Gay is the new black

In this sermon, Pastor Voddie Baucham introduces this topic and shows us how we have arrived at the false idea that "Gay is the new black". Gay is the new black in only one meaningful way. At present we are the most socially acceptable targets for the kind of casual hatred that American society once approved for habitual. The LGBT movement isn't just about gay rights in the same way that America isn't just black and white; and "gay is the new black" is increasingly out-of-date and out of touch with the moment.

Ten years ago this month, Orange Is the New Black (“ Orange”) premiered on Netflix, and cemented a new era of queer and streaming television. After 91 episodes, seven seasons, 21 Emmy. The civil rights issue of our time is gay marriage, and the key players in our country's most significant civil rights movement are on the wrong side of it.

The black church has taken on a new role: oppressor. Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages. The civil rights issue of our time is gay marriage, and the key players in our country's most significant civil rights movement are on the wrong side of it. The black church has taken on a new role: oppressor. As a black person born in the late '60s, I missed the actual Civil Rights Movement, but the remnants of oppression and stories of segregation were always fresh on my grandmother's mind.

It was her lessons in black history, literature, and Christianity that inspired me to be proud of my heritage. She did her best to teach me the value of diversity, and so I learned to love all people regardless of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or socioeconomic background. Although my grandmother taught me to love, she was not immune to her community's mores.

And so she also -- unconsciously -- taught me to deny the humanity of another human. My uncle one of her five sons is gay. For his entire childhood and young adult life he was teased and beaten by his brothers for being gay. Our family never spoke aloud about my uncle's homosexuality, and for decades we called his life partner, who was a kind and loving man, his "friend.

The LGBT movement isn't

This was being a good Christian in my family's eyes, but for me it was telling a lie and an act of oppression. Today, I am still shocked by the response of some of my black Christian friends to the plight of gay people in our nation. This is followed by the list of injustices blacks have experienced: the middle passage, slavery, lynching, rapes, and deaths.

I don't support the comparison. For me, the sufferings of a person or a group of people at the hands of other humans are frightening and heartbreaking. Instinctually, I feel that if any group can be oppressed, then I can be oppressed. Martin Luther King, Jr. We know firsthand the impact and dehumanization of discrimination. Like many black people, I was raised in the church. I was in church every Wednesday evening and all day Sunday.

There was Bible study, Sunday school, and services. I have some great memories of growing up in church.

However, when I became a young adult, I began to recognize a conflict in the church's "truth" and reality. Preachers and church members spoke of the sinful nature of homosexuality, but sometimes, the very people leading prayers, preaching, and participating in the choir were obviously gay. Living in Los Angeles, I've sat in some of the biggest megachurches and have been baffled to learn that some of these church leaders -- who preach that homosexuality is a sin -- are closeted gay people.

After watching a close friend's life come undone because of a scandal around her closeted gay husband, I left Christianity for good. Such hypocrisy in a place promoting spiritual growth was more than I could handle. Not all Christians oppose gay marriage because they are struggling with their own sexual orientation.

There are also those black Christians who oppose gay marriage because the Bible declares, in their interpretation of it, that homosexuality is a sin. This is their sincere belief and value system.