Comments

1
Such cruelty would normally be just that, but this is cruelty in the guise of love. Which is even worse. She sounds smart enough to be able to move on from this awful world, I hope she can.
2
Wtf is wrong with these people? Haven't they got better things to worry about.
Tell you, when I get to Heaven, me and God are gonna have a little talk.
3
Annoys me so much that places like Wheaton are accredited by respected independent, secular accrediting agencies.

Totally pisses me off that Wheaton qualifies for federally supported student loans and tax supported ROTC. What is this, Saudi Arabia? Why does our government support religious institutions, not only with tax breaks but actually with MONEY?

Even the American Psychological Association accredits their doctoral program in psychology despite the fact that discriminating against LGBT people is unethical for psychologists.

W-T-F.

http://www.wheaton.edu/about-wheaton/pro…
http://www.wheaton.edu/Graduate-School/D…

http://www.wheaton.edu/Admissions-and-Ai…
4
Remember, God's love is conditional when you're a fundamentalist Christian.
5
Celibate Gay Christians. Wow - talk about dressing up your self-loathing in Sunday finery.

I can think of no better example of how religion poisons the mind than this. Sure, violence like ISIS' is a more spectacular example of how religion can warp minds and hearts. But this is like watching a person decay from the inside out. It's tragic.
6
Did this blog thread really give my last comment a number of 'zero'? I really do need to go eat some worms.
7
@Delta. Only going to change if people make it change. Write to the APA, ask them straight. These sorts of places need to be exposed for what they are, big time.
8
There is always the option of not following religions in which the deity doesn't find your worship worth having....
As a matter of fact, no religion has been proven to be true at all. So I guess any unproven hell or heaven is just as good as any other.
And really, any group's insisting that you have to change to belong to them is a simple but proven ploy to psychologically make you feel that if you don't fit in with "the norm" found in their group, you're not "normal" enough to be accepted by them. Any group that preaches uniformity (considering the diversity of humanity) automatically hits my radar as false preaching. If their god doesn't want gay people, he/she might have made it a point to not make gay people. Duh.
9
Funny about this whole deity-worshiping thing: you never hear these edicts come down directly from the god in question; no "we interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement from - GOD." They ONLY ever come through one of his "priests" or via some multiply-transliterated rendition of something someone claims they were told he supposedly uttered three or four thousand years previously, and well, you just have to take it on FAITH that he said what we said he said. If a Supreme Being exists, why doesn't he just reveal himself to us, you know, like he did to the fucking itinerant sheep herders back in the day? Why is it THEY got direct communication, but we DON'T?
10
I have been in this toxic world,,,people like Dan Savage has helped me love and be so proud to be the gay man I am and purge this shit from my life...wow- it does get better.
11
Re: Eve Tushnet, Gay Catholic Convert:
I grew up in a very repressive Catholic home and went to Catholic grade and high schools. Eighteen years of Catholic brainwashing left a lot of damage that I may never fully recover from if I live to be 100. (I left the Catholic church at 18, when I was in college.) I cannot fathom anyone converting to this awful religion. Why?!? They hate all sexuality, but especially gay sexuality. So why would a gay person convert? There are liberal churches that welcome gays, that marry gays, that ordain gays - why wouldn't you choose one that supports you, where you can make true friends?
12
Even though I'm an agnostic, I like to say there's more than one path to the divine. There are also plenty of gay-friendly churches for these gay Christians that won't force them into miserable lives and will accept them as they are.
13
I recently graduated from Wheaton College, and I had the pleasure of getting to know Julie Rodgers during the short time she was there (she's amazing, Wheaton has lost an incredible woman). I am a strong supporter of lbgtq rights in and out of the church, and I can tell you that I faced some incredible frustration during my four years there. I watched in horror as my lgbtq friends loved and accepted their classmates and professors who treated them like second-class citizens, wrapping hateful words in "good intentions". The response of the administration was paltry at best, often insultingly and harmfully bad.

The only consolation I have in this situation is that the campus is changing for the better, albeit at turtle speed. Many of the people I know came into the school as conservative in all the worst ways and left more open minded and compassionate than I could have hoped. Even during my four years, the school began to talk about these issues and there was a shift with students unafraid to voice opinions deviating from the norm. There are, of course, those who will fight this issue even more furiously as they see themselves on some sort of moral battleground. I can only imagine them as the sort of people who used the bible to support slavery or segregation, delusional that they are not, in fact, on the wrong side of history. Some day even the church will try to forget this hateful chapter of its past.

One of the biggest issues, in my opinion, is the administration and alumni. While many recent alumni have come to support lgbtq rights, so many older alumni who donate large sums of money to Wheaton see lbtq rights as representative of the moral crumbling of society (ugh). The administration, also deeply entrenched in the fear of moral decay, have no desire to lose funding. Unfortunately, the situation for lbtq students at Wheaton College will not change until students ten years down the road are the ones funding the school. I wish I could say that love would come sooner, but barring any major development with the church in America, I think that this injustice and hatred will continue for many decades to come.
14
I understand your point here, but it kind of bothers me that you're equating celibacy with loneliness and lovelessness here. You can be celibate and not lonely. I've been celibate for more than four years (and not intentionally--I just can't seem to find anyone I'm really interested in pursuing; I'm not asexual or anything) and life's pretty okay. Would it be better with a partner? Probably, maybe, but I'm not desperate, and I have plenty of friends and I do lots of shit.

Anyway, this feels like kind of a tumblr complaint--"waaah you didn't include me in your generalization!!"--but I felt like it was worth mentioning.
15
Mr. Savage and some commenters appear to blame Ms. Rogers for evolving in her life and understandings. But honestly aren't there really just two possibilities: growing and evolving vs. NOT? Well, going backwards maybe. Come one guys, let's not be so sour. I applaud Julie Rogers for so quickly realizing (in one year) how she was being used, making it plain, and getting out fast. Now she's getting criticized from all sides. And I think unfairly.
16
I'm not sure I've ever commented on anything, let alone twice, but I feel the need to add a criticism of your perspective on this situation. I am close friends with many of the lgbtq students at Wheaton, and I have never heard anything but praise for Julie Rodgers from them. I have never witnessed or heard of her treating anyone as sick or sinful because of their sexuality, unlike many other administration members who claim to care for the lgbtq students. It is easy to see the true character of those who claim to love but are filled with hate, and Rodgers does not fall into this category. While Wheaton may have had questionable intentions hiring Rodgers at Wheaton and all of us were certainly suspicious of her role before we met her, she was loving, kind, open, and wonderful. While there are a million things that Wheaton has done to hurt and marginalize lgbtq students, hiring Julie Rodgers was not one of those things. She personally encouraged me to criticize the administration for failed policies and defended me in front of them when I was called in. While you may choose to see her as a cudgel, the reality is that she was an advocate for the lgbtq students and their needs in the administration that is desperately needed at Wheaton.
17
@9. Zackly. Among other points, but, zackly.
18
Staying celibate to please "God"! Yeah, since giving up sex for religion has worked soooo well for the Catholic Church, nothing could go wrong here, amirite?
19
Look, Scripture is very clear on this. You are to REST on the Sabbath. You are not to do work. Not only that, your animals and servants and even visitors are also not to do work. So when Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath, he was clearly violating one of the Big Ten. The righteous were right there pointing the finger. And then you get Jesus, in all his awesomeness, basically telling everyone to shove off, that their righteousness was not grounded in love. "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil?" Ask someone about that the next time they try to quote Scripture.
20
Thank You for standing up EmilyRose! And speaking out when articles published do not accurately reflect the reality of the situation.

It'd be nice for the author or stranger staff to print stories as close to stating the facts as they could, or at least explain their bitter, vicious, and unwarranted attacks on somebody who had the courage to think for themselves, and defied what her immediate community attempted to enforce.

Most of the stranger staff are just as misguided as the church leaders who have not yet learned to successfuly discern between Love and Hate, Truth and Lies, and Respecting the most sacred personal private rights in each and every one of Our individual lives and house we reside in as part of the Living Heaven. Sexuality and Spirituality will one day soon, in this immediate lifetime, by fully understood, as We, the human race reach the point when and where it is impossible to continue denying what is right in front of Our Faces.

We are sexual beings, as all life is that was separated into two genders, and those strong sexual emotions are just that, sexual. The whole hetero, homo, bi are artificial labels and non-important concepts which man has forced onto The People of society for no other reason then to wrongly control what is your most basic, sacred, foundational right as a humane being living in Heaven.

Who you choose as partners in life is Up to you and those who choose to share their life with you, including physically showing affection in sexual acts. Your sexuality is your own, as is your spirituality and your right to practice that.

Most people find it easiest to only practice there sexuality and spirituality with those who respect your choices and show respect for you, and nobody should ever feel they need to be subjected to disrespectful criticism for doing nothing more than exercising their rights to practice their sexuality and spirituality as they see fit when among knowledgeable consenting adults who by their own will desire to practice those sacred parts of life with you.

Thank You for standing up for Julie Rodgers when sloggers went tabloid with her life in order to slander anything to do with religions that they choose not to practice -- which they have no right to attempt to influence other's spiritual practices.

If more people simply spoke up every time the media publishes false viewpoints, rumors and propaganda, the power of lies and manipulation is reduced.

And if everybody understood the importance of of exercising their most foundational, personal, private rights in a responsible fashion -- which means respecting the freedom for others to choose for themselves how to practice their own sexuality and spirituality even when it doesn't align with you, the trampling of LGBTQ and Poly peoples rights would not have taken over 250 years -- and counting -- would not have been able to continue on for so long.

We all need to speak out against people who are slow learners about what is not OK to afflict other people, such as ridiculing their practices of sexuality and spirituality.

within the last century, people could hide the fact that ignorance is chosen when it came to women's rights, Today people can no longer deny the truth, only hateful bigots believe it's ok to trample anothers rights based on gender

50 years ago they could fool us into believing racial bigotry was not a chosen ignorance. Today even they cannot deny the truth

Today, the world is waking up and tomorrow nobody can deny that trampling LGBTQ rights is a chosen ignorance, it takes willfully denying the Truth to unenumerated rights Declared

Soon, no truth will be able to be denied, and even ignorant, bitter, hateful stranger staff and all other media can no longer feign innocence when they wrongfully attack a person's spirituality or sexuality or one because of the other.

One day they will grow up, and see that it's not GOD of those who believe in GOD who deny the truth, although men do an awful lot of evil acts, trampling of rights, and other attrocities all while hiding it under some false justification, but one day soon, the truth will no longer be able to be denied.

It wasn't GOD or the faithful who were responsible for withholding women's rights, it was men cowardly hiding behind religion, it wasn't the church who tried to keep non-caucasians second class citizens, it wasn't the church who did and continues to do the same to all who are wrongfully oppressed and afflicted,

It's just idiot men who are too stupid to recognize the point which Truth can no longer be denied, and they continue to try to fool The People.

The more people like you Emily, who speak up, regardless if you are a woman, non-caucasin, LGBTQ, Poly, but speaking up simply because it is your duty, because it is the responsible thing to do as a human being living in heaven, The sooner people who refuse to accept the Truth will no longer have any power over OUR LIVES, and the world will find itself only among other people who understand how to exercise there rights responsibly, and respect others whom they choose not to share their life with.

When there is at least respect where there is not love, nobody among the living will be able to deny where they currently reside, people will recognize where they are and who they are, and some will know this world as Heaven
21
It should be noted that "emilyrose" just joined The Stranger, and is using a very popular image for her picture that is used for many, many, fake profiles across the web.

Also, do not look directly into postings by dirtclustit, as it has been known to cause permanent blindness and schizophrenia.
22
You know, it's been a long time since I read it, but it seems like there was a LOT more in the Bible besides a few sentences about homosexuality. Why does that seem to be the only take-away for so many Christians?
23
@14 - your kind of celibacy and that kind of celibacy are worlds apart. They're doing it because they think - or are supposed to think - that their very impulses and selves are 'sinful' or an "abomination." That will result in loneliness and lovelessness. You just can't find a date (and apparently aren't looking very hard, which is fine; your business). Totally different kettle of fish.
24
@23, exactly. Even if someone is celibate for a time because they can't find someone, they still have hope. They still can look if they want. And if they don't want to it is 100% a choice.

It is completely different from being told you must not look or try, and to know you are, 100% without a doubt, going to spend the rest of your time alone.

Being single and celibate when you don't mind is fine. Being single and celibate while you look for someone is acceptable. Being single and celibate for life with no hope of ever even being able to try to find someone is a whole different planet of loneliness.
25
I was just thinking how unfortunate for this poor woman to have a name like "Tushnet" in this situation!
26
Your criticism of Julie Rodgers is understandable but it is also a knee jerk reaction and not very well informed.

I'm on the board of OneWheaton, a group of Wheaton alumni that fully supports LGBTQ rights and celebrates same-sex relationships - just take a look at our home page. OneWheaton.com. I also have not identified as Evangelical for years and I have been with my husband for nearly 20 years. Many within the OneWheaton community had the exact same reaction as you when she was first hired. It didn't feel like a positive development at ALL. But the reality of the experience was quite different. The students- particularly those who identify as LGBTQ, and those who support same sex relationships loved her. They did not feel coerced into looking at their orientation negatively. They felt listened to and supported.

I had a chance to meet Julie myself. It was clear to me that she is a person of integrity, understanding and compassion. Yes, she supported celibacy as the best way to "follow Jesus" as a gay person. But she was nonetheless not hard-nosed prescriptive about it. She listened to and supported students in their journey no matter where their journeys took them.

In your criticism here, Dan, you are taking a notion and mistaking it for a reality. You need to do a little more digging before you decide to sound off.

Julie is a good person. She deserves better.
27
Good, for the stranger, it was about time they bring on staff who are slightly more responsible with their pen, EmilyRose sounds like the kind of person who would retract statements previously published if, upon reflection, realized the statement were tainted with the hatred that always accompanies wrongful discrimination

I hope the stranger acquires the full time crew of 50 it would take to do the reflection necessary for the stranger to begin publishing responsibly

until then, fuck you gorath

Yes AE, I find it hard not to be suspicious that David's love for Johnathon did not at some point include sexually expressing that love, luckily it's not my business to suspect anything of their relationship, especially knowing how even today and current views on sexuality are often steeped in ignorance, and how it's possible to be very sexual in giving a simple hug while at the other end of the spectrum extremely casual sex acts can make even fornication be less of a communicative expression of affection than a very sexual hug.

For people who desire to read scriptures with a way that engages their mind in critical thinking for themselves, it's important to remember that all of the references written on homosexuality being condemned in the New Testament was authored by the AP, who were,during Christ's Life employed to travel around and oppose message of Truth and Love that Jesus and the Disciples were preaching.

It seems strange to me for AP to suddenly have a change of heart after the wrongful prosecution of Christ and the gross injustice of his execution by the same ones who financed the AP, and to then go on to author over half of the New Testament I would be willing to bet that AP was still receiving paychecks from his previously employer throughout the duration and beyond of their authoring most of the New Testament of the Life of Jesus Christ.

I would certainly be a little more critical of all the bullshit excerpts written by the coniving, manipulative Associated Press who way back when was better know as the Apostle Paul, spokesperson for the elite ruling class who coincidentally closely resembled the same people as the Times Religious Leaders, and only after the Revolutionary War and Only in America was there a separation between govt leaders and religious leaders
28
Realize this might shock some people, but you can be asexual and not feel lonely at all. (Wut?!)

Yeah, it turns out that love and sex aren't the same thing. Julie Rodgers agreed to be asexual for a school year. I am fairly certain that she was dearly loved by a lot of students who didn't have any sex with her at all.

So I don't buy the lonely and loveless euphemism. She maybe didn't have an experience of being brought to orgasm by another woman, but that doesn't make her lonely and loveless.

Having said that, I'm glad you're sex positive and obviously a gazillion people appreciate that as well.
29
@28 - some people can.

Yes, some people can be single for life, celibate, and feel like they have a fulfilling and happy life.

But just because some people can doesn't mean that most people can. Most people have an urge to bond, just like most people have an urge to procreate. It's just ingrained in us.

So for those who are happy single and celibate great. But the most harmful wrong way of thinking is when people assume that because something works for them it should work for everyone. Life doesn't work that way. What makes one person happy makes another miserable.

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