From: Elliot, Mark
To: USA Weekend
Subject: Disney Boycott
Date: Tuesday, July 22, 1997 11:10AM
USA Weekend
Letters to the Editor
July 22, 1997
I am writing in response to your Readers Poll regarding the Southern Baptist Convention boycott of Disney.
I most assuredly do not support the Disney boycott and most definitely do not support the Southern Baptist's in their endeavor.
Eighteen months ago I came out to my wife and family that I am gay. We had been married for 17 years, had three children and had a very good marriage based on mutual respect, fidelity and personal convictions to Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The decision to come out to her and my family was a long and agonizing one, one that took years to come to. I did not choose to become "gay." I was born that way. I have felt this way as far back as I can remember and 41 years of church indoctrination, condemnation and ridicule, hours and hours of prayer, self hatred and guilt has not changed the way I feel. What I chose to do many years ago was to try to be someone I am not. I chose to be a straight man. And that choice has had a profound effect on myself and everyone I love.
What I found out was that God did not hate me because I am gay. God will not condemn me to hell because I love another man. God cannot "cure" me because there is nothing to cure. God loves me, despite my faults, because God created me and wants me to be a whole and complete person. And being a complete person includes being the person God created me to be: a gay man.
The Church can commit no greater sin than to play God and decide who is "in" and who is "out". When the Church chose to brand Jews as "Christ Killers", then tortured and killed them, God grieved. When the Church chose to characterize interracial marriage as "unnatural", God grieved. When the Church endorsed and encouraged slavery, God grieved. When the Church practiced and preached racial segregation, God grieved. When the Church declares children and adults as abnormal and "an abomination" because they are gay, God grieves. When the Church turns its back on those with Aids because "they deserve it", God grieves. When a teenager commits suicide because he or she cannot reconcile being gay with what the Church tells them to be, God grieves. And God does not forget.
Whether the boycott is successful or not, there will still be gay men and women in this world. They will still be born. They will still live and love. And they will still die. Whether the Southern Baptist like it or not, gay men and women will still be who they were created to be, despite incredible pressure to the contrary. Whether Pat Robertson or the State likes it or not, gay men and women will still fall in love, devote themselves to each other and create families despite daily ridicule, ostracism and government sanctioned discrimination. And whether the Church likes it or not, no matter how much they rant and rave, God will still love and accept gay men and women. And nothing they ever say or do will ever change that.
Mark A. Elliott