Commentary

Religious Freedom Day, the most significant national Day that few had ever heard of, emerged from the shadows this year. There were no picnics or fireworks or speeches by elected officials — and the press largely ignored it. But so much happened just below the national radar. We may have witnessed the first stirrings of a renewed movement for the rights of individual conscience. It is too early to say whether it was a turning point in our history — but just might have been.

The first thing I thought of when I heard that former New York governor Mario Cuomo had died was his extraordinary speech at the University of Notre Dame in 1984. I was not alone. … It was a speech from which Americans who disagree with teachings of their religious tradition on such matters as LGBTQ rights, contraception, abortion, the role of women, and more, may take heart.

Reality TV is not an area in which I have much comfort. I don’t know what a Kardashian is, and I am not clear on the point of real housewives or bridezillas. There seems to be a pre-occupation in this “reality” world with the breadth of “traditional marriages” from Bachelor mating rituals, which are tacky at best, to extreme retro “traditional” with multiple wives or 19 kids….

Baking a cake, arranging roses, running an inn, are all public acts — not matters of private belief or worship — and a person’s religious beliefs should not trump any laws otherwise governing such activities.

Something remarkable happened in the run up to the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Hobby Lobby vs. Burwell. A movement was born. A potentially historic movement that does not yet know its name — but which may yet bring the light of hope to a darkening political landscape.

Matthew Shepard’s murder left and indelible impression that has become part of our collective culture to this day. This week, another tragedy, another life destroyed, left a similar impression — the death of Leelah Alcorn.

I place culpability and thus, guilt, on Christian and conservative leaders who, over the past four decades, have constructed an extreme intensity of cultural and religious discrimination against the LGBT community.

There is a bittersweet aspect to this story. As I tell it, I am not able to use the full names of the family members. I have not been able to tell you exactly where they are. There is a reason. They, as a family, are in hiding.

What if we seized this day to think dynamically about the religious freedoms we take for granted at our peril… freedom that is in danger of being redefined beyond recognition.

My gay son now finds himself orphaned by his home state of Michigan, whose government is poised to pass legislation allowing others to discriminate against him based on their religious beliefs.