Can Gays be Safe?

Here’s one more argument for why people don’t choose to be gay—It isn’t safe to be openly gay in America. The body of Michael Wachholtz, one of the two gay men who disappeared December 20th near Tampa Florida, was found last week. He was wrapped in a sheet in the rear of a Jeep Cherokee. He had been last seen working on the vehicle at the side of the road with two men helping him. Another man, Jason Galehouse, also disappeared the same week. No word on his whereabouts yet, but friends and a local Metropolitan Community Church are organizing a search. He was last seen leaving a gay bar with two men.

These stories remind me of a few years ago, when two men were killed in Durham, North Carolina within a short span of one another. John Randall Cash, an acquaintance who attended Saint John’s Metropolitan Community Church in Raleigh, was also limited to a wheelchair due to complications from spinal meningitis at birth. Cash was stabbed to death in his home where he lived alone. The other man, a nurse, was killed in his home at the other side of town in October of 2001. Durham police originally thought the two crimes were connected. The murders remain unsolved.

I’ve never experienced much physical violence in my life. Teenagers driving by have called me names while walking down the street in Boys Town in Chicago. Young men calling me "faggot" ran me off the road near my current office in North Carolina not long ago. I have a small rainbow sticker on my car. This is nothing compared to what countless others have suffered while being tortured and killed, often simply because they are gay.

Some are warning of a backlash against some of the legal advancements made by sexual minorities in recent months. The Christian right has increased the rhetoric, blaming queer people for everything from the demise of marriage to the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. Not a week goes by that I don’t get some kind of hate mail because of something I’ve written. I’ve been told I’m demon possessed and that I’m the Antichrist. Someone thinks too highly of me. I’m just a Christian gay guy with an opinion. But that alone is enough to cause some people to fear. Renewed inflammatory rhetoric leads to an increase in violence when those who hear their leaders speak take matters into their own hands.

The fears and prejudices of the majority society will always come to light in one way or another. The members of the MCC in Tampa who are organizing a search should be proud of their Christian love. The rest of us should watch out for one another and be family to those who may otherwise be alone. Maybe we can do some sensible things to help keep violence from happening. We can watch if a friends leaves with strangers. We can call and check up on others who may live alone. We can pray and search for those who are lost.

No, I don’t choose to be gay. God called me to be gay because God created me the way I am. Whether others are scared or not, I must be who I am. And, like everyone else, I have to be ready. We never know when we may be the victims of violence, or when we will be called to eternity. Regardless of what happens, and in spite of what people who call themselves Christians do, we can always place our hope in a God who still loves us and cares for those rejected by society. In weakness, God makes us strong. For one day, everyone shall be gathered together in one voice proclaiming that fear, hatred, and prejudice are over and that, "We Have Overcome." Those who have passed on, like Randy Cash and Michael Wachholtz , are already there.

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Robert Buchanan is a minister of the Ecumenical Catholic Church and a psychotherapist who lives with his partner of many years in Durham North Carolina.  He is the author of  Love, Honor & Respect: How to Confront Homosexual Bias in Christian Culture and serves as director of the Institute for Inclusive Christianity. a training program for ministers and clergy who do not discriminate against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, or because of financial, familial or social status.  Additional resources for inclusive Christians can be found at our Resources page.

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Last modified: 07/09/05