--- title: This Is the Time to Move Past the God v. Gays Debate description: It's time to move on canonical: https://time.com/3938518/gay-marriage-response/ author: Brandon Ambrosino article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-26T21:51:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:45.663Z article:section: Ideas og:title: This Is the Time to Move Past the God v. Gays Debate og:description: It's time to move on og:url: https://time.com/3938518/gay-marriage-response/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte274221399113bd4/698858afa988ca75776b33c5/gay-marriage-ruling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Same-sex marriage supporters rejoice after the U.S Supreme Court hands down a ruling regarding same-sex marriage June 26, 2015 outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is the Time to Move Past the God v. Gays Debate twitter:description: It's time to move on twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte274221399113bd4/698858afa988ca75776b33c5/gay-marriage-ruling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is the Time to Move Past the God vs. Gays Debate > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3d8f872c-7358-4154-81f4-b58e779cb34f&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: This is The History of the Rainbow Flag [Watch (HLS stream): This is The History of the Rainbow Flag](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bnTiT5cr.m3u8) (1:31)  _Published 2015-06-24. How the rainbow flag became an icon of LGBT rights_ by [Brandon Ambrosino](https://time.com/author/brandon-ambrosino/) ## Brandon Ambrosino Jun 26, 2015 9:51 PM UTC  Same-sex-marriage supporters rejoice after the U.S Supreme Court hands down a ruling regarding same-sex marriage in Washington on June 26, 2015 Same-sex-marriage supporters rejoice after the U.S Supreme Court hands down a ruling regarding same-sex marriage in Washington on June 26, 2015 Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Brandon Ambrosino](https://time.com/author/brandon-ambrosino/) ## Brandon Ambrosino Jun 26, 2015 9:51 PM UTC Friday’s historic Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality presents all of us with an opportunity to hit the reset button. The marriage question has cast its shadow over American discourse for the past several years, and now it’s time to move beyond the God v. Gays stalemate. No doubt, there will continue to be some grumblings, both quiet and shrill, about the decision, mostly from religious people. After all, 50% of Americans believe homosexuality is a sin, according to a September [Pew poll](http://www.pewforum.org/2014/09/22/public-sees-religions-influence-waning-2/). And no doubt there will also be some grumblings, strangely enough, from some gay activists, many of whom have made a career out of finding homophobia everywhere. But grumblings or not, gay marriage is now the law of the land. And all of us—right and left, gay and straight, religious and agnostic—need to take a moment to regroup and refocus. From this day on, we need to behave differently toward one another. Since Christians are under an extreme obligation from their founder to take the lead on reconciliation, I think they should be the ones to set the example here. That means, whatever their private theological convictions on the matter, they need to respect the law and find ways to honor and even celebrate their gay neighbors’ happiness. There’s precedence for this—in the New Testament. In the early years of Christianity, a very strict group of Jesus followers, called Judaizers, argued that all those who wanted to follow Jesus must be circumcised. Yet Jesus had made religion accessible to people who were previously barred from it, and if Christians were to follow in his footsteps, they had to find a way of continuing his message of inclusion. One way they did that was to observe the spirit of the law without enforcing its every impossible letter. In 49 AD, at the [first church council,](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+15&version=ESV) it was decided that when it came to circumcision, what really mattered was spiritual circumcision: the shape of the heart. This decision was reached after a careful consideration of Scripture and theology within a newer, fresher historical context. This was an extension of Jesus’s common refrain, “You’ve heard it said like that, but I say it like this.” To truly think in a way that honors the memory of Jesus is to think within this paradigm. Now apply that to gay marriage in Christian congregations today. The church clings to arguments about natural law and marriage the way that some in the early church held fast to circumcision. The theological task for today’s Christians is the same as it was for those in the first century: How can we open up the binding teachings of Christianity (marriage) to all who wish to pursue it? How can we remain faithful to the witness of Scripture in a way that honors what we continue to learn about human experience? What this means is thinking about the word “natural” and finding ways to open up the definition to let in same-sex couples. What this means is not that we say, “Marriage is no longer a sacrament,” but rather, “Marriage is a sacrament that we feel God is opening up to same-sex couples.” If Christians can’t find the humility to re-evaluate their most cherished beliefs about sexuality, then at the very least they should err on the side of charity and quietly resign themselves to the fact that marriage equality is here to stay. They should also realize the larger culture tends to paint them as homophobic, and that this picture—caricature or not—is a big reason many churches continue to bleed members. Gay-rights activism is also in severe need of a makeover. We can be loud and mean and spiteful. We’ve made a pastime out of shaming gay-marriage opponents, and we’ve been far too eager to call for someone to get fired from his job simply because he tweets out his reservations about LGBT issues. Friday’s SCOTUS decision is an opportunity for us to take a step back, remind ourselves that we are in a good place politically and socially, and make a renewed commitment to mature, democratic discourse. This means acknowledging that progress has been made. Gay men can also take this opportunity to rethink our focus on sex. When I think of gay legacy, I think about Armistead Maupin’s _Tales of the City_, and _Will and Grace_, and flashy pride parades, and the Folsom Street Fair, and Fire Island. Now that marriage is available to us, it’s time for some to stop behaving with a cavalier attitude about sex. The legacy I want to leave for the next generation of gay men is one defined by commitment, integrity, and monogamy. Friday’s decision helps me clarify that. Those who are happy with the decision should take a moment and celebrate. Those who are angry about it should take a moment and question their convictions to decide how best to proceed in a way that respects the law. But then we should move on. It’s about time. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:04] The rainbow flag is a worldwide symbol of the LGBT [00:08] community, but it's birthplace is in San Francisco and [00:12] it's creation is thanks to a man named Gilbert Baker. [00:15] Baker moved to San Francisco as an Army draftee in [00:18] 1970. It was there that he became acquainted with [00:21] Harvey Milk and they gay rights movement. Gay rights [00:23] now. [00:26] After sewing many banners for gay events and [00:29] marches, the San Francisco Gay and **** Pride Parade [00:32] commissioned him to design a symbol that could be [00:34] used for years to come. And this is what Baker came [00:37] up with the original rainbow flag. The rainbow is a [00:41] beautiful part of nature. All of the colors and even the [00:44] colors you can't see. So that really fit us as a people [00:48] because we are all of the colors. Our sexuality is all of [00:50] the colors, where all the genders, races and ages. [00:54] Each color represents something different Pink for sex, [00:59] red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, [01:04] green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for [01:08] harmony, and violet for the human spirit. The flag [01:12] later evolved to have six stripes. Turquoise was [01:15] swapped for blue and pink and indigo were taken out. [01:19] And decades later, the flag can still be seen linked [01:22] proudly from nearly every pride parade and march [01:25] around the world. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3938518/gay-marriage-response/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3938518/gay-marriage-response/"},"headline":"This Is the Time to Move Past the God vs. Gays Debate","datePublished":"2015-06-26T21:51:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:45.663Z","description":"It's time to move on","url":"https://time.com/3938518/gay-marriage-response/","keywords":["politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte274221399113bd4/698858afa988ca75776b33c5/gay-marriage-ruling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brandon Ambrosino","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/brandon-ambrosino/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte274221399113bd4/698858afa988ca75776b33c5/gay-marriage-ruling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Same-sex marriage supporters rejoice after the U.S Supreme Court hands down a ruling regarding same-sex marriage June 26, 2015 outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC.","caption":"Same-sex marriage supporters rejoice after the U.S Supreme Court hands down a ruling regarding same-sex marriage June 26, 2015 outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3938518/gay-marriage-response/","name":"This Is the Time to Move Past the God vs. Gays Debate"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Supreme Court On Marriage Equality","description":"The Supreme Court Honors Marriage Equality","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/63b4f7cw/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-26T20:37:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/63b4f7cw.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3938518/gay-marriage-response/","duration":"PT1M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3938518/gay-marriage-response/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This is The History of the Rainbow Flag","description":"How the rainbow flag became an icon of LGBT rights","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bnTiT5cr/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-24T22:02:03.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bnTiT5cr.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3938518/gay-marriage-response/","duration":"PT1M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3938518/gay-marriage-response/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```