The Respectful Decline
I had an interesting encounter this week.
As I've mentioned before, my company recently launched Pride Radio which streams from prideradiodfw.com. Our sister stations (106.1 Kiss FM, Mix 102.9, and 102.1 The Edge) all agreed to promote Pride Radio, which means I had to help produce some audio to air on those stations that would tease Pride Radio and direct people to our website. So I wrote some copy, sent it through the approval process, and sent it to the guys who would produce the promos and add all the bells and whistles to make the finished pieces sound good. One of the guys produced his promos with no problem. The other guy respectfully declined because it was regarding a gay radio station.
Let's call him Aaron. Aaron has been really nice this week in explaining how he feels, and I respect where he's coming from. He's quite conflicted about any association with Pride Radio, and it seems to be more than just a way to get out of some work. Ha! I couldn't resist. Seriously, Aaron is a Christian, and just can't rationalize working on a project that he doesn't fundamentally agree with.
After I sent him the promo assignment (not knowing about his issues at the time), he said he spent the next several days looking up scripture on homosexuality and evaluating the arguments for and against it. After doing so, since he couldn't say that homosexuality was not a sin, he declined to work on the promo.
He knows that I'm a Christian and a lesbian and that I've been over the subject from every possible angle, and he respects that. He doesn't agree or understand, but he respects it. We were able to talk about that a little bit at work yesterday, but it's hard to go into much depth when we're surrounded by control boards and wav files and my KT Tunstall song is counting down under 45 seconds in the next room. But we were able to talk a little bit agreed that we each have the utmost respect for the other and may not completely empathize, but we certainly don't think less of the other for having a different opinion. I gave Aaron a copy of my book today, and about a hour later I saw him walking down the hallway with it, with his fingers marking what seemed to be the section discussing the biblical passages. I'll be interested to hear his reaction once he's finished reading. It's encouraging to know that he's really taking the time to consider different opinions, even if he never adopts them as his own.
This is new territory for me. There have been times over the past five years when I've felt like a bit of an outcast at work because I'm a lesbian. But now that the company is embracing Pride Radio with such enthusiasm and overall openness is increasing, I have absolutely no reason to feel even the most remote sense of fear or discomfort. And I don't. But now it seems that Aaron is feeling that uneasiness, as a Christian. A fundamentalist would say this uneasiness is evidence of the sin of the world creeping into every nook and cranny of what used to be a wholesome existence, but perhaps there is more to the story than that. Perhaps it just means that some Christians are being challenged in ways that they have not been challenged before, and that God is asking them to find new ways to embrace and understand. Perhaps folks like me, who are both gay and Christian, can be the ones to help effectively bridge that gap.
I love what Aaron said to me about declining to produce the Pride Radio promo. He said, "I just hope nobody else hears about this, and feels like I'm judging them....I'm really not....I'm judging myself more than anything. Sometimes I get caught up on something, and get COMPLETELY freaked out about it. I start worrying about whether I'm doing the right thing or not, and then I get all legalistic about it. Sometimes I forget about grace."
It seems that he has plenty of grace. And by his example, I am reminded that I must have it too.
As I've mentioned before, my company recently launched Pride Radio which streams from prideradiodfw.com. Our sister stations (106.1 Kiss FM, Mix 102.9, and 102.1 The Edge) all agreed to promote Pride Radio, which means I had to help produce some audio to air on those stations that would tease Pride Radio and direct people to our website. So I wrote some copy, sent it through the approval process, and sent it to the guys who would produce the promos and add all the bells and whistles to make the finished pieces sound good. One of the guys produced his promos with no problem. The other guy respectfully declined because it was regarding a gay radio station.
Let's call him Aaron. Aaron has been really nice this week in explaining how he feels, and I respect where he's coming from. He's quite conflicted about any association with Pride Radio, and it seems to be more than just a way to get out of some work. Ha! I couldn't resist. Seriously, Aaron is a Christian, and just can't rationalize working on a project that he doesn't fundamentally agree with.
After I sent him the promo assignment (not knowing about his issues at the time), he said he spent the next several days looking up scripture on homosexuality and evaluating the arguments for and against it. After doing so, since he couldn't say that homosexuality was not a sin, he declined to work on the promo.
He knows that I'm a Christian and a lesbian and that I've been over the subject from every possible angle, and he respects that. He doesn't agree or understand, but he respects it. We were able to talk about that a little bit at work yesterday, but it's hard to go into much depth when we're surrounded by control boards and wav files and my KT Tunstall song is counting down under 45 seconds in the next room. But we were able to talk a little bit agreed that we each have the utmost respect for the other and may not completely empathize, but we certainly don't think less of the other for having a different opinion. I gave Aaron a copy of my book today, and about a hour later I saw him walking down the hallway with it, with his fingers marking what seemed to be the section discussing the biblical passages. I'll be interested to hear his reaction once he's finished reading. It's encouraging to know that he's really taking the time to consider different opinions, even if he never adopts them as his own.
This is new territory for me. There have been times over the past five years when I've felt like a bit of an outcast at work because I'm a lesbian. But now that the company is embracing Pride Radio with such enthusiasm and overall openness is increasing, I have absolutely no reason to feel even the most remote sense of fear or discomfort. And I don't. But now it seems that Aaron is feeling that uneasiness, as a Christian. A fundamentalist would say this uneasiness is evidence of the sin of the world creeping into every nook and cranny of what used to be a wholesome existence, but perhaps there is more to the story than that. Perhaps it just means that some Christians are being challenged in ways that they have not been challenged before, and that God is asking them to find new ways to embrace and understand. Perhaps folks like me, who are both gay and Christian, can be the ones to help effectively bridge that gap.
I love what Aaron said to me about declining to produce the Pride Radio promo. He said, "I just hope nobody else hears about this, and feels like I'm judging them....I'm really not....I'm judging myself more than anything. Sometimes I get caught up on something, and get COMPLETELY freaked out about it. I start worrying about whether I'm doing the right thing or not, and then I get all legalistic about it. Sometimes I forget about grace."
It seems that he has plenty of grace. And by his example, I am reminded that I must have it too.
posted by Jen Austin at 6:32 PM
1 Comments:
Jen,
Glad to see you back to blogging...and always making a difference by sharing your truth. Keep doing what you're doing...one person at a time!
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