Shawn Graves

“And who would choose to be gay? Who would choose to pit themselves against all odds and make life as difficult as possible if it were really a matter of choice or sexual “preference”? Not too many people I know.”
― David Ferguson, Christianity and Homosexuality - Some Seventh-day Adventist Perspectives

“The word union itself seemed to be a dog whistle in the South, code for undeserving people of color who needed a union to compensate for some flaw in their character. As the workers spoke, I realized that it couldn’t be a coincidence that, to this day, the region that is the least unionized, with the lowest state minimum wages and the weakest labor protections overall, was the one that had been built on slave labor—on a system that compensated the labor of Black people at exactly zero.”
― Heather McGhee, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

“In my mind, choice is the basis of Christianity, but the choice is not about sexuality, it is about how we treat other people. That is the choice about which we should be most concerned.”
― David Ferguson, Christianity and Homosexuality - Some Seventh-day Adventist Perspectives

“As I became more open about both the abuse and my sexuality, I discovered that many people tried to link these two aspects of my life in a cause-and-effect relationship. It became frustrating for me to explain repeatedly that sexual abuse does not necessarily affect sexual orientation, as evidenced by the multitudes of straight women who survive abuse. I eventually realized that people who need a reason for homosexuality will find one regardless of its relevance. As for myself, I believe I would have been a lesbian with or without a history of sexual abuse.”
― David Ferguson, Christianity and Homosexuality - Some Seventh-day Adventist Perspectives