Just a reminder to pray for the testimony of Pastor Robert MacMillan and the Grace Brethren Church of Tracy, CA, this weekend as this is the Sunday a hate group from Kansas has chosen to picket the church, along with some others. Here is a brief excerpt from this morning’s Tracy newspaper — see earlier blog entries for background.
Bohn Elementary School first-grade teacher Mike Chivers recently wrote a Tracy Press column that said he’s opposed to homosexuality as a Christian. He attends Grace Brethren Church, one that Westboro plans to picket on Sunday.
But he supports the GSA’s desire to stop harassment against gay, bisexual and transgender students at West and Tracy.
“The Bible is pretty clear that homosexuality is not an appropriate lifestyle,” he said. “The bottom line really is we need to start talking with each other rather than calling names and pointing fingers. I think it is tragic that there is a group out there that thinks that the way to reach people for Christ is by beating them over the head with a few selected verses from the Bible.”
Mores shaken Daley said gay, lesbians and transsexuals aren’t shoving their sexuality down people’s throats. Instead, he said, he’s trying to put a stop to the harassment of gays for being who they are.
Campus clubs pushing for gay rights encourage high-school students to think critically, said Matt Netto, Tracy’s GSA faculty adviser and choir director, last week.
“Typically, issues like this play out first in high school and college,” he said. “They want to challenge the established norms of society. Personally, I think that is quite healthy, but it creates controversy. I have watched lots of kids learn how to think more rationally through all of this.”
Daley said the influx of Bay Area transplants is uprooting the town culturally.
“Tracy is no longer a conservative Central Valley town. People’s views are changing.”