A Texas state representative is refusing to meet with the constituents who will be the most impacted by legislation she has proposed. State Rep. Molly White (R-Belton) has proposed legislation that would allow businesses to refuse to serve customers on religious grounds. The first-year Republican lawmaker has also proposed legislation seeking to make the state’s ban on same-sex marriage immune from court rulings…. “Marriage is a Holy union of one man and one woman created and ordained by God. There is no other definition. As a Christian, I am guided by God’s Word,” she explained in a statement. But White’s staff has said trying to discuss the issues with her “would be a waste of time.”…. The Temple Daily Telegram reported last week that White’s staff had initially greeted Frank Carlson of Equality Texas, before turning him away upon learning who he represented.
There’s no disputing that our elected representatives are free individuals with their own opinions (some of them rather odious, it turns out). Like any of us, they’re free to form opinions and act upon them in their capacity as individuals. When someone is elected to political office, though, they take on and implicitly accept the responsibility of representing ALL of their constituents, including those whose ideology, sexuality, or religion they may disagree with and/or find personally offensive. Simply put, you’re not representing a narrow viewpoint, you’re representing your constituents- those who voted you into office AND those who may have voted for your opponent.
Rep. White, long a card-carrying member of the Texas Taliban, has clearly forgotten this basic rule of American democracy. It may be “majority rules,” but it’s most certainly not “majority excludes everyone not like them.” There’s certainly no requirement that Rep. White must meet with anyone. She can barricade her office and come out only for floor votes if she so desires. When you turn constituents away because of who they are, what they believe, or how they live and/or love, you’re no longer a representative of the people- you’re a tired, judgmental ideologue unable to process the truth that not everyone’s journey is the same as yours. You don’t get to pass judgment on those you represent and deem them as “less than” and of no consequence. Their votes count every bit as much as those good, God-fearing, Conservative, heterosexual Christian patriots whose humanity you do value and respect.
It may well be that Rep. White believes her Christian faith provides her cause and justification for treating those she disagrees with as “less than.” The problem with that is that there’s nothing in the Gospel that condones or provides for discriminating against others. If she bothered to crack her Bible once in a while, she might learn that the faith she claims isn’t about discrimination, judgment, or exclusion; it’s about tolerance, acceptance, understanding, and inclusion. Christianity isn’t about using faith as a yardstick to determine the worth of an individual; it’s about loving others as you yourself would hope to be loved.
Then again, when you use your faith to justify your personal prejudices, you’re not exactly going to be open to discussions of tolerance and acceptance, are you? Given that this is Texas we’re talking about, it’s unlikely Rep. White will face a backlash from her constituents for her self-righteousness ignorance of those who don’t travel through life as she does. Hell, most of her constituents probably agree with her. You can do that when you believe “diversity” and “tolerance” to be four-letter words.
