Daimyen

@AquaGloss You’re welcome. It’s up to you if you believe that ”God’s way” as you see it is the best way - although I hope meeting genuinely good people who believe differently will eventually make you change your mind. It’s the ”harmful to society” rhetoric that’s not true and leads to real harm to LGBTQ people.
            
            Theology is quite interesting. I have been reading on critical Bible studies, the history of Christianity, comparison with Judaism, the cultural context and all that stuff for a few years whenever I have time (getting my students through the pandemic has taken most of my free time lately, though). I recommend seeking resources that don’t advertise biblical inerrancy. When inerrancy enters the picture, honesty gets thrown out of the window (trust me, I have seen all the excuses why murdering babies is supposedly good and just in the Old Testament).

@MidwestMagic I’m not really familiar with those groups you mentioned. The Catholic hardliners seen in the media certainly seem politically motivated (just look at the blatant favoritism in the Supreme Court when Christians want exemptions from laws), but the Wattpadders look just like a bunch of kids who have been indictrinated to make clear to everyone that they don’t support LGBT. The good ones don’t really know why and can be reasoned with. The rest get all insulted that I’m not respecting their religious beliefs when I don’t accept being called harmful. My existence and value are not a religious belief we can agree to disagree on. Period.
            
            Overall, I find American ”conservative” Christianity (progressives are cool, and I especially like Old Catholics) a strange kind of creature. I was taught Christianity in school and attending church at the end of semester was mandatory. The overall topics were always love, charity and not judging others. Only fringe groups made ”sexual purity” their focus (it was a common joke that they couldn’t have laundry machines with see-through windows since seeing underwear being washed was such a scandal). Then the school I worked in hired an evangelical who had grown up as a missionary in Africa and graduated from an university in USA. Even local Christian teachers considered him too extreme, and he absolutely hated how loved and respected I was. Of course he never said that out loud - I only figured it out after he had left (his contract wasn’t renewed since he wasn’t actually teaching what he was hired to teach and he made some really problematic anti-Muslim and racist statements). But it must have been eating him alive that instead of condemning me to hell, the local Christians praised me as ”the most Jesus-like person they had ever met” (a bit awkward, but I do try to live out his command of sacrificial love, because it’s a right thing to do).

@MidwestMagic Good to hear the input of a sensible Christian. Unfortunately, it’s no longer just Southern Baptists. It’s pretty much everyone calling themselves conservative evangelicals, with some conservative Catholics thrown in the mix. At some point opposing LGBTQ people became the most important thing in their faith.

@Daimyen it's literally so sick

@Daimyen happy holidays! Glad you finally get some peace

@Di_Rossi Thanks. My students have been great this far. It’s just…the overall political climate, I guess. That denying the full humanity of people like me and portraying us as threats to women, children and the entire society is used to gather support - and that it works.

@Daimyen  I'm really, really sorry to hear that you're personally affected by such nonsense. But, this is a time of beliefs rising to the surface and a readjustment of viewpoint on many topic. There are those who are clinging to the past because change scares them, but there are more who are silently reevaluating. 
            
            The best we can do is speak our truth and allow others to speak theirs, even if we radically disagree. Simply the fact that you are willing to put in the effort to speak for hours to your students is having a positive impact...even if it might, at times, not look like it on the surface. Hang in there, it's worth it.  
            
            It may be slightly cliched now, but Ghandi's words are true: be the change you want to see in the world. Be the light. But take care of yourself too. Self care is not a luxury in these times, it's a necessity. :-)

@islandapricots Hi! Survived the school year, haven't caught covid and got my first vaccine yesterday, so I'd say that's pretty good. There's a ton of work to do during summer to avoid the autumn semester turning into a disaster, though. Higher-ups really should learn that the proper way to react to change isn't "we'll look into that later". I really don't like situations when I have to struggle every evening to have some materials to teach the next day.
            
            How about you?

The free college (or at least heavily reduced) sounds really good. Affordable healthcare would be amazing (especially for prematures), I think in the primaries and in 2024 Gen Z (my generation) will hopefully turn out in huge numbers and make America better. I really hope Biden focus heavily on climate change (green new deal) and education. @Daimyen

@islandapricots I don’t think USA as a whole was ready for Sanders yet. First the country needs to heal from the chaos caused by Trump. Here’s to hoping that by the next election everyone over there understands that social democracy is a good thing. We have one (free university education, affordable healthcare, paid maternal leave, workers’ rights, etc.) and it’s far from communism. Yeah, everybody probably pays more taxes (mine are around 23% and I have middle class income), but everybody also gets the benefits.

I WAS SUPER HAPPY THIS MORNING. I cried while I was holding a pot cover and a sponge. I heard my mom gasp, then looked at the TV. That’s when the tears started.
            
            I really hope this whole hateful rhetoric goes away too. I think it will dwindle down soon and people realize their wrong ways. I did hear about Biden being seen as conservative in other countries/continents. I really wish we had Bernie Sanders or Andrew Yang. The far-right has been super scary. @Daimyen