Full Transcript: Reverend Sharon Buttry on the Human Rights Ordinance
Sharon: And I told you about my involvement in the Call to Prayer and how that all came about, well that was 2004. In 2007— this was the year I went to India— in 2007 the Human Rights Ordinance came up into Hamtramck. And it was— it’s here somewhere— so I jumped in because I believe that people should have equal access to employment and housing and jobs. So I guess it was 2008, so I jumped in on this ordinance thing. Well, it was a thinly veiled effort to— I mean politically people saw it as bringing gay rights into the community. So I took a lot of heat for it. In fact, the organization I worked for at the time was a Christian organization and they basically told me I was wrong and I shouldn’t be doing this. And I said, well I’m doing this on my own time, it’s not part of my work, it’s part of what I believe. And so even in my own faith community I was isolated for my choice to be involved in what I thought was a really important justice issue. And in fact, all the Muslim leaders that I had been so close to during the call to prayer--they shunned me too, they said I was wrong. And I lost a lot of friendships over it. So that’s a really sad part of my story here in Hamtramck. That I took a stand on something that I really believe in and a lot of people just kind of socially divorced me. And it’s taken, what are we, like almost ten years later, just starting to get some of those friendships back.
Interviewer: Do you think that that’s happening because the political climate, or just like the world’s opinion of gay marriage and gay rights, has changed?
Sharon: No I think, especially in the Muslim community, it’s pretty strongly still there, I think people just forgotten about it or didn’t know me then. Or forgot that I was involved in it.
Interviewer: Did the ordinance pass?
Sharon: No it didn’t. And people came in, the Michigan Family foundation and lobbied, they out and out lied about what it meant. They went to all the Imams and said well now you’re going to have to let gays into the mosque and you’re going to have to marry gay couples. And none of that was true. They just out and out lied. My husband got so furious, he wrote letters to them and said, you’re breaking one of the ten commandments. You’re bearing false witness for political gain, that’s wrong. So it was pretty heated, and it didn’t pass. So, I think it passed in a number of Michigan communities, but not here. It was really cool, I did door to doors. They had some organizers from all over Michigan who came in and one was a transgender person. And she and I did door to doors together. And it was really cool getting to know her, I’m still friends with her on Facebook. She was going through gender transition at that time, surgeries and various things. She said I was the only Christian person she knew who really loved her and accepted her. So, I think that’s what it’s all about.
Interviewer: Is it hard then to have these friendships start to come back now when you know these people weren’t with you in this very core part of your belief system?
Sharon: Well you know I’m pretty forgiving. I have a definition of forgiveness that makes me able to function pretty well.
Interviewer: Do you think that that’s happening because the political climate, or just like the world’s opinion of gay marriage and gay rights, has changed?
Sharon: No I think, especially in the Muslim community, it’s pretty strongly still there, I think people just forgotten about it or didn’t know me then. Or forgot that I was involved in it.
Interviewer: Did the ordinance pass?
Sharon: No it didn’t. And people came in, the Michigan Family foundation and lobbied, they out and out lied about what it meant. They went to all the Imams and said well now you’re going to have to let gays into the mosque and you’re going to have to marry gay couples. And none of that was true. They just out and out lied. My husband got so furious, he wrote letters to them and said, you’re breaking one of the ten commandments. You’re bearing false witness for political gain, that’s wrong. So it was pretty heated, and it didn’t pass. So, I think it passed in a number of Michigan communities, but not here. It was really cool, I did door to doors. They had some organizers from all over Michigan who came in and one was a transgender person. And she and I did door to doors together. And it was really cool getting to know her, I’m still friends with her on Facebook. She was going through gender transition at that time, surgeries and various things. She said I was the only Christian person she knew who really loved her and accepted her. So, I think that’s what it’s all about.
Interviewer: Is it hard then to have these friendships start to come back now when you know these people weren’t with you in this very core part of your belief system?
Sharon: Well you know I’m pretty forgiving. I have a definition of forgiveness that makes me able to function pretty well.