Discussion Board

So, as many of you know from Facebook I had an issue with trying to come up with the post for today's discussion board (it is below, but here is the backstory).  I am a gay male and you all know this, the thing many of you don't know is that I currently attend a Christian College, and they are very anti-gay.  The reasoning why I am attending this college is because I get a discount from the military, and they also provide me with a book voucher to get my books taken care of.  But, I have learned a lot over the period of time about myself, religion and most importantly the field of social work.

The post that I had to write had a prompt that says:

"Chapter 15 of the textbook brings up an interesting topic for discussion, especially for evangelical Christians at University who subscribe to a biblical worldview. In this chapter, Jon states that he considers himself a gay Christian, and he seems fully reconciled in what was once a struggle for him. With respect and consideration for your fellow classmates, discuss how you as a Christian and a social worker will work and relate with co-workers or clients who have beliefs that contradict your own. Use the Bible, scholarly articles, and/or the textbook in your discussion."

So, you can kind of see where my hesitation came from.  As I read through my classmate's posts they mention things like:
"Pray that the gayness will be released."
or
"I do not believe that we can trust or respect them."

So..... yeah....
I took a completely different approach than my classmates with my post, I hope that none of them think I am disrespecting them or saying they are wrong, but at the same time I want them to understand where I am coming from.... At least I hope this doesn't put me in hot water with my professor or anything, I don't think it will, but you never know........  So here is what I wrote:

Following with the prompt on how as a Christian and a social worker would I be able to work and relate with co-workers or clients who have beliefs that contradict my own?  I would honestly just respect the co-worker or the client that I am meeting with because even if we do not share the same beliefs we should still show respect.  I have a gay uncle, and I work with some individuals at the hospital that are gay, and I treat each one of them with respect because they treat me the same way.  There is no reason to turn a person away or put someone down for a different belief or orientation.

So, as a Christian we should look at Luke 6:31 which says, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  Yes, there are individuals that are gay and there are verses in the Bible that look down upon them, but Luke 6:31 pretty much sums up how we should treat each other.  I would not want to go to a business owned by a Muslim individual and be denied service, why should we deny them of anything as well? 

So as a social worker it is our ethical responsibility as professionals to “not practice, condone, facilitate, or collaborate with any form of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, political belief, religion, or mental or physical disability (Code of Ethics , 1996).”  So, if we have a client that is a gay, or questioning their sexuality or has a mental or physical illness we should not discriminate and deny them the same services that you would provide to a Christian mother/father that is needing those same services.  

Code of Ethics. (1996). Retrieved from National Association of Social Workers (NASW): http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp

I believe that I touched the right spots with replying to the prompt.... Thoughts?