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LGBT Proposal Just Doing the Right Thing

Editor, News-Register:

Recently, this paper published a letter to the editor by former City Council candidate Chris Hamm entitled “What Does LGBT Plan Mean for Wheeling?” The answer to this question for Mr. Hamm seemed to be that a local LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance would mean the downfall and potential closure of Wheeling’s churches. The letter specifically commanded, “Wake up church folks.”

I found this call to church folks to be particularly interesting and ironic. It made me think what church did Jesus belong to? Under what four walls did Jesus do his preaching? The letter was not a call for Christians to do the right thing because we all know that often there is a disconnect between “church folks” and actual Christians. It called to mind the hypocrisy of the passage in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” where Mrs. Merriweather, the most devout lady in Maycomb, laments the terrible conditions of the Mruna tribe in Africa and promises financial support but resents the mood of Maycomb’s black population unhappy with the conviction of Tom Robinson. It reveals how often we fail to practice our faith where it matters most.

Most troubling about Mr. Hamm’s letter was its presentation of “facts” as reasons not to support an anti-discrimination ordinance and presenting opposition to such an ordinance as the right thing to do. Opponents of an anti-discrimination ordinance insist such laws already exist to protect the LGBT community from housing or employment discrimination. This is the biggest piece of misinformation propagated by the opposition. There are no state or local laws to protect LGBT residents from this form of discrimination. Federal law has been interpreted by the Obama administration to include LGBT protection, but this interpretation is only as good as a court says it is, or while we keep enlightened minds in the White House. Such a reliance locally is a crap shoot at best.

It is frustrating when the opponents of anti-discrimination laws see such laws as favoring one side over another. We should see such ordinances as simply doing the right thing. Not a single freedom of another person is being infringed. It is only the liberty of others which is being guaranteed. In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus asked the lawyer which of the three proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers. “The one who showed mercy,” responded the lawyer. Why can’t “church folks” 2,000 years later do likewise?

I would ask Christians to wake up. “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,” Jesus said. When will we tire of being on the wrong side of right? I am comfortable speaking in favor of an ordinance which guarantees the LGBT community the same freedoms I have.

David Delk

Wheeling

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