Sojourners and the Quest for Socio-Economic Justice: No One's Human Rights Can Be Optional (and That Includes the Gays)

And speaking of a false centrism that predictably provides cover for the religious and political right, while professing to be all about "balance": the question Sarah Posner asks today at Religion Dispatches about the recent Sojourners "God is watching" ad addressing the budget debate is exactly the question I asked myself when I first saw the ad: Was God watching when Sojourners refused to run Believe Out Loud's ad asking faith communities to support the human rights of LGBT persons?

As I've repeatedly noted, the refusal of Sojourners's Jim Wallis and other high-profile religious leaders advising the Democratic party about "faith-based" outreach to recognize the full humanity of their gay and lesbian brothers and sisters undercuts anything these faith-based leaders say about human rights.  Or social justice.

Treating every human being as fully human is not optional, if we expect people to buy into our human rights-based agenda and our call for social and economic justice.  And so, when Sojourners persists in sending me emails asking me to support yet another of its justice-oriented causes (but never a cause that has anything to do with justice or rights for LGBT human beings), I keep politely returning the invitation, with a note about precisely why I will no longer support Sojourners's initiatives as long as this faith-based organization refuses to accept the full humanity of those who are gay or lesbian.

As I did two days ago when Sojourners wrote to ask me to support their attempt to lobby Congress to do the right thing with its budget decisions.  I replied, 

Thank you for this invitation.  I am choosing to decline it.

You say that people of faith defend the poor, and you're right.

But your analysis of those who are poor does not extend to a group who are subject to singular violence and discrimination in our society.  These are LGBT citizens.

In a majority of our states, LGBT citizens have no legal protection at all from discrimination in the workplace or in housing.  Loss of one's job due to discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, against which one may not legally defend oneself, creates economic crisis for LGBT people, their partners, and, in many cases, their children.  It results in loss of health care for those affected by such job-loss due to discrimination.

You state (again, rightly) that people of faith and our political leaders cannot ignore the cause of those in need.

But your own organization has stated that you consider LGBT people outside the network of your concerns when you address issues of poverty.  Your witness to the gospel in the area of defending the rights of the vulnerable and speaking on behalf of the least among us is not credible to me, as long as you continue to treat LGBT persons as a case apart, as less human than the rest of the human community.

And for this reason, though I appreciate your invitation to support your work, I will not accept it as long as you maintain your present stance towards your brothers and sisters who are gay and lesbian.

Treating every human being as fully human is not optional, if we expect people to buy into our human rights-based agenda and our call for social and economic justice.