Integrity USA, the voice of advocacy for LGBT Christians in the Episcopal Church, has issued a “call to action” to the Episcopal Church following the suicide of Tyler Clementi at Rutgers this week. Clementi is the fourth young person in the month of September to have committed suicide because of bullying and teasing due to their sexuality.
“We challenge our clergy in the Episcopal Church to take to their pulpits this Sunday to speak out against all forms of bullying and the systemic homophobia behind it. We need to be reminded, over and over again, of the promise of our baptismal covenant: to respect the dignity of every human being.
We challenge the people in our church pews and in our communities to speak out whenever our young gay brothers and sisters are attacked. Statistics show that 9 out of 10 gay youth have been bullied and sadly, too often it goes unreported. It is time that we reclaim the rights of our young people to be safe in the context of who they are.
We challenge our politicians and government leaders to pass legislation to end any existing discriminatory laws or policies against the LGBT community.
We challenge each other to always be the face and hands of God in the world to spread love and acceptance.”
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