Religion need not play part in this drama

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By HOWARD TROXLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 25, 2001

And Jesus answering said unto them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

-- Mark 12:17

The question at hand is whether to change Caesar's law, the civil law, in the city of St. Petersburg. Playing the role of Caesar will be the City Council.

Here is the issue:

Should an existing city law that forbids discrimination be expanded to cover sexual orientation?

The current ordinance can be found in Part II, Chapter 15 of the city code, under the title "Human Rights." It protects every person in St. Petersburg from discrimination on the usual grounds: race, color, religion, gender, national origin or disability.

The ordinance forbids discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation.

The ordinance covers you.

In St. Petersburg, no one can kick you out of his or her store or restaurant, or out of a public place, just because you are, say, an Episcopalian, or a Baptist, or a non-churchgoer.

No one can refuse to rent to you or sell you a home just because you are (forgive me) a know-it-all Yankee. Or because they don't like Texans.

No one can refuse to hire you, and neither can they run you out of your job, just because you are a woman in a "man's job." Or vice versa.

Catholics in St. Petersburg have these "special" rights. Lutherans have them. Nebraskans have them. Men have them. Women, too.

Now, here is the question again:

Should this protection also cover sexual orientation?

Here I would like to make a polite observation: This is a debate about the civil law. We can decide it without having to make a moral judgment. We do not have to decide whether we "approve" of somebody's "lifestyle."

The question is secular. Do we need this law? Do we consider sexual orientation needful of the same civil protection as race, gender, creed?

I do not need to hear your religious belief as an answer to this question any more than you need to hear mine.

In fact, I do not care what your moral belief is. I do not care how you read Leviticus. In return, you probably do not care what I believe about what Jesus said, while he was hanging out with the beggars and prostitutes.

It is understandable that some church ministers would argue for or against a civil law in religious terms. After all, applying religion to the secular world is pretty much their job.

(It is interesting, however, how many of them save their most fiery words for this particular topic, as opposed to, say, coveting, which never gets condemned with quite the same gusto, even though it is right up there in the Ten Commandments.)

At a church meeting the other day, even several St. Petersburg ministers disagreed among themselves over how to handle the topic. But hard-liners among them allowed no debate.

I am thinking here, in sweet and gentle tones, about Bill Foster, a member of the City Council, who spoke at that church meeting. He said there he believes every "jot and tittle" of the Bible, including that homosexuality is morally wrong. (To be fair, he also threw in the more liberal New Testament view of hating the sin but loving the sinner.)

"Jot and tittle." It is a wonderful phrase. However, Bill Foster's role in this debate is to take the citizens' money. He forces them to pay cash tribute, in the form of taxes on their houses. If they refuse to pay him, Caesar's law says he will take their houses away. In return for this vast secular power, we should expect Bill Foster to write secular law based on secular determinations, and not on his personal reading of jots and tittles. He promises that he will.

-- You can reach Howard Troxler at (727) 893-8505 or at troxler@sptimes.com.

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