Is LGBT a Single Word?

Something which has not drawn a lot of discussion that I have noticed is the last two letters of the LGBT quadrangle. In demanding equal rights, and equal ability to serve, activists throw around 'LGBT' like an indivisible unit. Certainly it is not. In case you do not know, dear Reader, LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered. Imagine an equal reception, equal ministry for these.

How can we welcome an actively Bisexual priest? Even the most liberal Dioceses have problems with sexually active single, straight priests, ....so, ....openly Bisexual? And active? Doesn't this go against the theology we claim is expressed in committed relationships? Or perhaps we will only accept bisexuals in committed relationships, - certainly discrimination against the single.

And then there are the transgendered. People so ill-at-ease with their born sex that they choose surgical and chemical means to alter themselves. Are these persons of confused and confusing sexuality also fertile ground for the Priesthood? Or are their own issues likely to swamp any call they might receive?

Perhaps they are not AS fertile ground for ministry. Perhaps not. But perhaps we need to be open to them, too.

Some seed will fall on barren ground, some on rock, but some will fall on good earth, and bring forth. -some ten, some twenty, and some a hundred.

May it not be that my church steals away the seed that would have borne fruit.

Peace,
TWS


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The Flag of the United States of America

Old Glory
The Stars and Stripes
The Star-Spangled Banner
The Red, White, and Blue
The Flag of the United States of America

"Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation." - June 14, 1777, Continental Congress

13 Alternating Red and White Stripes
50 White Five-Point Stars on a Blue Field

Called the Red, White And Blue

13 Stripes, for thirteen colonies that dared to resist Tyranny.

50 Stars, one for each state, representing "the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial"

Stripes "symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun."

Red for Bravery, Hardiness, Valour, and the blood of patriots. Mentioned first because the tree of freedom must be regularly watered with the blood of patriots - without Bravery to fight for our rights, there will be no nation.

White for Freedom, Purity, and Freedom, the ground upon which the other colors stand.

And Blue for the Justice for which we struggle, the vigiliance that is required to maintain our country, and the perseverance that is required of us, even when the task is difficult, and the obstacles many.

From Wikipedia: "Many citizens understand the flag to represent the freedoms and rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights and perhaps most of all to be a symbol of individual and personal liberty as set forth in the Declaration of Independence."

Peace,
TWS

Previously on this topic: Our Flag


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