Billboards in Indianapolis Show Biblical Support for Homosexuality

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Billboards in Indianapolis Show Biblical Support for Homosexuality

by JewsOnFirst.org, April 26, 2007

David loved Jonathan more than women! states a billboard appearing around Indianapolis. Jesus affirmed a gay couple! says another billboard.

These and several other billboard messages, along with yard signs, bumper stickers and t-shirts are blanketing Indianapolis in a campaign to promote awareness of biblical support for homosexuality.

Last week two of the billboards were defaced.

The campaign is, nevertheless, garnering support from the public, according to Rev. Jeff Miner, senior pastor of Jesus Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in Indianapolis. "About half of the communications are wonderful," he said in a telephone interview. People who are supportive say the messages make sense to them, said Miner.

Jesus MCC is coordinating the campaign with support from Faith in America, a national organization devoted to ending religious bigotry against LGBT people, and the MCC denomination. Jesus MCC and the two organizations collaborated in a billboard campaign in Indianapolis last year. (More here.)

Challenging assumptions
The campaign challenges widespread notions of what the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament say about homosexuality. Each of the messages includes a biblical citation and directs readers to the WouldJesusDiscriminate.com website, where they will find more detailed explanations.

The explanatory text for the Ruth loved Naomi billboard says:

Ruth loved Naomi as Adam loved Eve The same Hebrew word that is used in Genesis 2:24 to describe how Adam felt about Eve (and how spouses are supposed to feel toward each other) is used in Ruth 1:14 to describe how Ruth felt about Naomi. Her feelings are celebrated, not condemned.
And throughout Christian history, Ruth's vow to Naomi has been used to illustrate the nature of the marriage covenant. These words are often read at Christian wedding ceremonies and used in sermons to illustrate the ideal love that spouses should have for one another. The fact that these words were originally spoken by one woman to another tells us a lot about how God feels about same-gender relationships.

The WouldJesusDiscriminate website then offers a sermon further exploring the topic.

The website also addresses biblical passages used by the religious right to condemn homosexuality.

Vandals deface billboards
In one instance, vandals painted "lie" several times across a billboard. In another, they obliterated the word "gay" from the message "The early church welcomed a gay man."

A news release issued tonight by the campaign said that volunteers placing yard signs reported being stalked by individuals in vehicles, who had the apparent purpose of removing the signs.

Despite the attacks, Rev. Jeff Miner said he believes that many people will ponder the affirmative messages. "When they hear it the first time, often their reaction will be 'that just can't be so!'" But, he continued, after several exposures to the message of acceptance, some people "will stop to ask themselves, 'can this be true?'"

Miner believes that if ten percent of the population has such a change of perspective, then "we will have reached the tipping point" to gay acceptance.

He said that people wanting to support the billboard campaign can contribute to Faith in America, or the Jesus MCC.