DENVER (RNS) In the early 1990s, the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family raised the ire of LGBT groups by backing Colorado’s Amendment 2, a measure — ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court — that would have allowed local governments to discriminate against gays.
A quarter-century later, that episode was history as Focus President Jim Daly and gay activist Ted Trimpa sat down together to celebrate their friendship and more recent collaboration on sex trafficking laws at an evangelical conference in Denver called Q, which stands for questions.
Daly recalled criticisms and threats for befriending Trimpa.
“Donors would write and say, ‘If you’re going to work with people like him, we are not going to support you anymore.’ Christian leaders who knew I was reaching out sent me notes asking, ‘How could you betray us like this?’ ”
As evangelicals fear losing social influence amid America’s shifting mores, some are reaching out to the other side in a new approach that de-emphasizes certainties.
“We want to create a place where Christians can wrestle with the difficult questions in our culture instead of being told easy answers,” says Q founder Gabe Lyons, 41. “The historic, orthodox Christian faith has something to say to these big questions, and we want to help a new generation apply these old ideas to the modern world.”
