On December 8, 2011, Christians for Equality held a press conference at Anchorage’s First Congregational Church in support of the Anchorage Equal Rights Initiative. Among the prepared statements read at the press conference was that of Rev. Peter K. Perry, United Methodist pastor.

The Anchorage Equal Rights Initiative is an April 2012 ballot measure by the One Anchorage campaign to offer the same legal protections to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people already offered to all other Anchorage residents.

In support of the Anchorage Equal Rights Amendment
by Rev. Peter K. Perry

The Equal Rights Initiative provides the same legal protections to gay and transgender Alaskans that we already provide to women, minorities, and others, including protections based on age, disability, marital status and religion.  These are basic protections we are talking about… freedom from discrimination in the workplace and in the housing market.  I support this initiative and my support is born out of my Christian faith.

I am a Christian. I am a pastor. Faith calls me to support equality, for faith teaches that we are all children of one God. God’s children are diverse in many ways, but their differences do not cause God to love one less than another.  The scriptures are filled with stories of a God who welcomes the stranger, the foreigner, the sinner, the oppressed and the oppressor, the sick, the disfigured, the lost.  God welcomes us all and treats us all the same.  If God can do that, why can’t we?  There was a time in this land when it was acceptable to discriminate against Alaska Natives. That changed. There was a time when it was acceptable to discriminate against persons of color. That changed. Currently it is legally acceptable to discriminate against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation or transgender identity.  It is time for that to change.  People of faith should welcome this initiative, should support it, and should work to see it enacted.

At the heart of the Christian message is a call to love as we have been loved.  My faith tradition affirms that to walk in the way of Christ we must base our decisions and actions on love, and not fear. We affirm that all people are people of sacred worth simply because they are created by God, and on the basis of that affirmation, discrimination is unacceptable in human society.

Peter K. Perry, United Methodist pastor

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Note: For denominational support of the above position, please see the 2008 United Methodist Book of Discipline, paragraph 161 (F), paragraph 162, introduction and 162 (J), and paragraph 164 (B).