Guest Blog: Reflections on Indiana Law by Donna Savage

NOTE; This guest blog article was written by a dear friend of mine, Donna Savage. I worked with her for many years at Vineyard Music Group. She is a follower of Jesus, and a friend, and she is Gay. 

I ask that you, my readers, listen to what she has to share and please, dear ones, temper your comments with much love. I will post a blog here later in the week with my own thoughts and comments about this post.

Thanks,

-kg
**

I find it interesting as I read and listen to the different opinions on the whole Indiana "Religious Freedom Restoration" ordeal. The proponents for this law consistently speak of how this law protects people of faith in juxtaposition to the liberal's agenda of tolerance.

Can I just say that there are many, many liberals who are people of faith. I am a person of faith. Yet, because I am also a lesbian, am I automatically considered a liberal... with no faith? I'll be the first to say that many of my viewpoints are liberal. I, however, hold many conservative viewpoints, as well. There is a delicate balancing act I find myself in as I try to live authentically in community with both my liberal and conservative friends.

What I would like you to hear, is that as a liberal, I do not take my relationship with God lightly. If you know me well, you know that my faith in God is not only central in my life, it is based on my understanding and belief of, not only God's love for me, but his love for all of us. When I hear comments about this law that polarize the sides, as people of faith vs. the liberals, I struggle with trying not to be offended. Namely, because as I have said, I am a person of faith, as well as, a lesbian, as well as, a liberal-conservative.

If I lived in Indiana, the religious freedom law would not protect me as a person of faith. Although I have faith, I would still be penalized due to being a lesbian. Not all "people of faith" are being protected by this law. The reality is that doctrinal interpretations have now been attached to our legal system. Today it is legal to not sell to a gay person... tomorrow, will it be legal to kill a gay person for being gay? (There is an initiative being proposed for that very thing here in California! It's not as far fetched as you may think!) This subtle law in Indiana only protects a segment of Americans. It merely protects the faith or beliefs of a certain group of people, who hold a certain doctrine. In my understanding, this is discriminatory.

And this law, in my opinion, is the antithesis of the words written in our constitution, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,..."

If there are laws to keep me out of the public market place due to our differences in doctrine, than that is discrimination and I am not being treated as an equal.

Governor Pence said, "There needs to be tolerance on both sides."

The difference in our tolerance is this: the laws that enable me to marry the person I love does not ask or compel a heterosexual to become a homosexual for my marriage to take place. It merely provides me with the same civil liberties and rights that heterosexuals enjoy. I promise that if I ever get married, I will never require my heterosexual friends to become homosexuals! I not only tolerate your heterosexuality, I think it's great... for you! However, with this law, which protects business owners who hold the doctrine or viewpoint that who I am is sinful and therefore, they are not required to treat me as an equal and sell their goods to me... unless, of course, I stop sinning and become a heterosexual like them, is just... intolerant and quite frankly, ugly.

I think it is safe to say, if I should get married, and I am protected under the law to do so, you as a heterosexual, will not die. However, hypothetically speaking, every store owner in any given city in Indiana could legally hold this religious freedom restoration viewpoint and be protected by the law in doing so. If I, as a liberal lesbian, lived there and could not buy food, I could literally die of starvation. How can that ever be ok? Their faith/doctrine is now protected over and above my right to life? Exaggerated... yes, but now a possibility. In my mind, there is a huge difference between the tolerance we are asking each other to live by.

There is an ugliness that this law shadows. It doesn't protect people's beliefs, it protects their judgments.

As a Christian, as a lesbian, as an American, and as a human being, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is offensive to me. I applaud any person or organization who protests, boycotts, or advocates against this law in Indiana or in any other state in our country. Remember Martin Luther King's words, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." This law is a threat to justice everywhere.

-Donna Savage