Wow – who would have expected such an eloquent statement from a newspaper in West Virginia:
CONFIRMATION of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire was a difficult and painful ordeal for many people, straight or gay, supportive or opposed, Anglican or not.
But what a fine, courageous example the Anglicans set for the rest of the United States in choosing to include someone who is different from most of them.
…His confirmation by the national body is a breakthrough in history’s long, long battle for human rights. It says that Episcopalians are willing to accept a person as an equal fellow human — even though nature consigned him to an outcast minority. Other mainline, long-established, “liberal” Protestant denominations are watching this development closely, because they must face the same agonizing decision.
Slowly, equal rights have been, or are being, won by blacks, females, Jews, Hispanics, Catholics, Asians, the disabled and so forth. Gays are the last minority facing overt hate and ostracism. Perhaps hostility to them survives more stubbornly because sex rouses deeper and stronger emotions.
…Some opponents focus on the Old Testament commandment that gays must be killed. But that mandate vanished long ago into the mist of ancient barbarism, along with other Old Testament commands to kill people who work on the Sabbath, brides who aren’t virgins, and various others.
Today, the tide of history is running in favor of equality for everyone. Already, bigotry against blacks, Jews, etc., is fading into the dark past. Soon, we predict, barriers against gays likewise will end. Most fair-minded people realize that gays didn’t choose their condition, and they shouldn’t be punished for it.
The confirmation of Bishop V. Gene Robinson is a significant step toward equality.
