Speaker urges unity, understanding

As she paced back and forth across the stage, the Rev. Irene Monroe preached against the schisms caused by racism, classism, heterosexism and religious fundamentalism.

"All these 'isms' are merely tools of oppression that will continue to keep us fractured, instead of united in the common goal … of a participatory democracy (in which) no one is left behind and every voice is lifted up," she said.

Gathered at the University of Utah to hear the columnist and theologian speak as part of the school's Women's Week, the congregation offered affirmations of "amen."

Before people can help others, they must "begin to look at themselves," said Rev. Monroe, a doctoral candidate at Harvard Divinity School who writes religion columns for multiple lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender publications.

She prefaced her speech by saying "political correctness truncates all possibility for learning" and asked two questions of white audience members: "How are you white? And how white are you?"

"I was born in apartheid South Africa, so I was the boss," one woman said.

"I know I'm white because I don't know how to answer that question," said another.

Monroe challenged whites to learn their histories and understand their struggles.

"It's very important to know yourself and the baggage that you bring," she said. "In order to do equity work, you have to do your own work. You can't say, 'I'm going to join this movement in India or China or Sudan' and then walk around blindly without a clue of the kinds of injustices … that you perpetuate."

Monroe also urged blacks to abandon the "hierarchy of oppression" and recognize the fight for gay rights as a battle for civil rights. Too often people believe "racism is the only oppression we must contend with," she said.

The theologian also challenged some interpretations of the Bible.

Monroe cited traditional Christian beliefs of the creation and the birth of Jesus Christ when she said the meaning of some scripture had been lost in translation.

The Biblical destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah has been used for "queer bashing," when the cities actually sat on a fault line and crumbled in an earthquake, she said.

She asked her audience to see the "difference between blind obedience and reasoned faith."

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