Spoiler Alert- God loves gay people as much as he loves Kim Davis

So Kim Davis was just freed from jail to cheers, nonstop news coverage, a smiling teary eyed presidential candidate in Mike Huckabee, anti-gay posters, crosses raised on sticks, and even Eye of the Tiger being blasted on speakers. Up to this point I haven't really talked too much about the issue publicly. Not that anyone has been begging for my opinion, but as Kentuckian and more importantly as someone who professes to try to follow the example of the life of Christ, I thought I’d weigh in.

To give just a bit of context I was born in and lived in Kentucky until I was 25. From about the age of 9 to 19 I lived in a small town called Irvine in Estill County. Estill County had a population then of about 15,000 people.  As a point of reference Rowan County, the county at the heart of the Kim Davis controversy has a population of around 25,000 people.  The people in Irvine were for the most part great.  Some of my absolute best memories happened there and with awesome friends,co-workers, and mentors. I’m actually still friends with a lot of them and many of them are doing admirable things in the world.

 One thing that you couldn’t say about the county though is that it was diverse. During the entirety of my time there I didn’t personally know one single non-white non-straight person.  To my knowledge the only black person that lived in the town was a KY State Trooper that had been assigned there.  To say his reception there wasn’t warm might be the understatement of all time. I also didn’t know of one person who was openly gay, much less two openly gay people who could possibly marry each other.  There were plenty of people who were called gay and lots of derogatory versions of gay meant as insults, but that was mostly only when it was being used as a taunt or a way to bully people. At my high school a kid who studied too much…gay, the girl who kept to herself….gay, the male teacher who lived with his elderly mother who wasn’t married….gay, the boy who was in to the arts….gay. Those were comments from bullies who tried to lift themselves up, by tearing someone else down because of their own lack of understanding. I remember a time personally when I had just sang my first solo at an assembly at school. My mom had come to watch and as I went back to my seat smiling and proud of something that had made me incredibly happy I was greeted by an older kid who called me gay as soon as I sat down to the delight of his fellow cronies.  I was torn down completely. Not because I had any questions about who I was, but because I felt ashamed and ridiculed for being different.  In general it was a pretty isolated town and there was no shortage of things outside of it's reach that may have seemed foreign and threatening to the majority of people who lived there.

I moved to Los Angeles 13 years ago this month, and since that time I’ve had the great honor of being surrounded by awesome diversity.  I’ve attended a couple of amazing churches that represent every ethnicity and walk of life imaginable.   I’ve seen what Christ like love looks like and how it’s shown through Christians who are interested in lifting other people up and loving them no matter what they look like, where they come from, or their sexual orientation. I've had a chance to travel and serve the poor, needy and hurting in my city, country, and world since then with those same people.  I’ve learned that God’s love is inclusive and not divisive. I’ve been taught by pastors who aren’t afraid to say that if Christians are supposed to be a reflection of Jesus’s love, then many of us just don’t get it. What seems to be reflected in many cases are our own judgements and prejudices.  I mentioned before that growing up I didn’t have any gay friends so I don’t mind saying now that some of my best friends/best people I know are not only gay, but treat others with kindness, reach out to the world to make it better, love God, and are simply outstanding humans.  I’ve also worked in the entertainment industry here in Los Angeles and met many non-Christians who are doing some of the greatest things to help lift others up who are struggling that I’ve ever seen.  

The main reason I’m writing this blog is not really because I’m trying to debate someone’s belief or opposition to gay marriage.  Honestly, far more intellectual and articulate people than me are having this debate.  I’m writing because the Jesus I follow is the one who taught about what real love should look like. I’m seeing way too many people claiming to represent how Jesus would respond while  acting in a way that based on what I’ve read in the Bible about his character, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t act.  It doesn’t seem that love is the driving force behind the movement. What I’m seeing shouted out and blasted on the news is that “Jesus is for us, not for you.”

So do I think Kentucky Christians should be rallying support for principles that Jesus taught? Do I think presidential candidates should be flocking to those communities to bring national attention to issues that matter? Do I think the Church as the embodiment of Jesus’s physical presence on earth should be leading the way? Absolutely.

I spoke earlier about what I hadn’t seen in my small community, not because it isn’t important or relevant, but because it wasn’t an issue that most people in the community could even connect with in a way that gave them any real perspective. What I did see with my own eyes was heart breaking poverty that caused kids to go hungry, drugs and alcoholism that tore families apart, senior citizens neglected, and every level of brokenness imaginable. I wonder why these can’t be the things we’re outraged about and hope that someday these are the issues we can’t stop fighting for until they’re erased.