family: April 2004 Archives

My aunt is a great woman.

As a minister in east nowhere, New York, she's taken a very unpopular stand on gay rights. People have called her crazy, foolish, impetuous, and selfish.

She will very likely be removed from her job. At the very least, she is a social pariah, which is a difficult position for any minister to be in.

But no one ever earns respect for following company policy. Humanity has never been uplifted by following the community consensus. And there is nothing meaningful in doing what is expected of you.

She is very much a leader, indirectly telling her congregations that 'we are wrong about this, and we need to do something about it'. To take action in the face of adamant opposition requires great will and character.

I am not worried about her future. The last decade has shown her to be a woman of great strength. It would have been much more damaging if she had not found the will to take this personal stand.

She makes me proud. Couldn't say why, but I think her parents would have been as well.