Hello dear friends,
Don't Ask -- Don't Tell
Jun 29, 2005
On the campus of Princeton Theological Seminary.
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3 comments:
Before and while I was active in the ministry as a Catholic priest I lived celibacy and felt that my sexuality and identity as a gay man didn't matter as a celibate. I was wrong. Since I have left the ministry and rejected celibacy, I cannot hide. I am not militant. I am human. I do not flaunt my gay sexuality, but I do not hide it either. "Don't ask don't tell" doesn't work because I refuse to have anything in my life appear to be a dirty little secret. To not share the joys and struggles I find in my loving relationships with others would seem as unnatural to me as not sharing the joys and struggles I find in my relationship with God. Revelation is a living relationship. Its sources are manifold. rgerardi7@yahoo.com
Boy - did you ever get it on this one! "Don't ask, don't tell" forces everyone involved to support and perpetuate living a lie. I confronted a form of it 27 years ago as a lay leader in my congregation. It resulted in my leaving the Church for 2 years. Keep on riding, Lars - you're right in the thick of it, now!
Who are these "militant" gays? Are some gay people out there throwing grenades, brandishing weapons that I don't know about? What makes them militant? Because they speak out against oppression, refuse to accept the same, tired old arguments against equality. To be gay, and to speak out, and to work for equality is to be "militant" in the eyes of many people. Religious leaders of major churches who hold public rallies against equality and who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to mail glossy pamphlets to every address in my state in order to pass an anti-gay marriage amendment - these people are not "militant"? They are certainly abusive of their power over a small minority.
I am glad that someone else recognizes the linkage between the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and religious organizations. The policy could have been written by church leaders, it was certainly patterned after the policy in some mainline churches.
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