James, I am continually shocked by those who claim to be liberal but are so deeply anti-LGBTQ.

As for churchy people, if they choose to believe whatever hate-filled rhetoric is taught by their religion, okay, believe whatever you want but don’t expect or force others to believe the same and live the same. Don’t vilify those who choose differently than you. Keep your beliefs out of the lives of others. Keep your beliefs out of the courts and the government.

My grandchildren attended a local Catholic school before recently moving away — their mother’s choice . The school was one of the best here and certainly better than the public schools. Only problem was the underlying Catholic belief that LGBTQ people are ungodly and shouldn’t have the rights and protections afforded other citizens. My husband and I countered those school lessons with frank discussions with the children about what we believe. We told them religions can be and usually are wrong about many issues because the beliefs they teach are thousands of years old. We don’t live as people did two thousand years ago and our churches shouldn’t hold on to beliefs from ancient history.

My shy grandson has spoken up bravely in religion classes, stating defiantly that same sex marriage is about people loving other people, people wanting to care for one another and build lives together and isn’t God all about love. He shut down more than one teacher who had no reasonable response. By the way, he just turned eleven.

I don’t know if he and his sister will remain Catholics or even Christians as they mature — my husband and I didn’t. But, I know if they do, they will always fight to change what they believe is wrong in their religion. But, my guess is that religious hypocrisy and all the -isms that go with it will be too much to bear and they will find spirituality elsewhere.