By Sarah Calkins | Contributor
After reading Dr. Meadors' article a couple weeks ago, my first reaction was anger. I could not understand how some of his topics, like human rights, could be used against the LGBT+ community I love.
Within hours of reading the article, I accepted his invitation to respond and sent off my rebuttal to TheEcho. Only later did I realize what I had done: I had put up roadblocks to compassionate conversation and made a highway to confrontation.
I realized I had condemned Dr. Meadors for disagreeing with me and had forgotten to love.
What I failed to realize from the beginning is that the vast majority of people are not malicious at heart. We all know people who are LGBT+ allies and people who disagree, but it is important-no matter what our own personal views are-that we have understanding for everyone involved. The same-sex couple who wants to adopt genuinely loves each other and wants to start a family even though they are not physically able to do it on their own, and people who are opposed to same-sex adoption are genuinely trying to advocate for what they think is right for children.
What we need to remember in these conversations is that we are talking about real people with real love and real feelings.
Within the last couple of years, these conversations about gender and sexuality have exploded, and these topics are not going to go away. From Massachusetts becoming the first U.S. state legalizing gay marriage in 2004 to the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015, the understanding of what is acceptable and what we have believed for hundreds of years as a society is now up for debate and is challenged every day.
We as Christians are also challenged to grapple with these topics like never before in history. It is becoming more important than ever before to be able to sit down with our brothers and sisters in Christ and talk about these issues with open minds to the opposing view.
As a community, we do not need to adopt a firm stance immediately; there is still a lot of debate that needs to go on within the church, and that is a good thing. What we can do in the meantime is love God and love others to the best of our ability. We can love each other while we wrestle with this topic by bringing open hearts, and we can love our brothers and sisters within the LGBT+ community by taking the time to learn, understand and get to know the issues they face as well as the person within.
