50 years ago when I participated in two phases of the Selma to Montgomery March, I remember wondering when I was there, “Are there some white Alabama Methodists who are marching with us? And what do those who are not think?” 50 years later as I read about and watch the news about same-sex marriage in Alabama, I am asking this question: “What do the United Methodists in Alabama—black and white—who are against same-sex marriage think?” I know there are United Methodists who support marriage equality for same-sex couples in Alabama, but what about those who don’t?
Years ago, I was intrigued by the white journalist John Howard Griffin who chemically made his skin dark in order to appear to be a black man and therefore experience what it was like to be black. I, as an ally and advocate of same-sex couples, seek in this commentary to imagine what is in the minds and hearts of my United Methodist colleagues in Alabama as they disagree with the ruling that made possible same-sex marriage in their state.
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