Yesterday I was asked about the “It Gets Better Project,” where LGBT teens are being encouraged to hang in there with their lifestyle sandwich choices. LGBT stands for Lettuce, Guacamole, Bacon, and Tomato, in stark contrast to the more normative BLT, like what regular people does.
Of course, the Ls and Bs and Gs (and soon to be added Ps and Qs) actually stand for various forms of sexual dyslexia, and I actually can’t believe that the Ps and Qs have been left out in the cold this long. Why aren’t they minding their Ps and Qs? Where is the UN on this? Wherefore all the hate? Of course, a dyslexic often muddles up his Ps and Qs, to such an extent that he sometimes finds himself in bed with a girl. Everything is so hard to keep track of sometimes.
The point of the “It Gets Better” campaign is ostensibly to encourage kids who are victims of bullying. But in order to eliminate this kind of bullying, our culture thinks it necessary to identify evangelical Christians, who believe what Scripture teaches about human sexuality, as contributors to the “climate of hate” in which such bullying can occur. This identification is, of course, a form of bullying. Natch.
But here is the difference. This project for LGBTs is a sentimentalist one, which means it is filled to the brim with various forms of guilt and resentment. It is not just a function of being picked on.
If it were just simply that, there would be a way of handling it. Christians have had their own “It Gets Better” program in place for a couple thousand years. When a believing teen is tagged as a Jesus freak and ostracized by others for his faith, he has a long history behind him of honored saints and martyrs. He is truly honored by a real community for doing something right, which is a genuine encouragement. It is an honor to be dishonored for the faith; it is a grace to be disgraced (Acts 5:41). You cannot get the same results by having a fake community try to praise and encourage you for doing something you are deeply ashamed of. So a word to conflicted teens — whenever you believe lies, it never gets better. It only gets deeper and darker.