Don't Bury Sexual Justice Under Common Ground

A new exit poll commissioned by Faith in Public Life in Tennessee and Missouri reports with apparent relief that white evangelical voters are nearly twice as likely to rank jobs and the economy as the most important issues rather than abortion and same sex marriage. Still, between one in five and one in seven voters ranked these as the MOST important issues. Iraq came in a distant third.

Now, I'm not sure how I would answer the question of what is the MOST important issue, for surely as I evaluate the candidates I am looking for their positions on many issues and just as importantly, their experience, their character, and their ability to lead the country (as well as win the election.)

But I do know that their positions on sexual justice matter. As Tim Palmer and I wrote in an article published in the January/February issue of Tikkun, http://tikkun.org/magazine/tik0801/frontpage/sexual_justice, "We must resist the temptation to bury sexual justice beneath common ground. We agree that the moral issues at stake are broader than the mainstream media would suggest. In fact, they are all woven together. And the irony is, if we push aside women ’s reproductive rights and LGBT inclusion, we could do real harm to the very constituencies we agree we are called to serve: children and the poor." The rest of the article goes on to lay out the reasons that those concerned with economic justice must be concerned with sexual justice as well. Read the full article here on sexual justice and morality here.

It is so important that progressive people of faith speak out to make sure that such issues as full legal rights for LGBT persons, stem cell research, sexuality education, HIV/AIDS prevention and services, pay equity, family leave, reproductive health services including safe and legal abortion, and women's rights are addressed from our faith perspectives in the months ahead.

P.S. Please take a moment to vote for this blog, "Sexuality and Religion: What's the Connection" at http://uupdates.net/uublogawards Voting ends on Friday; it will only take a minute. I'd really appreciate your support.

AIDS: Silence Is Still Deadly

Today's New York Times reports that HIV rates have increased dramatically among men under 30 in the last five years, including doubling among teenage gay men since 2001.

Their opinion piece suggests that these young men don't remember the early scourge of the epidemic, and that they think that retrovirals mean that AIDS is manageable. I also think that it is important to remember that young people under 30 have ALWAYS lived with the HIV/AIDS epidemic -- remember that the first cases of AIDS were in the early 1980's, the HIV virus was identified in 1985, the year that today's 22 year olds were born. HIV/AIDS has always been there for today's teen and young adults, and that breeds I fear a certain level of complacency.

But, I agree with the NY TIMES editorial staff that the far larger culprit is that society has become complacent, the red AIDS ribbon seen as trite, the in your face education campaigns fewere and fewer. And I believe a real part of the culprit is the lack of comprehensive sexuality education and lectures that teach that condoms aren't foolproof which has resulted in teens NOT having the information or skills to protect themselves.

Thanks to the editors for reminding their readers that "silence is still deadly." And to this minister, immoral.

Holiday musings

I spent the weekend getting into the holiday season. I went into New York City with a friend to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree and the decorated store windows. We went to our church carol sing on Saturday night, and yesterday, I began decorating the house. Somehow, the box with our stockings has disappeared. It seems like every year, something we just know we put away has gone into hiding.

(Did you read "The Borrowers" when you were growing up? It's still the best explanation I know for what happens to those missing socks, spools of thread, and so on...although I don't know what they did with our Christmas stockings!)

My holiday mood was marred by some of the news of the weekend. Did Mike Huckabee really say that people with AIDS should be isolated? (Apparently he did.) Did the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin really voted to leave the Episcopal Church because of its position on homosexuality? (It did.) Did Rudy Guiliani really back away from his support of gay rights on Meet the Press?

Sometimes I think I need a sabbath from the news completely.

But, I'm determined this holiday season to stay present...to not turn the season into one gigantic "to do" list but to celebrate the traditions I enjoy and to let go of those I don't....to take time each day to breathe and meditate...to slow down rather than to speed up. I hope you will as well.

Check This Out

The tragedy of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is not only in the tens of millions of lives losts but in the failure of governments to respond in ways that are known to protect people against infection with HIV.

I've just learned about a new book by Helen Epstein, The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS that sounds like a must read.

You can read the heartbreaking analysis yourself in the August 16, 2007 of The New York Review Of Books.

I've written many times that every new case of HIV transmission results from a lack of political and moral will to do what we know must be done for prevention. Epstein's book shows just how true that is.