Amen. I grew up not just in a homophobic Christian world but as the son of a pastor who was a leader in that world.

I’ve written before about escaping conversion therapy and suicidal thoughts and action.

I went on to become an activist with Queer Nation and Act Up, but the trauma I grew up with will always be an important part of who I am.

As an activist and as a writer, I reach out to allies all the time with education and information. It’s affirming and heartwarming to see so many so many liberal Christians rejecting theologies and practices of homophobic rejection.

But I swear to God, every time a well-meaning Christian dismisses homophobia by saying, “those people aren’t real Christians,” I grind my teeth.

Because as you point out, it’s action that counts. Making yourself feel better by saying you’re a real Christian but the majority of self-identified Christians aren’t? That accomplishes exactly nothing except to deny the problem.

If a group of affirming Christians wanted to get together and tell homophobic Christians that they’re not real Christians, cool! I’ll cheer them on. I’ll help. I’ll bring food and water to the protests in front of homophobic churches and tell the protesters how much I love them.

But I’ve never had to do that. Because those kind of protests never happen. And I mean never.

Which is probably grist for a completely different article on the same general topic. Why are liberal Christians so loathe to condemn their homophobic co-religionists?

That’s a good question to ask people in the UMC right now. Why are the pro-LGBTQ Christians in the UMC so busy counseling love and respect for the homophobes?

Seems to me they think the homophobes really are Christians.