I did not intend to write this blog, but I need to as a minister of the Lord. The shootings in Orlando of both Christina Grimmie and the beautiful souls of the 49 people who were killed at Pulse are forcing me to speak up. The Orlando area is where I spent most of my adult life and is my home as much as my house here in Minnesota, or in LA at my parent’s house. I am deeply hurt and have cried for days over the loss of someone in the shootings who was like a child to me. I do not give my heart easily, but when I do it might as well be a marriage. You are in my heart for all of eternity.
My home church in the Orlando area is where I am the youth pastor. Let me tell you something as a true Christian woman of faith. Bigotry is wrong. Does the Holy Bible say anywhere to kill people? It’s in the 10 commandments that thou shall not kill. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is not based on homosexuality. Why would the Lord destroy two towns over a “sin” when He himself says a sin is a sin and judgment belongs only to him? Those towns were destroyed because they were full of evil. They did not treat Lot’s family as their own and offer them food and shelter. They took advantage of them instead. The Lord had a message for Lot and his family to leave and to not look back delivered by two angels. He wanted to spare them, because they were good people. On the journey Lot’s wife, unnamed, disobeyed the Lord’s order and looked back. She was turned into a pillar of salt.
I have a gay brother who is married. He’s no different than you. My lesbian sister-in-law carried my child when I could not. What a beautiful act by a beautiful person. What a blessing from God to not only have our daughter, but also my sister-in-law and her transgender husband. I myself am bisexual and I say that with pride. Were we born a mistake? The Lord does not make mistakes, but people chose to be hateful. Is a homosexual act a sin? There is a great debate within the church itself on this issue which is ironic. What if it is a sin? The Lord says a sin is a sin and let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I’ve never seen a baby kill anyone have you? Judgment is a sin and the Bible is quite clear on that fact. The Bible says treat all people as your family. How can you cast judgment and spread hate of any kind? It’s shameful how people will twist the words of the Father to commit sins “in His name”. Much of what occurs in a couple’s bedroom is considered a sin according to the Bible. Those are choices, but it’s a crime for two people of the same sex to be in love? Where is the hate for every person on the planet as God says it is wrong?
Do you know what else is shameful? Taking a peaceful beautiful religion like Islam and classifying all Muslims as terrorists. How quickly we forget the history of Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. Where is the hatred of white men? Extremists come in all religions and races. Where is the hatred for Mormons? Did we forget Warren Jeffs who married and raped children? Did we forget Waco, Texas and David Koresh? Was there talk of banning Christians? No, because people understood that his actions defied his faith and did not embrace it. ISIS is no different. Where is hatred for young white males after the shooting death of beautiful Christina Grimmie? The world lost a beautiful and talented young girl who loved the Lord first. She was following her dream and millions of people loved her spirit. It was one man who committed that crime. Had it not been for heroic actions of her brother, Marcus Grimmie, it would have been the same outcome with multiple deaths. When it’s an “American” white male he had to have been mentally ill and it’s a tragedy. It wasn’t a tragedy, it was nothing short of an another mass under stopped by a hero. The mass murder at Pulse was committed under the same circumstances. One crazy man had pleaded his allegiance to ISIS just before the murders, and once again “those Muslims” are to blame.
ISIS is not a religion and does represent anything about the Muslim religion of Islam. Do you not see how many true Muslims are running for their lives to escape them? To say that ISIS represents Islam is to say all white people are members of the KKK or Nazi Party. People of a different sexuality are not different! We are born this way and it’s normal. We can not control our sexuality any more than we can pick our parents or choose our race. That my friends is hatred and not being insensitive. What is wrong with people that this happening in our country? We are a country built on the basic fundamentals of freedom. The freedom to practice our religion of choice and not be persecuted. Muslims in the country might as well be Jewish people in Nazi Germany at this point and it’s wrong. Our right to pursue the freedom of happiness means the right to be treated equally and without discrimination or hatred.
Can we honestly compare the ignorance or comments directed towards our disabilities with the plights of people being killed or hated for existing? Young black men are being killed for their skin tone by people like George Zimmerman. That is not the same as being passed over for a date or a job. Racism and bigotry are not the same as inequality. Is this ableist? No, it’s the damn truth. As a person with multiple disabilities and a home full of diversity I can tell you it’s not the same to have someone say “watch out speedy” as it is to have your innocent children shot at by paintballs while being called the infamous “N” word in a non fatal drive by shooting against children. It’s not the same as millions of Jewish people being killed in Nazi Germany. It’s not the same as people with darker skin being murdered for their color. You can not call it oppression to not be hired because somebody with a stronger skill set with the ability to get things done faster was hired. It’s not oppression that buildings were built before disabilities became a part of mainstream society. Stop screaming we live in an ableist world because it takes time for changes to happen. Where do you expect this money to come from to change the world in a day or decade? Where were people with disabilities 20 or 30 years ago? They were thrown into facilities to be forgotten. That is oppression, to not be treated like a human.
Women in society are treated as sex objects with unequal pay and opportunities. There are ceilings women have yet to break through in this world. We fight for rights, but we don’t say we live in a sexist world every day. As a person with disabilities I fight for change, but I don’t feed into culture of self hate by using the term ableist. That is saying I’m unable to do things and we are not in that position. We have accessibility issues and ignorance to deal with in society. It is harder to prove that we can do a job as well as the next candidate. That is not hatred. We do not have masses of people being murdered. We have people fighting for those changes to take place. The LGBT community and young African American men are not fighting for not only equality, but their lives. Please let these events open our eyes to what is really happening in this country. People with disabilities are not being intentionally held down and it’s not born of hate. It’s about a world that was built before we had wheelchairs available for people and medical technology to save our lives to live with disabilities. Do not confuse them and spread the idea of inequality over building codes from 50 years ago when people with an SCI were not oppressed. They were dead, because the medical technology was not there. Stop putting people who make stupid comments because they don’t know what to say in the same category as those spewing hate speech. We are not hated for our disabilities, but we do live in a world that was not built to meet our needs. That’s not intentional, but hatred and murder are.
Remember that a sin is a sin in the eyes of the Lord. Let’s fight for the real issues starting with the fact that all people are created equal. The world is full of hatred. Please stop adding to it. Physical changes in this world take time and money, but no one is taking away our basic rights. No one is killing us for existing. No one is stopping us from being married or building a family are they? When we talk about problems let’s be realists, an ableist would be fighting for you not to have those rights. Who is doing that? Where is the talk of banning those of us with disabilities from being married, having children, the right to vote, be in public without being assaulted, or to simply live a life in peace. There isn’t that talk, because we are not hated. We are treated with ignorance and that is a big difference. We are all humans. Let us come together and embrace our differences. We all want to be embraced. Let us fight for equal rights for all to have the same rights and opportunities.
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