Your past is important but it is not nearly as important to your present as the way you see your future.
Tony CampoloRead
When in fact we live in a society that makes life hell for gays and lesbians, this community has got to stand up and say, ‘We’re on your side as you struggle for dignity,’ and, ‘Yes, we will defy anybody who says otherwise, even if we have to go to Disneyland to prove it.’
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of supporting the LGBTQ+ community in their fight for dignity and acceptance.
Tony Campolo highlights the societal challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community and calls for solidarity from allies. He urges individuals to stand up against discrimination and demonstrates through the metaphor of 'going to Disneyland' that advocacy can take place in symbolic spaces, reinforcing that the struggle for dignity is a shared responsibility.
In practice
During a pride parade, this quote can be used to encourage more allies to join.
Your past is important but it is not nearly as important to your present as the way you see your future.
There are 2,000 verses of Scripture that tell us we must be committed to protecting the poor and the oppressed... There is no concern of Scripture that is addressed so often and so powerfully as reaching out to the poor.
Sadly, we do a much better job of making people feel guilty than we do of delivering them from the guilt we create. We need to confess this and change our ways.
Those issues are biblical issues: to care for the sick, to feed the hungry, to stand up for the oppressed. I contend that if the evangelical community became more biblical, everything would change.
I don't know how your theology works, but if Jesus has a choice between stained glass windows and feeding starving kids in Haiti, I have a feeling he'd choose the starving kids in Haiti.
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The unarmed man is not just defenseless - he is also contemptible.
Hope has returned to the hearts of scores of millions of men and women, and with that hope there burns the flame of anger against the brutal, corrupt invader ... In a dozen famous ancient States now prostrate under the Nazi yoke, the masses of the people ... await the hour of liberation ... That hour will strike, and its solemn peal will proclaim that the night is past and that the dawn has come.
I have hurt my community. I have to look myself in the mirror and know that, and I have to own that in order to grow past that.
What I find powerful is a person with the confidence to be her own self.
I'm a human being I'm not a piece of property. I am not a consignment of goods.
The power of good is shown not by triumphantly conquering evil, but by continuing to resist evil while facing certain defeat.
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