What do Obama, LGBT, and NBA have in common?

by Tony Shepherd, Regular Contributor

The NBA world experienced a surge of energy yesterday as veteran Jason Collins made public that he is gay. Why this is news is actually more newsworthy than the news itself, but it highlights the role that high profile affirmation plays in the LGBT community. It would hardly make news if a pro baller came out and said that he’s faithful to his wife. It would be no news if an NBA player came out and says that he only dates women. One gets the impression that the real reason behind the general interest in this story is because it’s known that the disclosure will provoke the kind of conversations that will provide the opportunity to once again prove us right wing wack jobs to be huge bigots.

Before I begin, let’s be reminded that Jason Collins is a real man who needs a real God that can deal with real sin with real grace. No Christian should be able to un-relate to that profile. We want to extend grace to actual people who are in the LGBT community.

I once had a person taken back by the fact that me, a black man who’s married to a white woman, would ever support the “anti-gay” movement. The argument went something like this: “Don’t you know that you are experiencing love with a woman who, 60 years ago, would not have been an option for you?” followed by, “You should be in support of gay marriage because it’s the same thing!” The problem, of course, is that I don’t defend my interracial marriage on civil rights grounds.

I have a Biblical worldview that sees all of humanity coming from one pair of ancestors, all plunged into sin, all called to repent, and all nations having redeemed representation in the New Heavens and New Earth. I see the very glory of God wrapped up in the diversity of the peoples. I don’t argue for interracial marriage on the grounds of, “Why not let me find love wherever I find it?!” We have positive Biblical categories for interracial marriage. We do not have positive Biblical categories for homosexuality.

This is why I am proud of Chris Broussard’s very well stated opposition to homosexuality. Chris wasn’t bigoted. Chris wasn’t unreasonable, condescending, nasty, illogical, or ashamed of the Bible. He made it clear that the Bible labels homosexuality as a sexual perversion. He made it clear that there’s incongruence with saying that you are a Christian while living in sin unrepentantly. He didn’t make excuses for the Bible, almost as if he wished it hadn’t been written in the Bible, but shucks, I guess I have to say what the Bible tells me to say. He owned it as his own position. It’s almost best to say that what Chris did was make a public statement of his support for the authority of the Bible more than a statement of opposition to homosexuality. I think I was most encouraged by hearing him boldly talk in that way.

Speaking of boldness, all this talk about Jason Collins’ announcement being brave and courageous (to millions of cheers and a call from President Obama) makes no sense when it’s really Chris Broussard who’s the media underdog. Jason was saying the popular thing. Chris said the unpopular thing.

What I find particularly interesting are the comments being left on blogs. In one blog, a person said that Mr. Broussard should leave his religion out of basketball and only talk about sports. He said this to almost 3 dozen “likes”. What’s ironic about his sentiment is that everyone is completely ok with Jason Collins using his NBA platform to unveil his sexual preferences. What this shows us is that we all know deep down that sports, media, etc. all exist for greater purposes. Nobody is simply satisfied with “good basketball”- we all want our platform to make a mark and change the way that people think about all areas of life, even the most private ones.

As Christians, we can navigate these waters with accuracy because we know that the most private thing in this life is our desperate heart’s faithful gaze to Christ. This private thing also exists at the same time as the most publicly beneficial news known to mankind. May we all find strength and courage in Christ to preach the Gospel with delight and conviction.