Kimberly Knight
Dear Roy,
I am grateful for the lawmakers in states around this beautiful and broken country who have the compassion and courage to lift up legislation that recognizes my LGBT sisters and brothers as full citizens in the land we share. I am prayerful that more states, like my own sweet Georgia will soon see the light of love filter in through the fragmented and cracked windows of justice. I am especially thankful for those men and women of faith who raise their voice every day, and hopefully the consciousness of our communities – for all of our sakes. You sir, are not one of those men.
Know this…my family’s rights shall not be determined by the capricious moods of the masses nor shall they be forestalled another moment by the willful ignorance and self-righteous grandstanding of hateful old men. Praise be for high courts who have ruled, are ruling and will rule again to bend the arc of the universe towards justice. Sometimes the in-breaking of grace and freedom must be vigorously fought for by the few who have been to the mountain top on behalf of those who are yet being thrown from the cliffs of intolerance.
If civil rights are left to the masses then the mothers, sisters and daughters you know and love would not have the right to cast their vote for the leaders they believe best represent their conscience and context.
If civil rights are left up to the masses then men, women and children throughout our great land would still be legally bound to eat at different lunch counters, drink from different fountains and attend racially segregated schools. Though from the friends you seem to be keeping these days, that might be just fine with you.
One citizen does not have the right, based on their hoarded privilege and power, to determine the civil rights of another. And you, dear Christian brother, do not have the authority to determine my sacred worth before God.
The United States of America is not a theocracy and though we are all called to vote our hearts, I will not leave my fate nor the fate of my children in the hands of the stingy and cruel hearts of those who wield the bible as a weapon rather than extending it as a beacon of love, truth and justice.
And because we do indeed hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness – I will not rest until this truth is manifest for everyone, everyone, everyone. Even me.
Your sister in Christ,
Kimberly
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