Why The Flap Over Duck Dynasty Mattered

There are a lot of people who could care less about this whole Duck Dynasty fiasco. There are some right now who just want it to go away.  I don't even want to stir it up again, but I want you to know why it mattered to some of us.

One out of three gay/bisexual/trans-gendered teens will attempt suicide.  Some will die and some will actually be killed by other people. America is still looked on as a leader by the rest of the world and we shouldn't be letting this happen in our own backyard.

Yes, there is what appears to be a passage in the Bible that calls homosexuality a sin.  From what we know about it scientifically it's something that occurs in nature.  So what do you do?  My suggestion is simple, even if you take the Bible literally (and you don't or you wouldn't be reading this) wouldn't it be best to err on the side of acceptance? You can't beat the gay out of a kid either physically or mentally and I don't know why you'd try. And why are just gays being called out as "sinners"?  There's a bunch more groups that could be called out, so why just this group?  I don't get it. If I'm correct, according to the Bible, we're all "sinners" so why just pick on one set of people?

What I do get is that I work with a lot of kids each and every year and a lot of them are very confused. Their hormones are going crazy, their parents are on their backs, they don't know what it means to be an adult and some are confused about their sexuality.  You know what I do for them?  I hug them.  I don't care if they're gay, straight or stinky. I hug every single one of them every single chance they get.  If they look like they're having a bad day, I might double back later and hug them again. I can tell you right now that those hugs are more powerful than anything you can say.  The problem is, there's a lot of kids out there and not enough hugs to go around.  One more thing.  Accusing gay kids of "sinning" doesn't turn them straight, it turns them against you.

So forgive me for throwing this one last thing out here.  For me, speaking up was about saving lives.  Happy Christmas everybody! Let's all play nice!