"Wait!"

 I was talking to a friend of mine tonight and the issue of LGBT rights came up in regards to the Episcopal Church and the approval of Same-Sex Blessings. There are dioceses such as Mississippi (where I grew up) and Alabama (where I live now) that will not allow for the liturgy approved by the national church to happen. This creates second-class Episcopalians. I am an Episcopalian who can participate in all but two sacraments in the Diocese of Mississippi: marriage and ordainment into holy orders. If I were heterosexual, these sacraments would be open to me to participate in.

This post is not going to be one where I talk about the injustice of the oppression of these rights. Yes, they are unjust. This post is to ask the question of those LGBT allies and progressives who say things will come in time, that we just have to wait for the waters to warm up to this inclusion.

The question I have to those who say 'wait' is: what makes 'wait' different than 'no'?

My academic career has been centered around race and civil rights. Studying that progression and movement definitely has some lessons for the fight for LGBT rights in this country and around the world. What came to mind specifically tonight is an excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from the Birmingham City Jail....

 We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."


At the time of the Civil Rights Movement, the payoff of 'waiting' was that you could politically keep votes. States and citizens can support a politician who is either deliberately not taking a stance or saying the time isn't right. Stop waiting? You would lose votes. So what many politicians did was to tell King and other leaders "slow down," "wait," "these things take time." As long as they said that, they didn't have to act and thus lose votes.


This issue in the church isn't that much different. Bishops and dioceses and priests are saying "wait" and "these things take time" and "it's complicated." Are votes at stake here? No. What's at stake for dioceses and churches is very clear: people and money. Take a stance? Lose congregations and their donations. Stay on the fence and insist that you're "working things out"? People and their checks will stick around.


Now don't get me confused. When I say the dioceses and churches will lose money, I'm not talking about it the same as when Wal-Mart or Patagonia loses money. When a church or a diocese loses money and congregants, they lose the abilities to support outreach and offer support to their own churches. This, I will admit, is a good thing to fight for.


This, however, does not change the message sent to the LGBT community. "Wait" = "No."

The Civil Rights Movement, had it 'waited' would STILL not see progress today. EVEN with the measures and laws to protect African-Americans, there isn't full support. Bigotry still exists out there, racism still exists.

I've heard it said that in order to address the rights of the LGBT community, we first have to be all on board about racial rights. That "wait" is a resounding and loud "never." If we wait for everyone to 'be ok' with social change and justice, then we will wait until the world ends.


So forgive me if you tell me that you're boycotting Chick-fil-a and then in the next sentence tell me it's just not the right time for LGBT rights and I take it as an insult.

We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

A fresh new start

Anyone who has been following me for the past two years through facebook or here on my blog knows that the years 2010- beginning 2012 were not my favorite years of life.. by a long shot. Going from the disappointment of coming back from California, almost a year of unemployment and then being faced with the most challenging/horrendous job I've ever had (I don't see how ANYone can voluntarily decide to be around 7th graders)... it's been a rough ride. That's not to say that nothing good happened during that time. I was able to regroup with the people who love me giving me support, I had a great time leading the Gulf Coast EYC, I loved my home parish of St. Peter's By the Sea.... there definitely were bright spots. I did for a long time feel that I had no direction, though... that I was just merely passing time before something big came along. That something DID come along.

So here I am, in Tuscaloosa, in my very own apartment, waiting on the rest of my 36 books for two classes to come in so I can begin a doctorate program in history at The University of Alabama. I'm excited and for a good bit since I accepted the offer, I had no worries or nervousness. That's changed. The gravity of what I'm starting has hit. Whatever I write, whatever I manage to get published, in these five or six years (the longest I'll have lived in one place since my sophomore year in high school), will directly determine where I'll find a job. That's not to say I'm going to be "no-fun-pants Montgomery.." but I'm not going to repeat the approach of Sewanee.

BUT, the whole point of this blog post, besides airing my nervousness, is to simply put into words the awe that I have for this next phase of life. I'm going back to school and when I emerge, I will be Dr. Blount Montgomery and that still amazes me. I have the opportunity to really take the changes I need in my life to live better.... I can take my health more seriously, I will HAVE to take my finances more seriously. I can strive to be a better person and make great friends and put my name out there in a positive manner. I can move beyond the reruns of feeling inadequate (this feeling brought to you by teaching 7th graders for a year) and really step up my game. I've been given a fresh start and I will take full advantage of it.

I'd also like to take this time to thank y'all. If you're reading this, it's likely that you've encouraged me, let me vent to you, took me out for drinks, let me cry or just remind me that you're there for me for the past few years and I thank every single one of you. Some of you reading this might be people I met on the West Coast. Despite the circumstances of my leaving, I value my time there and all I learned in those months.


It's not too often that we're faced with an opportunity to start over in a dramatic way, but when we are faced with that opportunity, it should not be a time to shrug through, or coast on auto-pilot. It is time to step up, to speak out, and to make sure it all counts to someone, if only yourself....