Mormons<\/a>, and white evangelicals. More Catholics and mainline Protestants support marriage equality than don\u2019t, and Jews are more likely to support marriage equality than are those who are unaffiliated. And for that matter, a full 20 percent of evangelicals themselves strongly support marriage equality.<\/p>\nEvangelicals are very good at controlling the conversation and framing the questions. The paint a world in which atheists simply hate God and a world in which marriage equality is something being forced on on unwilling and victimized Christians. Neither is true. I personally think it\u2019s important to counter these mistaken narratives. Why? Well for one thing, because evangelicals stand to benefit if they can convince people that the push for marriage equality is a war \u201cthe homosexual agenda\u201d is waging on Christianity. But if it\u2019s clear that there is actually disagreement within Christianity\u2014that there are Christians who fully support LGBTQ rights and believe that marriage equality is God\u2019s will\u2014well, that changes the story an destroys the evangelical narrative.<\/p>\n
I also think we need to remember that marriage equality is not the only LGBTQ rights issue. I think it became the centerpiece in the discussion in part because it is such an emotional appealing issue\u2014who can be against love?\u2014but I think we need to remember that it\u2019s not the only battle out there. There are also basic things like access to healthcare and protections against housing and employment discrimination.<\/p>\n
And as a side note, my (straight female) friend and I definitely got mistaken for a lesbian couple by a reporter at the rally this evening. Now that\u2019s<\/em> not something that\u2019s happened to me before!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This evening I went to a marriage equality rally outside of my town’s courthouse. The first speaker was the pastor of one of a local Christian church. She started her address by saying that she wants to challenge the common conception that being Christian meant being anti-gay. I agree with her on the importance of challenging this conception, an think that it’s extremely important not to let the Christian Right control the narrative. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[110,106],"class_list":["post-14164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicalism-fundamentalism","tag-lgbtq","tag-marriage-2"],"yoast_head":"\n
Christians Divided on Marriage Equality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This evening I went to a marriage equality rally outside of my town's courthouse. The first speaker was the pastor of one of a local Christian church. She started her address by saying that she wants to challenge the common conception that being Christian meant being anti-gay. I agree with her on the importance of challenging this conception, an think that it's extremely important not to let the Christian Right control the narrative.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christians Divided on Marriage Equality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This evening I went to a marriage equality rally outside of my town's courthouse. The first speaker was the pastor of one of a local Christian church. She started her address by saying that she wants to challenge the common conception that being Christian meant being anti-gay. I agree with her on the importance of challenging this conception, an think that it's extremely important not to let the Christian Right control the narrative.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-27T01:44:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-26T18:54:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/publicreligion.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/GotW-SameSex-Marriage-Religions-3-4-13-FINAL.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html\",\"name\":\"Christians Divided on Marriage Equality\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-27T01:44:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-26T18:54:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"This evening I went to a marriage equality rally outside of my town's courthouse. The first speaker was the pastor of one of a local Christian church. She started her address by saying that she wants to challenge the common conception that being Christian meant being anti-gay. I agree with her on the importance of challenging this conception, an think that it's extremely important not to let the Christian Right control the narrative.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christians Divided on Marriage Equality\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \\\"purity culture,\\\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Christians Divided on Marriage Equality","description":"This evening I went to a marriage equality rally outside of my town's courthouse. The first speaker was the pastor of one of a local Christian church. She started her address by saying that she wants to challenge the common conception that being Christian meant being anti-gay. I agree with her on the importance of challenging this conception, an think that it's extremely important not to let the Christian Right control the narrative.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christians Divided on Marriage Equality","og_description":"This evening I went to a marriage equality rally outside of my town's courthouse. The first speaker was the pastor of one of a local Christian church. She started her address by saying that she wants to challenge the common conception that being Christian meant being anti-gay. I agree with her on the importance of challenging this conception, an think that it's extremely important not to let the Christian Right control the narrative.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html","og_site_name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","article_published_time":"2013-03-27T01:44:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-01-26T18:54:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/publicreligion.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/GotW-SameSex-Marriage-Religions-3-4-13-FINAL.jpg"}],"author":"Libby Anne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Libby Anne","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html","name":"Christians Divided on Marriage Equality","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-03-27T01:44:37+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-26T18:54:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2"},"description":"This evening I went to a marriage equality rally outside of my town's courthouse. The first speaker was the pastor of one of a local Christian church. She started her address by saying that she wants to challenge the common conception that being Christian meant being anti-gay. I agree with her on the importance of challenging this conception, an think that it's extremely important not to let the Christian Right control the narrative.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/03\/christians-divided-on-marriage-equality.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christians Divided on Marriage Equality"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/","name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2","name":"Libby Anne","description":"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \"purity culture,\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/publicreligion.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/GotW-SameSex-Marriage-Religions-3-4-13-FINAL.jpg\")
<\/p>\n