To whom it may concern,
I'm writing this in hopes of persuading you to display a poster that announces a support group I've started. Please allow me to start with an excerpt from the book, "Homosexuality and Christian Faith". This is from the chapter One Family's Story written by Bishop Paul Wennes Egertson:
"As a devout Christian who knew from early childhood that something was very different about him and who suspected from adolescence that his difference was something unacceptable to God, our son had devoted himself to prayer and trust in the grace and power of God...for years, night after night in the privacy of his closet, he took his broken and contrite heart to the throne of grace, praying for God to change him. But God did not change him. Did that mean he was so defective that even a gracious God did not love him? What else is a teenage mind to conclude? Since divine intervention did not occur, we pursued psychological therapy, only to discover that most psychiatrists and psychologists had long since come to the conclusion that homosexuality is not an illness and that no known system of treatment can change it...the best that therapy can do is help gay and lesbian persons accept the reality of their being before the socially imposed shame and the personal pain drive them to despair, drink, drugs, or death by suicide, all of which it does daily to numerous persons in our world...For we have come to realize the biggest problem in being gay is not the gayness, but the reaction of the heterosexual to it. We want to join our voices with those of others who seek the way of healing and wholeness at the point of pain in our world."
I understand homosexuality is a controversial subject, and this poster is a little cheeky; but it's honestly not my intention to be antagonistic. I am a Christian, and a mother of a lesbian. This has been a very hard road, but on it I've discovered it's been a lot harder for my daughter, as well as many kids like her. My heart breaks with the pain that they have gone through. It took me years to come to a place where I can completely say I don't think there is anything wrong with being gay. I came to this understanding by looking harder at the scriptures that I thought condemned it, not by ignoring them. I really believe if people prayerfully looked at these arguments themselves, they would come to the same conclusion. But even if some Christians can never believe a gay relationship is OK, let me ask you this; would any church refuse to put up a poster for a group of Christian remarried people, when the Bible "clearly" condemns remarriage as well? Gay people are hurting, and they have run from the church because the only message they have gotten so far is "God does not love you...unless you can be straight." Isn't it time this changes? If you can display this poster in your church, then please email me back or call me at 360-***-****, and I'll bring one over right away. If you are unsure, and would like more information, please go to http://www.throughmyeyesdvd.com/ and watch the trailer for the film "Through My Eyes". If interested, I will gladly bring this movie for you to watch so you can further contemplate a decision.
I sincerely thank you for your time in reading this and your consideration in this matter.
