At Passover, protecting the strangers in our midst means taking care of LGBTQ community

South Carolina’s legislature is currently debating a long overdue hate crimes bill. Assembly members got it right when they included the traditional groups that typically are protected under hate crimes bills in other states. The categories — such as sexual orientation, race, color, religion, sex, national origin and physical or mental disability — fall in line with federal statutes for hate crimes laws.

Last week, a legislative committee suddenly scratched sexual orientation from the bill, but the business community — even the conservative Chamber of Commerce and major businesses such as Walmart, Duke Energy, IBM, UPS, South Carolina Realtors and AARP — advocated to include the category in hate crimes law protections.

Fortunately, the House Judiciary Committee reversed on Tuesday, adding protections based on sexual orientation and gender back into the bill and giving it unanimous approval. The bill now goes to the full House. (“Gender identity,” as The State newspaper reported, was never included as a protected class in the bill, despite pleas from LGBTQ advocates and allies.)

Why would politicians oppose protections for the gay or transgender community? Because protections would legitimize them. The same people who would deny those protections stridently oppose women’s reproductive rights for the same reason, quoting scriptures as proof of their position and declaring that God does not cherish these human beings.

The business community looks at the issue from another angle. It sees the economic impact of not passing this bill. Business leaders understand that it will help gay and transgender citizens feel safe and will benefit the private and public sectors. Not including them may disqualify South Carolina from economic opportunities when, for example, conventions refuse to do business in our state or companies refuse to locate here.

I know how easy it is to cherry pick verses from the Bible to argue in favor of one’s political perspective. I am guilty of that myself. We saw this long ago when it came to debates about slavery in the Bible. Anyone can find a verse in the Hebrew Bible to argue for a political position.

The Bible does not change, but we do. And times change, so it is up to us to navigate what sacred texts say and how we apply them to our times. FBI statistics demonstrate the inordinate amount of violence committed against LGBTQ Americans. Some religious groups use Bible verses as political weapons of hate. That strategy legitimizes hate and ultimately violence against the LGBTQ community.

This weekend begins the holiday of Passover, when Jews throughout the world celebrate their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. In Jewish homes we shall read passages from the Book of Exodus — the stories of Moses, the plagues that came down on Pharaoh and the march through the Sea of Reeds to freedom. The Bible often refers to protecting the rights of the stranger in our midst because we, too, were strangers in the land of Egypt.

It’s not pleasant to be seen as the other or the stranger in one’s homeland. To be isolated and excoriated for being different and then demonized as a threat to the nation is exactly why the Israelites yearned to leave Egypt. Sadly the Jewish people have experienced this formula of hate through history.

The communities protected in the hate crimes bill also feel like strangers. They, too, are treated as aliens and threats to their homeland. The truth is that religious bigotry propels opposition to LGBTQ Americans, who are our children and grandchildren, and makes them live in fear. Just as the ancient Israelites were treated as threats to Egypt, many in the LGBTQ community feel threatened from advocates of hate in American society. The advisers of Pharaoh share the same moral stage, then, with the purveyors of religious bigotry today who threaten LGBTQ Americans.

Is that what we want? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Moses said to Pharaoh, “Let my people go.” I ask the South Carolina Legislature to let our fellow LGBTQ Americans go, too. Let all the groups who suffer the indignities and demeaning behavior from hate go free and live their lives for the benefit and prosperity of all Americans.

Please ask your elected officials to pass the bill that will help protect LGBTQ Americans. Lives depend on it.