Student Loses Job at Church Summer Camp After Pro-Gay Marriage Blog Post
A University of Sioux Falls student is claiming that she was fired from her job as a counselor at a Christian summer camp after voicing her support for same-sex marriage on her personal blog.
Dannika Nash, a native of Sioux Falls, S.D., and a junior at the University of Sioux Falls, claims that she was dismissed from her job as a camp counselor at a summer church camp after writing the April 7 blog post, "An Open Letter to the Church from My Generation."
In the blog, Nash urges the Christian church to change its position on same-sex marriage or risk losing the younger generation of Christians.
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Nash uses some colorful language, saying that young Christians can smell "holy [expletive] from a mile away."
She asserted that the younger generation of Christians "[wants] to hear about equality and love in a gentle way. We're sick of the harsh words of both sides."
"Say what you want about my generation, but we can smell fake from a mile away," Nash added.
She went on to say that she chose to write the blog post because she's concerned "about the safety of the Church," and she believes the younger generation of Christians "will not stick around to see the church fight gay marriage against our better judgment."
"It's my generation who is overwhelmingly supporting marriage equality, and Church, as a young person and as a theologian, it is not in your best interest to give them that ultimatum."
The university student, who majors in English and theology, added that she temporarily left her church due to its stance on same-sex marriage, and has only recently returned with the hope that the Bible "could be saying something completely different about love and equality."
Nash told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader that although she did expect some conflict due to her blog post, she was not expecting to lose her job at the church camp, which she has chosen not to name.
"The place and the people are really, really important to me, and even though I knew I was risking that a bit with the blog post, it hurt to have it taken away," Nash said of the camp.
The student's blog post has received 2,250 comments since it was posted over a week ago, and many of the comments refute Nash's argument for the Christian church to support same-sex marriage.
One commenter, named Patrick, argued that just because the Bible opposes gay marriage doesn't mean Christians hate gay people, as Nash implied in her post, when she referenced "hateful preaching."
"I don't hate gay people nor treat them differently than anyone else. I love them and believe God has a plan for their life too, but I still can't be truly supportive of gay marriage because it doesn't coincide with the Bible," Patrick wrote.
Another commenter, who went by the name "LV," also commented in the vein of love and hate between Christians and the gay community, arguing that to say Christians do not love gay people is a deceptive device employed by Satan.
"Satan's greatest tool of deception is a divided house. When you hear that God doesn't love homosexuals, that is a lie from the enemy," LV commented.
After losing her 10-week summer camp job, Nash has received job offers from readers of her blog post, some of whom are a part of gay reconciliation ministries, according to the Argus-Leader.
