exodus youth

School life is rough for a lot of people. Most teenagers get picked on, and sometimes hurt, to one degree or another throughout their school experience.

Students who struggle with their sexual or gender identity (or who are perceived as gay) are no exception. If you’ve read any of the of the many men and women who’ve come out of homosexuality, you’ll know that bullying and isolation during youth is almost par for the course.

Some people blame people of faith for this problem–that anyone who doesn’t celebrate homosexuality is in some way perpetuating the violence. The solution, they say, is to exclusively promote a viewpoint that says people are born gay, can’t change, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Gay advocacy groups encourage teens to identify as “allies,” friends who celebrate homosexuality–supposedly the only way to make their campus safe.

As a result, Christian students often find themselves in a bind. Either they must compromise their belief in Scripture and say that homosexual behavior is okay–and be called an “ally,” a “safe person”–or they can refuse and be labeled a bigot.

We believe this is unfair to Christian students, who don’t hate their gay-identified (or struggling) peers, and have good reasons for believing what they do about sexuality and gender.

It’s also unfair to students who identify as gay. Imagine how it must feel to believe that Christians everywhere hate you!

This problem is why we created the Allies, Too campaign.

This project was created to provide a chance for Christian students to show that, in the diversity of opinion, people with differing–and even opposing–viewpoints can still work together to build a community of tolerance and respect.

Tolerance doesn’t mean conformity of beliefs. It doesn’t mean one point of view is upheld and others are silenced. It doesn’t mean a person can label a belief they don’t agree with as hatred so they don’t have to deal with it.

Tolerance means we can respectfully express our differences, but then put them aside and cooperate on the things we can agree on, like safety, fair treatment, and kindness.

It’s easy to get involved! Visit the official Allies, Too website, where you can learn more about why this campaign is so relevant for teen students today, and you can even order cool stuff like t-shirts and buttons!

Come take a look! ALLIESTOO.ORG