An Episcopalian
Editorial from 77 years ago. Take from it what you may.
Queer
People: An Editorial from Church News of the Diocese of Pennsylvania (1938)
Queer People
Though we
have been so regimented by the radio, the beauty-parlor, the automobile
manufacturers and the tailors, that we all sing the same songs, name our
children for the same actresses, use the same slang, have the same accent,
smoke the same cigarettes and wear the same style clothes, as everybody else,
there are still a few natures so stubborn that they cannot be bent into the
same shape, or so free that they cannot be poured into same mold.
We call them
“queer” people, because they are different from the rest of the herd, and we
smile patronizingly at them. But indeed we should be glad that they exist, for
though they may not be saviors of the world, as some claim, they at least add most
savor to life. How flat, stale and monotonous our daily diet for eye and ear
would be without those who dressed differently, spoke differently and acted
differently from the regimented majority.
It is to the
credit of the churches that they attract so many so-called queer people; for
since queer people are usually persecuted by the mob, they know that in the
churches they will find Christian love and charity.
Look around
for them some Sunday, especially in our large central-city churches, and thank
God that there is one place where queer people know they will not be laughed at
because they are not exactly like all the rest of our mass-produced population.
Some of them are poor, some are rich, some are not too bright, others are
thwarted geniuses. But all have their little oddities and eccentricities; they
do not conform, and therefore are “queer”.
God knows! Maybe in his sight the rest of us are queerer than they.
.
