Can’t we all just learn to get along? Ken Hutcherson, the senior pastor of Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, Washington, said that he is highly offended that President Obama would compare the plight of homosexuals to that of blacks during the Civil Rights Era. You will recall that the president told a gathering of homosexuals at the White House that he is aware that many of them “don’t believe progress has come fast enough,” and compared their struggles to those of blacks during the Civil Rights Movement. So, the pastor had a point, until he made it personal. He said that the comments are especially disturbing from an individual who is supposed to be familiar with “the black experience.” Really pastor? Did you have to stoop so low to question this man’s “blackness?”

“But I guess we…have to ask, ‘Even though he is black because his father was, what is his “black experience”?’ He doesn’t have any. He was raised by a white mother and a white grandmother, so this man has about as much black experience as my Doberman Pinscher — and I guarantee [that] my Doberman Pinscher doesn’t have any,” he points out. “There is nothing, nothing that compares between what the Afro-Americans went through and what homosexuals are going through now.” Source: One News Now

He has also expressed some anger towards evangelical who still support President Obama despite his position on policies that are at odds with scriptures. I wonder who he supported? President George W. Bush perhaps? He said such individuals are part of the “evangellyfish” movement in America.

“A person can be as black as a piece of coal, [but] if he goes against God’s biblical views, I would not support him, I would not endorse him, I would not even give a smile in his direction so people could even think that I endorse him,” he states, “because God is my God, the Bible is my playbook, and I run it the way it is written.” Source: One News Now

Also evident in Pastor Hutcherson’s discourse is the issue of comparability to the civil rights struggle. The experiences are similar in some regards, but I have yet to see the widespread racism, including lynchings against many gays and lesbians. There have been isolated cases of hate crimes documented. There was widespread segregation in the United States during the Civil Rights struggle that is clearly absent from the struggles of gays and lesbians. Gays and lesbians aren’t being barred from attending schools, nor do they have to use separate facilities. Though the experience is different, the struggle for acceptance is the same and should be embraced. A person should not be discriminated against and denied basic rights because of their sexual orientation, creed or race.

During the speech, President Obama suggested that Christians who oppose homosexuality on biblical grounds hold to “worn arguments and old attitudes.” Well, that seems to be an issue for many Christians based on their interpretation of the Bible. Personally, I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman, however, it is not fair and right to deny them the rights and benefits they deserve. I think people have forgotten that the Bible is of an oral tradition and there are many instances in which some things held as Biblical truths have been disputed on this basis. The bigger issue for me is the hypocrisy in many pulpits across this country and a “do as I say and not as I do” mentality. It is so easy to criticize someone “blackness” rather than deal with the issues that confront us everyday. Let’s be fair, it is reprehensible for the military to dismiss someone who serves his or her country faithfully just because he or she has openly admitted being gay. The church role of the church is to unite, not to divide.