United Methodists Embracing 'Embrace Love,' with One Exception

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The days since white supremacist violence roiled Charlottesville, Va., have seen hundreds of United Methodists stand up to racism through demonstrations, sermons, interviews and public statements, including pastoral and prophetic letters from some 30 U.S. bishops.

However, one group of United Methodists finds the new “Embrace Love” campaign to combat racism rings hollow: LGBTQ people, their families and supporters.

Their discontent emerged shortly after United Methodist Insight’s Aug. 18 e-newsletter containing reports about reactions to Charlottesville. The father of a gay son, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his son from abuse, sent an email:

“Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

“I read the articles in the most recent ‘Insight’ publication and had to respond. While I certainly applaud all efforts to eradicate racism and bigotry, I would like to remind all United Methodists that there still exists a huge plank in your own eye!

“Until you stop treating the LGBTQ community as second-class citizens, I cannot feel good about the rather self-righteous proclamations about Charlottesville. Having been a victim of the KKK myself, I know the seriousness of the issue. However, as a father of a gay child who rightly feels that he is not welcomed in the UMC, I grieve the hypocrisy evident in this rush to pose as the vanguards of social justice. When my son is recognized as a full member within your communion, I will gladly join ranks against the Klan as a United Methodist. Until then, please spare me your sanctimonious boasts about the UMC and its stand against injustice.”

The dissonance between the UMC’s rejection of same-gender human sexuality and its efforts to work against white supremacy increased as United Methodist Communications released a set of social media tools to spread the "Embrace Love" anti-racism message.

The Rev. M Barclay, the first transgender person to be ordained a deacon in The United Methodist Church, posted an edited version of one of UMCom's social media graphics (shown above). In response to United Methodist Insight's inquiry on Facebook, Rev. Barclay wrote:

"I know the church wants to believe it can speak out of both sides of its mouth – being 'about love' while wishing we could just not hold that whole discrimination thing against it. Of course, that is impossible, hypocritical, a perpetuation of violence, and [an] affront to the gospel. Personally, the 'embrace love' campaign feels like (yet another) slap in the face of queer lives and loves.

"But honestly, in this moment, even more important to me than that is the suggestion that 'embracing love' is going to do anything to end white supremacy. What I hear in the campaign is the same message of 'love alike when we don't think alike" that undergirds the current harm against LGBTQ people being played again publicly regarding race. Until we address systems and power, within The UMC and beyond it, surface level messages of love are just doing more harm than good."

Julie A. Arms Meeks, a member of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Atlanta, Ga., used the “Embrace Love” Facebook profile to frame a picture of herself and her wife, Vanessa Meeks, with the comment: “Not the way the UMC intended this frame to be used. Be subversive. #EmbraceLove”

Another Facebook contributor who asked to remain anonymous said: "[Embrace Love] seems to me another version of 'All Lives Matter.' It distracts from the 'both-and'-edness needed. We must embrace love AND resist evil. The two go together, systole and diastole. Just saying 'embrace love' in this environment can too easily be misread as not also resisting evil."

As reactions grew, Insight asked Jan Lawrence, interim executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy organization, Reconciling Ministries Network, to respond to "Embrace Love." She replied:

"While it's critically important The UMC recognized and responded to the urgent need to speak out against the actions of white supremacy in Charlottesville, the impact of its 'Embrace Love' slogan on the LGBTQ persons it continues to exclude was clearly overlooked. Once again, we are reminded of the ways in which the church does not model the very message it intends to convey. Until the denomination ends its policies of exclusion, its messages of solidarity against any form of injustice will remain compromised."

Through its media officer, Diane Degnan, United Methodist Communications responded to Insight's questions regarding negative reaction to the "Embrace Love" campaign:

"We have seen an overwhelmingly positive response to the message on social media, but we respect the rights of persons to express their opinions and to be in dialogue about an issue that continues to divide our denomination even as the church finds common ground in denouncing racism following a senseless act of violence.

"United Methodist Communications has a history of responding to tragedies with messages of hope that share God's love to a hurting world in the face of acts of violence or disaster. We've heard voices across the church coming together to take a stand against racism following the events in Charlottesville. The United Methodist Church affirms 'all persons as equally valuable in the sight of God' and we believe the message of 'Embrace Love' is consistent with that stance."

Comments from Facebook users further described reactions to "Embrace Love."

Althea Spencer Miller: “I describe myself as a multiple minority. I am torn apart by ‘Embrace Love’ and so I ignore it. It's too hard to participate in a body that can only support a part of my groupings' (race, gender, immigration status, sexual orientation, and age) general oppression. So I give my moral support and backing to advocacy organizations that can support my totality. I encourage the UMC to give support where it can. But until we resolve our sexual and gender orientation issues in favor of inclusivity we are a morally and ethically compromised body. ‘Embrace Love’ from my perspective is cynical, blind, and a lived irony. It's crazy-making as in an invitation to schizophrenia. That's how I experience it as a multiple minority.”

Bunnie Bryant: “It's the usual hypocrisy, but I wouldn't want to take away the support for other groups. Some day the UMC will grow up into what is good and right. OR They could add a footnote – 'LGBTQ'S need not assume anything.' I just hope love wins in my lifetime – a Methodist for 65 years so far...”

Kevin Carnahan: "So long as the UMC excludes LGBTQ people, everything the Church does includes some offense. But, we shouldn't set minority groups against one another. God has plenty of love for all if we would only acknowledge it."

Bill Mefford: “These campaigns are ways for Empire to feel better about being Empire without ever admitting it is Empire. The UMC practices discrimination against LGBTQ people and continues to repress so many through its ordination system, not to mention the other forms of repression, but as long as we ‘embrace love’ or profess ‘open hearts, open doors, and open minds’ then we can use our Christian rhetoric to cover the dirty little secrets we have stockpiled in our over-reliance on institutionalism, which in the end, only serves to devalue the holiness of the individual. I have personally seen how campaigns and attempts at ‘branding’ are all too often used to ignore repression, which, of course, only perpetuates it.”

Michael Cobb: "M, Bill, and Althea are spot on. At best, 'Embrace Love' is shockingly tone deaf, as it makes claims that the UMC has repeatedly shown it is not willing to back up with action."

Brian Snyder: "I get that it is tone deaf and hurtful but I'm also not sure what the UMC leadership is supposed to do in this situation. They can't change the BoD and they can't ignore racism or the fact that love is the only solution to the problem. So, I'd rather have them encourage folks to embrace love than say nothing. That said, it still really sucks that the church is so morally compromised that it can't say 'embrace love' without being obviously hypocritical."

Betty Sayner: "I know we (as a church or as individuals) have not arrived. But, I think embracing love is what we aspire to. May we embrace God, who is Love, and each other. I think that if we embrace each other with even a small portion of the love God has for all of us, we will bring the kingdom closer."

Bill Kinzie: "It is hypocritical. It is tone deaf. As a gay man, I find it repulsive that the church shouts loud and proud for one minority and actively, vehemently, fights against another."

LJ Stevens: "Just like there is no such thing as being 'a little pregnant,' so, too, there is no such thing as being inclusively exclusive. We either embrace love and acceptance for all or condemn ourselves by our attempts to be all inclusive .. except for ... (fill-in the blank with our favorite group that we want to be kept outside the pale)."

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.