Romer Commission Report  
 

Steering Committee  
 
 

Appendix A:  "Justice and Respect: Our position and direction"  
 

Appendix B:  "The Bible and Dialogue"  
 

"Committed personal relationships are the foundation of ... understanding and acceptance. To begin the process of reconciliation, each of us must get involved personally in a friendship…. Intentionality is the purposeful, positive, and planned activity that facilitates reconciliation."  Breaking Down Walls¹

Ron Belgau: 

Although I would consider myself gay, as a Christian, I have come to believe that sex with another man would be wrong.  Justin, on the other hand, believes that two men can share the intimacy in marriage as a man and a woman, and believes that God will bless such a relationship. We therefore disagree quite sharply on a very important issue.  Yet it is too easy to just say that Justin is wrong and leave it at that. 

One day, as Justin and I were talking about our differing beliefs, he 
received an e-mail from a sixteen-year-old gay kid.  In his e-mail, this 
young man explained that he had been about to commit suicide.  He grew up in a Christian family, but had heard so many condemnations of gays from his parents and pastors that he did not feel he could tell anyone about his struggles.  While he was typing up his suicide note on his computer, he took a break and went to the Internet, where, seemingly by accident, he came across Justin's testimony.  And as he read Justin's story, he saw another who had gone through many of the same things he had, and gained a little hope that maybe he could find Christians who would help him to deal with his struggles and with his pain. And so he chose not to commit suicide. 

God's Spirit clearly guided this young man to Justin.  And I am forced to 
ask myself the question that Jesus asked the expert in the Law: "Who was a neighbor to this man?"  Were his parents, his pastors, the Christians around him, who made him feel that he had no place in a Church, no hope, and nowhere to turn?  Or was Justin his neighbor? 

A few months after this incident, I went through a time of depression and loneliness.  And in that "dark night of the soul," Justin encouraged me. 
Through several long heart-to-heart telephone calls, he encouraged me to have faith in God and trust Him to bring me through. 

In Straight and Narrow, Thomas Schmidt has pointed out that those 
who believe that homosexual activity is wrong tend to stress authority and knowledge; those who believe in gay marriage tend to stress experience. But God calls us to love Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. 

Justin and I both strive to answer that call.  We hope that through our friendship we can help to bring healing and reconciliation. 

Vision 
A collaborative service project between a Christian and a gay campus group is established somewhere. Through the Internet, this quickly becomes known on other campuses.  Mistakes are made and people learn from them.  Students across the divide develop a web "how to" publication for establishing cooperative service activities. 

URLs 
The Youth Page    http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/youth.htm 
Ron Belgau    http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/intros/belgau_ron.htm 
Justin Lee      http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/intros/lee_justin.htm 
Friendship Across the Divide by Ron Belgau 
   http://www.bridges-across.org/youth/friendship.htm 
Justin Lee’s review of Thomas Schmidt’s Straight and Narrow  
  http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/faith/straight_and_narrow.htm 
Steve Calverley’s presentation to the 1996 Canadian InterVarsity Leadership Conference     http://www.npiec.on.ca/~scalverl/jr_sa21.htm 

1. Breaking Down Walls: A Model for Reconciliation in an Age of Racial Strife  
by Raleigh Washington and Glen Kehrein.  Moody Press 1993.