Kathy Baldock, Evangelical Christian and fierce ally and advocate for LGBT equality:
I am growing weary of the Christian community saying our faith is being attacked and we are being persecuted. Is there any non-gay, non-trans person in this country that is not free to walk in any church on any Sunday and publicly praise God? No straight person is barred from marrying the person they love or even a person they do not love. No one has ever stopped me from reading my Bible or praying as I walk along a public trail. I am not persecuted.
As unpopular as it is to say, many of those I religiously identify with, have become the persecutors. God specifically tells His people in Isaiah 58 that He is not interested in their external piety and conformity to rules of service, worship and discipline. He tells His people that if they really want to serve Him and have Him listen, they need to “loose the chains of injustice … and set the oppressed free and break every yoke.” He further tells His people to “spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed.”
Injustice means treating people unequally; oppression is exercising authority or power in an unjust manner. Is the glbt community oppressed and treated unjustly? Of course they are.
This country is ruled by a Constitution that guarantees all of us equal treatment. All of us. Being gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender is not a choice or a behavior or something that needs to be or can be changed. Gay and trans people are a class of people. When people of faith lead the charge to withhold rights from a class of people, then they have indeed have become the oppressors.
I have nothing more to add, but you should read the entire post from which that quote comes.
