I write this as captain of Melbourne Grammar School. I write this as someone who is gay,a fact about myself which I cannot change. I also write this as someone confused – surely “modelling Christian living” is not well exemplified in the practice of exclusion or discrimination?
The Christian faith is built on the example Christ set in his life. His revolutionary compassion,so radical then as it still is now – care for the outcasts,the lepers,the unclean – inform the values of Christianity and direct the moral constitution of the Church. Jesus shocked the established powers of his time,his love the instrument of a legacy which left a world faith developing in its wake.
His example leads me to wonder what Christ would make of this situation. If he was confronted with a body of young people – all,to remind the Presbyterian leaders,made in the image of God,in the imago dei – would he divide them and cast inequality among their ranks?
Would he tell a portion of them they could not lead their friends,simply because those they love are of the same sex? Well,Jesus did not condemn the adulterers,did not avoid the pariahs,and surely would not deem some more capable of Christian living than others because of the details of their sexuality.
I see nothing particularly Christ-like in telling a child that,because of some unchangeable fact about their identity,they cannot have a recognised position of respect among their peers. To be honest,what I do see is irrationality.
The beauty of my generation is its widespread,gentle disinterest for sexuality. My peers know I am gay and they do not much care,just as they do not much care that others are straight or of other sexualities. This strength in character,this security of identity,is characteristic of the best leaders,and the Presbyterian Church of Australia has a chance to demonstrate it too. Unfortunately,the current absence of such a positive and healthy outlook is harming both the place of organised religion in the modern world and the safety of adolescents.