The Freedom To Marry

By Dr. James Jacobson

Each national election includes some state initiatives or propositions where same sex marriage gets beaten back at the ballot box. This happened again in the recent election in both California and Arizona. One of my concerns is that state legislators continue to put this issue on the ballot. It seems that all Americans, no matter their race, sex, or sexual orientation should have freedom to marry the one he or she loves. Saying that one group of people, through no fault of their own can never have the protection of marriage that my wife and I have enjoyed for over sixty years is just wrong. Homosexuality is an unchangeable nature; not a lifestyle.

I once heard of an incident in a small country school. A small kitten wondered into the room. The children held and loved it. One of the children asked, "Is it a boy cat or a girl cat?" Another student said, "Why don't we vote on it?" It makes about as much sense to vote on the sex of a cat as it does to vote on same sex marriage. This proposition supported by the Catholics and Mormons takes rights away form family members who happen to be born homosexual. Many of the other main line denominations including my own United Methodist Church offer little support for gay or lesbian members.

All people are created equal and in the image of God. Gays and lesbians are created by God for good purposes. We may not always know God’s purposes for the way we are created, but we know God saw everything that was created and pronounced it as “Good.” (Genesis 1) Refusing to affirm and accept homosexuals in the same way we affirm others is an act against God.

A vote to outlaw the marriage of same sex couples is asking voters to take away a basic guarantee of the Constitution of the United States, “to establish justice.” These votes also denied the rights of liberty and the pursuit happiness that was promised to citizens since the declaration of Independence 1776. We know these rights did not include women when they were written and my mother could not vote in 1917,when she married, but later became very active in her community and church because she was accepted as a full member of the community. It is now time to extend these basic rights to all members of our communities. This can be done through the courts rather than trough a vote, and there is real hope that this will happen. A few words from the Poem “Variety” helps us understand our need for a more inclusive and loving response to those who differ from us.

We see innovation in all God made. Why then are we so afraid,
To look at all humanity, And see how wonderfully we’re made?
We differ in our size, weight, eyes, And also in our hair.
We accept each person as a child of God,
And try to show each one, “We really care!”
In our world we see immense variety, Built into all the laws of creativity.
Why then are we so surprised to find, This same mutation in our sexuality?
God made the world with remarkable diversity, This was how everything took form.
We’re called to find the universal unity, Rather than submit to one single norm.

             --J. Jacobson

Any vote or action that takes away rights of any group: women, minorities, gays, reduces the freedom of all of us. Gays and lesbians should be accepted and given every opportunity for service to God, including ordination, like some progressive churches have done. When churches become inclusive and stop asking legislators to deny rights to a small group of citizens, the church will again have a witness to the inclusiveness of God. Any gay or lesbian person who comes to our church professing that Jesus Christ is Lord should be accepted and affirmed. They should be allowed to serve in any way our Lord calls them to serve. We look forward to the day when each person can marry the one he or she loves, and ministers are allowed to consecrate this marriage in the church the couple loves.

Dr. James Jacobson is a retired United Methodist Minister.