African American Christian Pastor in Maryland Makes National Headlines Supporting Same-Sex Marriage

Submitted by Dawn Paul on Tuesday, 7 August 2012

Rev. Dr. Brad R. Braxton

Recently The Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP) announced at the National Press Club their nationwide campaign rallying black pastors and African Americans to voice their opposition to President Obama’s position on same-sex marriage and to withdraw their support from him.

Where a majority of Christian pastors do not support marriage equality, Rev. Dr. Brad R. Braxton, Senior Pastor of The Open Church in Baltimore, is going against the grain, fighting for the legal equality of LGBT Americans.

Dr. Braxton’s education includes a Ph.D. from Emory University, an M.Phil. from the University of Oxford and a B.A. from the University of Virginia.  Dr. Braxton has recently been named the Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.  He is the third holder of the chair and the first African American to come to SMU with an appointment in an endowed chair.   Dr. Braxton is also the author of several publications.

Dr. Braxton has been on the media circuit and took some time to talk with Houston Style Magazine about his stance on same-sex marriage and the African American church.

Is your issue more with these ministers being against same-sex marriage or them asking their congregations to vote against/not vote for President Obama?

To vote for or against a candidate on one issue without taking into consideration the candidate’s stance on other important issues is politically naïve.  My support of LGBT equality in general and of marriage equality in particular is not a reaction to the views and actions of other clergy.  Rather, it is a proactive attempt to invite faith communities, and especially African American churches, to have broader and more honest conversations about love, sexuality, diversity, and inclusion.  Due to the legal oppression and physical, even sexual, violence that were inflicted upon African Americans in slavery and segregation, there remains a tremendous amount of shame, pain, and unhealthy behaviors relating to family and sexuality in African American communities.  African Americans were denied the right to marry and to form families.  As heirs of people who were denied these rights, why would we want to deny LGBT people these rights?  In light of the hatred and hostility in our world, we should celebrate the desire of two people to unite in love to form a family.  In the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus did not define the family along biological or heterosexual lines.  Jesus said that his family consists of whoever does the will of God.  Surely, relationships rooted in love and harmony, irrespective of one’s sexual identity, are examples of the will of God.   What our world needs more of is love.  We don’t need the church pontificating on piety.  We need the church practicing love—radically inclusive love; the kind of love that Jesus demonstrated.  I believe it makes God smile when two people, irrespective of their social identities, commit to a covenant union like marriage for the purposes of making themselves and their communities better and stronger.

Can you being a Christian yourself understand why these Christian African-American Pastors are against same-sex marriage based on Biblical teachings?

Even though I disagree with their position, I understand it.  The Bible should be at the center of Christian conversations about justice and peace.  Nevertheless, African Americans historically have been a “jazz people” as it relates to the interpretation of the Bible.  For the sake of justice and peace, we have often engaged in an “improvisational riff” on the Bible and not stuck to the literal notes on the page.  We are not literal when it comes to many other topics the Bible addresses, but we want to be hyper-literal when addressing LGBT people and issues.  Churches need to be more honest and less hypocritical.  LGBT people have blessed churches with their presence, talents, and financial support.  Many churches have received these gifts and in return have been very stingy, and even hateful, when it comes to giving dignity, full inclusion, and love to LGBT people.

Do you feel homosexuality is a sin?

No, I do not feel that homosexuality is a sin.  Homosexuality is addressed in the Bible, but Jesus did not utter one word about inclusion or exclusion of LGBT people.

How do you interpret the scripture verse Leviticus 20:13 New King James Version: “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination.  They shall surely be put to death.  Their blood shall be upon them”?

I am amazed at how simplistic we can be in our engagement with the Bible on LGBT issues.   The Bible is an important source for our moral conversations, but it should not be the only source.  The Bible should not end our conversations; it should help to start our conversations.  Our conversations about the Bible and morality should be enhanced by other sources of wisdom that God has provided, including our studies of culture and science, as well as the sacredness of our personal relationship across lines of cultural difference.  Instead of simply quoting scripture, we ought to engage people, since the Bible says that people are made in the image of God.  Nothing could be more sacred than engaging, empowering, and embracing people, irrespective of their social identities.  As a heterosexual ally, I believe that people are as sacred, if not more so, than the pages of the Bible.

Do you feel that if the Christian church is not hospitable to the LGBT community, that it will turn these individuals to other outlets to seek a safe haven?

The failure of churches to embrace the LGBT community will increasingly make churches more irrelevant as safe havens for socially marginalized people.  If churches cannot embrace the LGBT community, then we must really question if churches are actually representing Jesus, since Jesus spent his time including people whom the society had excluded.  Justice and hospitality were hallmarks of Jesus’ ministry.

One of the core commitments of The Open Church is exemplifying a Christianity that is progressive.  The Open Church believes that sacred texts must be continually reinterpreted in light of contemporary circumstances.  Some Christians would see this as reinterpreting the scripture to conform to what is socially acceptable.  Is that how you see it?

From its very inception more than 2,000 years ago, the church has been reinterpreting scripture, not to conform to what is socially acceptable, but rather to discern God’s good news for the contemporary moment.  We have a Christian Bible precisely because early Christians reinterpreted Jewish scripture in light of their experience with Jesus.  So, let’s be more historically accurate and honest.  Reinterpretation is at the very heart of Christianity.  If I err in my reinterpretation, let me err on the side of inclusion and love.  Love is the antidote to hate.  Inclusion is the remedy for exclusion.  We need to practice, not protest, love.  When I stand before God in judgment, I will be willing to confess my “sins” of loving too much and including too many.

You being a Christian pastor, have there been any repercussions as a result of you coming out and supporting same-sex marriage?

No, and if repercussions were to come, I would bear them gladly and proudly.

You admire Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  Archbishop Tutu said, “If we could but recognize our common humanity…that our destinies are bound up in one another’s…then a glorious world would come into being where all of us lived harmoniously together as members of one family, the human family.”  Is that why you have such a longing for broken communities to be transformed into one beloved community and for the Christian church to openly embrace the LGBT community?

Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  We need more conversations about how socially diverse groups can unite for the common good.  While social exclusion offends God, love does not.  Indeed, the Bible says that love is from God, and God is love!