The Right Christian Response

Drew Banks
4 min readApr 28, 2022
Mallory McMorrow’s inspiring speech re: the existential threat of the republican party’s attack on critical race theory and the LGBTQ community.

Mallory McMorrow’s above speech is an example of the right Christian response to those marginalized by societal structures and norms, as opposed to far right Christian responses that are accusatory and hateful—antithetical to the core tenets of Christianity. Any it’s refreshing to hear a true Christian publicly take up the mantle against such CINOinstic (i.e. Christian In Name Only) political strategies. Especially given the national attacks against critical race theory and Florida’s new Don’t Say Gay law— legislation now being copied by more than a dozen other states — are certain to be harbingers of much greater anti-Christian oppression and violence to come. Hopefully, other true Christian politicians will follow Mallory McMorrow’s lead and publicly stand up for true Christian values. Before it’s too late.

It’s hard for those who haven’t personally been persecuted in the past — or who have blocked it from memory — to imagine the very real threat of future or even present persecution. Such rose-colored delusion surely delays a societal fight or flight tipping point. With the daily news coverage of the war in Ukraine, one makes comparisons: Even after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and subsequently and consistently threatened Ukraine with a similar aggression (or maybe because of the cry wolf consequence of those repeated threats), the Ukrainian government / people refused to believe in the possibility of an invasion until the Russian troops were upon them.

I personally don’t want to wait that long. Having come of age in the ’70s / ‘80s*—when homosexuality was tantamount in its threat to the American way of life as that of the satanic cults that were the obsession of the day—I don’t take my LGBTQ liberties for granted.

* Note: In this era the word “gay” was also a national linguistic flashpoint: How dare we appropriate perfectly genteel word and turn it into something sordid. (While the use of gay to denote homosexuality was frowned upon, “faggot” was perfectly acceptable.)

Growing up believing you’re intrinsically vile where being tolerated is the most you can hope for creates a bit of a self-esteem challenge. And although the Christian concept of original sin did offer temporary solace that was soon negated as homosexuality was singled out by many Christians as one of handful of unforgivable sins, which makes suicide a viable coping mechanism for the Christian LGBTQ crowd because if your nature is inherently unforgivable you have no worries about not being forgiven for offing yourself. Finally, you’re lumped in with pedophiles (even though the myth that homosexuals are more likely than heterosexuals to commit pedophilia has been widely debunked), which increases your unforgivability tenfold unless you’re a certain brand of Mormon or one of those other fundamentalist Christian sects / offshoots* that believe in underage placement marriages, or Catholic and have learned to turn a blind eye to child abuse epidemic within the church.

*Note: Christianity, or the US for that matter, obviously hasn’t cornered the market on such hypocrisy, but given they are the religion and nation I was born into, I’m more comfortable atop this particular outcast plinth.

Anyhoo, we LGBTQ boomers who were able to overcome the sirens of self-loathing and suicide, and develop some self esteem in order to eek our way our of the closet, needed to bevery careful just how far we ventured out. Safety — both physical and professional — was always an issue, the magnitude of which correlated directly to just how out you were. Being fired was a constant threat, as was the frequent slur predicated by publicly celebrated stereotyping, and ever-present specter of extreme Matthew Shepard-level violence. Even in San Francisco.

So given a lifetime of honing my LGBTQ Spidey sense (or rather my LGBTQ north star since Northstar is arguably the gayest of the Marvel bunch), it should come as no surprise that a mere seven years into my federally sanctioned marriage to Nick I remain acutely alert to the possibility it will all be taken away. With the erosion of racial equity and women’s rights, after the near 60- & 70-year precedents of the Civil Rights Act and Roe vs. Wade, who’s to say that any of our hard-fought LGBTQ freedoms are secure. Especially with the post-Trump judicial skew, demonizing conspiracy theories like pizzagate and QAnon, and skyrocketing anti-trans violence. I feel like the Anita Bryant years were cake in comparison to what’s about to erupt. Not to mention the DeSantis machine fueling LGBTQ oppression from the sidelines, likely to soon be frontlines as my LGBTQ north star shines uncomfortably bright with the possibility of a DeSantis presidency.

If such a presidency does come to pass, there will almost certainly be increased anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation, an erosion of LGBTQ rights (including a possible reversal of federally legalized same-sex marriage), and so on, and so on as we backslide to the LGBTQ as a mental illness culture of my youth, an environment where personal and professional safety concerns become untenable for all publicly out LGBTQ folk. An environment where Nick and I will be either forced back into the closet, or we’ll move abroad.

Another factor that could accelerate this decision is Nick’s research on the US racial injustices resulting from racist medical algorithms—a direct and quantifiable consequence of critical race theory. Nothing like having a double target on your back. As Mallory McMarrow so passionately lays out in her above speech, the republican party’s increasing attacks on the LGBTQ and critical race theory are part of a larger effort to weaponize our fear of the other and transform it into hate—a concept that is antithetical to the teachings of Christ.

Regardless, I have no intention of going back in the closet.

--

--