Please note, I'm using the term homophobic to indicate bias against sexual minorities; the terms heterosexism (bias against non-heterosexual persons) and genderism (attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender - including bias against gender nonconforming, transgender, genderfluid, and third/fourth gender persons) seem more accurate but in my experience a general audience isn't always familiar these terms.
I was already thinking about the church as an agent of social change when I read Denise Oliver Velez's post at DailyKos.
None of us—meaning people of color—can fix you. The only person who can begin to right these wrongs is you. Most of us don't live in your neighborhoods, nor do we work with you, or even go to school with you. Most of us aren't married to you. Most of you have white children, parents, in-laws, cousins and co-workers.Few of you get up each morning and say as you look in the mirror while you brush your teeth, "Today, I'm going out to do battle against racism." You aren't driven by that, your whole life is not shaped by being the wrong color, and though you may get outraged from time to time, when reminded by the more heinous offenses against us, it isn't your rallying cry. You expect us to lead the various poc civil rights movements from our own segregated spaces and you'll join in from time to time, or perhaps make a donation to "our" worthy causes. You don't wake up in the morning each day and say to yourselves—I have white privilege, and that's not alright.
You still go to family celebrations with racists. When at gatherings with none of us present rarely do you confront others there with you about their racism. What makes it harder is that you rarely look at your own unconscious acceptance of a world that allows racism and privilege to fester, boil and erupt.
Last week, I was the Art Of Hosting for faith communities. The question of hosting in culturally competent ways came up. What does it mean to host conversations in a racially diverse community? How do we work across cultural lines? Can the church which has for so long been a perpetrator of racism, sexism, homophobia and other biases and bigotries become an agent of positive transformation?