place... and need God to lead me somewhere else. Into his “shalom” (as Proctor actually ended his mail to me), into his deliverance, into a renewed faith in Jesus. In short, the problem is that I am not a Christian and I need God to lead me back to Christianity in order to set things straight. Literally, straight.
No, the problem is not with me. And, dear queer reader, the problem is not with you. You are not the one that is in the wrong place. Do not accept this line of thinking from them.
The question that I have for you, though, is where we should go from here. After the letters have been sent and ignored. After the canned responses have been sent out. After the hype has died down and given way to the #MarchForOurLives movement (which, honestly, is more important at this point). What should we do next so that this doesn’t get forgotten?
Please, think of what can be done next and let’s not let this die down. If nothing else, let’s keep the writing going. Let’s make our voices heard. Let’s not just go back into the closets and allow nothing at all to be said.
Thanks!
“My heart is heavy to hear of the pain you’ve endured.... I certainly believe you are created by God, made in His image, worthy of dignity and respect, and wholeheartedly loved by God.... This morning I am praying [for you].”
– Matt Proctor, OCC President
I’m worthy of respect, but I’m not worthy to enroll in a biblical studies or biblical languages program. I am created in God’s image, but in me that image is apparently marred (by my “personal choices” or “sin”) in some more damaging way than straight people experience. I’m worthy of dignity, but OCC’s administration intentionally caused me to feel that I was “sinful” and advised me to receive counseling to get past my sexual identity – not to mention their giving me straight F’s on my transcript for my final semester there. He’s praying for me... that I will “see the error of my ways” or “that God will lead me into truth and delivery.”
• He is not praying that people will stop discriminating against gay people.
• He is not praying that we will see an end to the feelings of humiliation and shame associated with being other than heterosexual and cis-gender.
• He is not praying that the Christian community will be the epitome of love and acceptance that it needs to be in order to make up for the pain that it’s caused.
He is praying only that I will change. Not that the world will change. That I will change. Because the bad here, the wrong here, the sin here is me. It’s me. The homo. The queer. The bender. I’m the problem. I’m in the wrong place... and need God to lead me somewhere else. Into his “shalom” (as Proctor actually ended his mail to me), into his deliverance, into a renewed faith in Jesus. In short, the problem is that I am not a Christian and I need God to lead me back to Christianity in order to set things straight. Literally, straight.
No, the problem is not with me. And, dear queer reader, the problem is not with you. You are not the one that is in the wrong place. Do not accept this line of thinking from them.
The question that I have for you, though, is where we should go from here. After the letters have been sent and ignored. After the canned responses have been sent out. After the hype has died down and given way to the #MarchForOurLives movement (which, honestly, is more important at this point). What should we do next so that this doesn’t get forgotten?
Please, think of what can be done next and let’s not let this die down. If nothing else, let’s keep the writing going. Let’s make our voices heard. Let’s not just go back into the closets and allow nothing at all to be said.
Thanks!
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