The city council members of Washington, D.C. may have approved marriage equality in the District, and Congress may be unlikely to overturn the ordinance, but overcoming cultural and faith-based homophobia in black churches presents a new set of challenges, write a married heterosexual couple, both pastors with Covenant Baptist Church.
"Our church is the first and only traditional black church in the District of Columbia to perform same-sex unions," wrote Rev. Dennis W. Wiley and his wife, Rev. Christine Y. Wiley, in a Dec. 20 op-ed that appeared in The Washington Post. "We conducted our first two union ceremonies, one gay and one lesbian, in the summer of 2007. The rapid political developments that followed in our nation and our city have made us optimistic that by the summer of 2010, same-sex nuptials will not only be blessed by churches but also sanctioned by law in the District.
The Wileys, who also serve as co-chairs for the pro-family equality group D.C. Clergy United for Marriage Equality, recounted that the overwhelming approval of same-sex marriage equality in Washington, D.C. was opposed by only two councilmembers, both from wards with predominantly black constituents.
"We have seen that resistance and know it has deep cultural and historical roots," wrote the pastors. "But we have also seen that this resistance is not stuck in concrete."
The pastors recounted how before the first same-sex ceremony took place at Covenant Baptist Church, they sought "consensus" on the matter from their congregation. Although there seemed to be an initial wave of approval and acceptance, as time went on tensions mounted.
"The anger and dissension that had been bubbling erupted when a longtime church member confronted us at the end of the ceremony," the Wileys wrote. "She and scores of others who left the congregation afterward reminded us that the roots of homophobia run deep in the black community. The factors that have nurtured these beliefs over the years are complex.
When issues of gay rights and gay marriage come up, the first question many black people ask is, 'What does the Bible have to say about it?,'" noted the op-ed's authors. "This seemingly innocent question doesn't acknowledge that when we approach the Bible, our perspective has been shaped by where we were born, by whom we were raised, what Grandma taught us, where we went to school and what our pastor preached in church--usually conservative ideas on matters such as homosexuality."
Added the Wileys, "The conservative strand of black religion is evident in what Harvard professor Peter Gomes calls 'bibliolatry'--the practice of worshiping the Bible rather than worshiping God.
"It is also found in a 'literal' interpretation of the Bible that focuses more on the letter of the text than on its spirit, and concentrates on passages about domination, oppression, hierarchy, elitism and exclusion rather than on the major themes of love, justice, freedom, equality and inclusion that run through the Bible."
Source: Edge Boston | Kilian Melloy
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