Brian's gotten a little sticker-happy on his bumper lately. I'm not the biggest fan of bumper stickers, so I was a little hesitant to the idea of papering his car with propaganda. But Brian was all for it, and after all, it is his car so I didn't voice any objection. You see, the Utah Pride Festival hooked us up with a lot of free stuff including, but not limited to, bumper stickers. In the parking lot of the Sheraton before heading home, Brian stuck each and every one onto his car. There's one that says "Proud Democrat," another one for The Human Rights Campaign, Equality Utah and even one that says "Utah for Obama 2012." It's probably the most liberal Toyota Corolla in all of Utah County. Or as my friend Wes said, "That's the gayest car ever."
The stickers haven't gone unnoticed. Yesterday we were driving back from a wedding reception in Lehi when Brian noticed something flapping on our windshield.
"What is that?" he asked.
There, tucked under one of the windshield wipers, was a handwritten note.
"I told you we'd get crap for those bumper stickers," I replied.
"What do you think it says," he asked me.
"I don't know. All I can see is the word equality. Do you think it's positive or negative?"
My gut was telling me it was negative, but Brian was determined to read it. We took the nearest exit and pulled over. Brian got out of the car, picked up the note and looked at it. His expression didn't change at all, so I still had no idea what to expect. Upon returning to his seat he handed me the note. It read:
Thank you for being brave enough to have that sticker. We all deserve equality.
I smiled. "So it's a good note!"
Brian smiled too. "It's a good note."
Driving the rest of the way home, we tried to figure out who might have left it for us. The note was written on the back of a receipt. Whoever wrote it got gas at Top Stop in Centerville, Utah yesterday at 5:21 PM and paid with a Visa. Centerville is an hour away from us, so even if the driver headed south to Orem directly after filling up, there was no way they got to our car before we left at 6:30 for the wedding reception. That means it couldn't have been any of our neighbors or anybody who might have seen Brian's car parked at his work or at the mall where we had lunch. It had to have been somebody at the wedding reception. Considering it was an LDS wedding reception with the majority of the guests being conservative Mormons, I'm feeling really good about this note.
I'm also feeling really good about those bumper stickers, especially the equality one. I guess Brian had the right idea about bumper stickers after all.
3 comments:
Sometimes, I feel like the only moderately-conservative Christian who believes in equality. If I had more courage, I would write the newspapers and become more political. Living in Colorado Springs, the mecca for right-wing Christians, can be challenging for someone who disagrees with the charge that gay marriage somehow adversely affects my heterosexual marriage.
When Jack came out that he was gay, I have to admit that my world was rocked with 100 magnitude earthquake. My initial response was to appeal to his love for God with passages from Romans. I prayed incessantly for God to change my son and make him straight. God made changes, all right. He changed me. Though I still struggle with a lot of the theology around this issue, I am certain that God has spoken to me and revealed that I don't know everything. I have come to realize that God looks past our gender and directly to our hearts. Jack's heart is beautiful. Jack loves God. Jack seeks to bless others. I am proud of my son, Jack. I can only hope that my heart will be as beautiful as Jack's.
Christians like to say that the United States is a Christian nation, then go full steam into a biased rhetoric. The Judeo-Christian values we find in our society can be found in other societies, as well. The truth of the matter is that this is a free nation, which allows me to be a Christian, and everyone else to follow whatever religion they choose, to believe in God or not. It is also a nation that should view all of her citizens as equal with regard to rights. This is the basic question of the gay marriage issue. When I look at Jack and Brian, a couple who love each other and want to express that love through marriage, I don't see two gay people asking for something I have but they shouldn't even dare to request; rather, I see two American citizens who want the same rights as I. How in the world can I allow my preference to be superior to theirs? How can we as a free people prevent others the same benefits of citizenship because they love someone of the same gender? This is truly an issue of separation of church and state. This is not an issue of Christian dogma verses the rest of society. The arguments that this will lead to people marrying their underage children or their pets is simply the insertion of a fallacious argument.
I pray that Christians will learn that the most taught lesson in the Bible is to love one another. God is teaching me what that looks like. He is also showing me that He will truly be more inclusive regarding those who will live eternally with Him than we are.
I love you, Jack. I am proud to be the father of such a wonderful human being as you!!!!!
WOW! Such a long comment, Dad! But thank you so very much. I love you too, Dad. If I've managed to be a somewhat decent human being, it's largely to do with your example of humility, love and respect.
Aren't long comments allowed? :-) I appreciate the kind words, son.
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