Student Democrats at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri protested against a Lutheran pastor's talk on sexuality on Monday night, calling the pastor 'unabashedly homophobic'.
Rev Jonathan Fisk was giving a talk on 'The Original Diversity: Man and Woman in Christ', where he spoke about God's vision of marriage and procreation as belonging between a man and a woman. In response, college Democrats held a protest against the talk, titled 'Nothing But Love: A Demonstration of Inclusion', The College Fix reports.
The protest followed an op-ed in the campus newspaper which condemned the pastor's 'hateful' views on homosexuality, marriage and abortion. It described Fisk as 'an unabashedly homophobic, ultra-conservative, transphobic, anti-choice fear monger'.
Fisk is a pastor with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and the event was hosted by Washington University's Lutheran Student Fellowship.
The protest demonstration featured various speakers speaking in front of a rainbow flag. One student speaker and member of the Lutheran Campus Ministry said that the news of Fisk's lecture made her 'angry, sad and frustrated', and said that 'these are some hateful voices that don't represent most Christians and most Lutherans'.
A Democrat student said the flyers for the event put her in a state of 'shock'.
A university professor also joined the demonstration. Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Jeffrey McCune said that opposition to the abortion agency Planned Parenthood is racist.
'Ultimately what is being said when people refuse Planned Parenthood, is they're saying I care more about white foetuses than I do about the services to minority folk,' she said.
A separate 'discussion space' was also held to respond to Fisk's talk and the event's flyers. The discussion was 'only open to LGBTQIA-identified and questioning Wash U students'.
Fisk's talk was held above the protest. Before his talk he tweeted a picture of the demonstration below.
He said his talk was meant to encourage students with God's message 'about two humans becoming one flesh, one more human, as a gift'.
The op-ed chastising Fisk had quoted comments in which he said abortion and homosexuality 'might just spell the end of civilization as we know it'.
Fisk said his comments were aimed at society's 'mass rejection of the value of procreation'. Fisk emphasised the importance of toleration and good disagreement.
'Christians are OK tolerating people we disagree with. We're OK not hating people we disagree with. We're OK not making them agree with us. We don't insist on our way for others,' he said.
