Column: Earth has not stopped orbiting sun

A recent letter to the editor in the Fort Mill Times on June 17 attacking marriage equality and LGBT people caught my attention. At first glance I thought that perhaps I was reading a press release from the Westboro Baptist Church. However, sadly I see that it was written by a local resident and one time Republican SC state senate candidate Wendy Petzel.

The letter is so full of falsehoods, harmful statements, and animus one hardly knows where to begin. As a person of faith let me begin with the writer’s use of religion to attack not only marriage equality but also LGBT people. While as a matter of faith I certainly reject the notion that there is anything wrong with marriage equality or LGBT people, there is no doubt people of goodwill can disagree. However, I believe that all people would agree that we should do no harm. It also has become clear that Americans reject the notion that anyone should be allowed to use faith as a reason to deny fellow Americans equal rights that we all enjoy, be it in marriage, employment, credit or public accommodations.

The writer asserts that because gay and lesbian citizens have the equal right to marriage in Massachusetts that “children are trained in homosexuality” from kindergarten, including “male to male forms of sex.” She further makes the claim that LGBT people are somehow “scientifically unhealthy” and “deadly diseases” are an outcome of being gay. Folks, no children are trained in homosexuality in Massachusetts or elsewhere and the attempt to smear gay and lesbian people as somehow unhealthy and diseased is beneath contempt.

The claim that Catholic Charities are forced to shut down because they believe a child should be with a mother and a father is without merit. There is a case in Massachusetts where Catholic Charities did indeed get out of the adoption business. That was because of nondiscrimination laws. The call to stop adoption services was made by Catholic Charities. They could have stopped taking government funding and remained open but chose not to do so. There is more to the story regarding the Massachusetts case. Catholic Charities had always had an independent board that for decades offered adoption services to same sex couples. That board resigned en mass when ordered by the Archdiocese of Boston to stop offering those adoptions. The board was replaced and followed the Archdiocese’s direction resulting in the Commonwealth’s order that they comply with the law. Catholic Charities chose not to follow the laws and simply got out of the adoption business based on an order from the Archdiocese of Boston.

The writer concludes that as a result of that case it is the LGBT community that is intolerant and that marriage equality will somehow result in “...the Bible will be banned as hate speech.” This is ludicrous. It is an often used attempt by the radical right to paint the oppressed as oppressors. The idea that Christians, the Bible, religious institutions, the family or marriage is under attack or threatened is frankly silly. Quite the opposite is true. We’ve seen case after case where political leaders of the religious right are attempting to use so called religious liberty to pass laws that would grant a religious entitlement to discriminate against LGBT people and who knows what other groups. Thankfully the American people have spoken out against such outrageous actions and have successfully stopped them, for the most part, before they could be enacted.

Ms. Petzel rejects the idea of LGBT equal rights based on some notion of pseudo science regarding “...immutable genes that define characteristics over which a person has no control.” She states, “There are numerous former homosexuals, there are no former African-Americans.” (One suggestion to Ms. Petzel: In 2015 polite people do not use the term homosexual. The term is gay and lesbian or LGBT.) Well, I guess that would apply to equal rights and protections based on one’s religious faith. After all, there are numerous former Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans or atheists. Actually, there are numerous former straight men and women, too. These ideas would be laughable if it weren’t for the fact that they cause real harm to good people who desire only to go on with life in the communities in which we all live and be treated with dignity, respect and equality under the same laws as anyone else.

Massachusetts has had marriage equality and nondiscrimination laws for more than a decade. South Carolina has been marrying gay and lesbian couples for more than six months, 37 states overall allowed same sex marriage going into last week, and now the Supreme Court extended that to all 50 states.

Despite the claims of those opposing equality, the Earth has not stopped orbiting around the sun, Massachusetts hasn’t fallen into the ocean, South Carolina hasn’t gone up in flames, and the institution of marriage hasn’t been destroyed. The only change that has happened is now both straight and gay couples can get married and life has gone on as it always has.

The facts regarding marriage equality and equal rights for LGBT are clear to the growing majority of the American people. Equality for LGBT citizens is about basic human values, American values, and needs-the ability of everyday Americans to pursue health and happiness, earn a living, be safe in their communities, serve their country and take care of the ones they love.

Anything less than equal treatment under the law is harmful to individuals, families, communities, public health, governance, and yes, business. I am confident that much like some of the other relics of the past that do harm that we have seen fall to the wayside recently, these anti LGBT attacks will also be left in the past where they belong. I know we will be a better country when that happens.

This story was originally published June 29, 2015 at 10:24 AM with the headline "Column: Earth has not stopped orbiting sun."