My Refuge & Strength

Let me be clear: I firmly believe the homosexuality is a sin. I firmly believe that people are, indeed, born gay because people are born sinners. I firmly believe that like adultery and sex before marriage, homosexuality falls within that same realm of sin, which is viewed by the world if not wrong, normal. I firmly believe that a sin is a sin, whether it be lying about taking a cookie from the cookie jar, committing sexual acts with a person of the same gender, or bullying; each is a direct violation agaist God, and that’s basically what it all comes down to. I firmly believe that the Bible is very clear about homosexuality being sinful is passages such as 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Leviticus 18:22, 20:13, and Deuteronomy 23:17. And I firmly believe that despite what is right in God’s eyes, people are still going to blatently disobey Him like they always have, and we as Christians cannot force someone to stop sinning.

So, with that being said, I’d like to take a moment and acknowledge what has happened recently in the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community with the string of suicides of young gay men as a result of being bullied for their sexual orientation. I think it’s safe to say that every sensible person can agree that these events are incredibly tragic. Heart breaking. Utterly dispicable.

I still believe that how these five individuals chose to live was wrong, but refusing to think about these young men and their families, and labeling them as “horrible sinners who don’t deserve all this attention or the life they wasted” is just as tragic as the events themselves.

Homophobia is very commonly used as a synonym for hate, which I don’t believe is altogether untrue. If Christians are supposed to be a light in a dark world, we shouldn’t ignore this. We shouldn’t use this as an opprotunity to have the world grow darker by not acknowledging these events. We need to combat this hate with love, because these young men obviously weren’t recieving enough.

invisibleskin:

because these kids have names and they have stories. they’re real people with families and hopes and dreams that were stamped out by hate. may the reason for the color not be forgotten.

Tyler Clementi

He was a 19 year old student at Rutgers University.
After his college roommate tweeted “roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into Molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.”, he lived-streamed Tyler having sexual relations with his boyfriend.
Tyler threw himself off a bridge after finding out.

Raymond Chase

He was a 19 year old student at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island.
He hung himself in his dorm room.

“Raymond Chase was a person who liked Harry Potter and Rugrats and was a member of the popular facebook group “I cant spell “bananas” without singing hollaback girl.” (source)

Seth Walsh

Seth Walsh was a thirteen year old middle school student.
He was bullied to the point that he could not bear to live.

“He spent a lot of his life frightened.” It was in person, through the internet, through phonecalls. His peers were relentless. He was perpetually picked on for his mannerisms and his style of dressing, even before he came out as gay.
His mother found him hanging from a tree in their backyard. He spent over a week lingering on life support before he died.

Asher Brown

He was a 13-year-old eighth grader at Hamilton Middle School outside Houston His family says that he was “bullied to death”.

”Asher was tormented for being small. For his religious beliefs. For the way he dressed. And for being gay. His bullies acted out mock gay sex acts in phys ed class.”His parents repeatedly contacted school officials on his bullying. Nothing was ever done.
He shot himself in the head.

Billy Lucas

He was a 15-year-old freshman at Greensburg High School in Indiana.
“Everyone made fun of him.” Like Asher, his school administration knew but did nothing.
A friend says the bullies would call Billy “gay and tell him to go kill himself.” Homophobic hate messages have been left on his facebook memorial page.


and there are more

The death toll for this school year is already at 7.
Seven kids who have lost their lives because of hateful peers.

It’s horrible that it’s taken tragedies like this to finally wake this nation up.

(via abcsoupdot)