"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."