Stick away!!!
Reconciling Your Faith with Your Sexuality
Are we there yet?
By Nicholas Snow
The quest by individuals to reconcile their sexual orientation with their religious and/or spiritual viewpoints will probably never end. Religious wars have been fought since the earliest of recorded human history, and this battle rages on in the hearts and minds of tormented individuals, many of whom have been told for most of their lives that they’re going to hell, if a place such as “hell†exists.
FAMILIES FROM HELL
Yes, the reconciliation can and does happen for individuals, but the individual internal battles will never end, and I’ll tell you why: Religious and political viewpoints are dictated by parents to their children, and parents—especially those with extremely religious viewpoints —spend a great deal of energy to insure that their viewpoints are adopted and practiced by their children. You certainly can’t blame parents for wanting to instill what they believe to be good values to their children, can you?
Well, we don’t choose our parents, nor, as children, do we choose whether or not we’re Catholic or Protestant or Jewish or Muslim or another religion. And as I’m sure most of you reading this article will agree, we don’t choose whether or not we’re going to be heterosexual or homosexual. So, where’s the dilemma? The dilemma is that there will always be teenagers and younger children—who at some level realize they are not heterosexual —that are being taught to hate that part of themselves by their parents and their churches. This is considered by many as the root of increased alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide among our gay and lesbian youth.
FREE SPEECH
What are the solutions? Well, so far, U.S. law has protected internet access in public libraries which allows youth access to information — knowledge does equal power. Additionally, the mass media, with the help of organizations such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and millions of GLBT people who have come out of the closet, has mainstreamed the notion that “it’s okay to be gay.†All the while, Gay/Straight Alliances have sprung up at high schools throughout the United States.
The journey from the centers of hatred and bigotry generally takes those who have escaped to support groups for gays and lesbians from their own faith backgrounds: Catholics have Dignity with
http://www.dignityusa.org; Mormons have Affirmation with
http://www.affirmation.org; moderate Christians have an entire denomination (Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches with
http://www.ufmcc.com; and evangelical Christians have organizations such as Evangelicals Concerned
http://www.ecwr.org and there are so many more. (For an exhaustive list, see our Links below)
GODDESS BLESS THE WORLD WIDE WEB
An internet search on
http://www.Yahoo.com of the words “gay and lesbian Muslim support groups†took me to a site by Muhsin Hendricks. Hendricks writes “I don’t want to be provocative, but there are Muslim homosexuals who have turned their backs on Islam because they are told by the imams (priests) who preach from the pulpits that there is no place in Islam for gays and that they would all go to hell. I believe that just because I am gay does not mean I can’t practice Islam or be a Muslim…â€
A search of
http://www.RainbowQuery.com using the keyword “spirituality†brings up a total of 2,078 results, among the first of which is a link to
http://www.WhiteCraneJournal.com which “explores gay spirituality to uncover the variety of the manifestations of spiritual quest among contemporary gay men, and to reclaim their place in the development of human consciousness.â€
(Note from Thet...the White Crane guys have done some really solid work in the GLBT Spirituality area, I really applaud their efforts...however...I wrote back and forth with them a few times and they weren't very polite. Use the material they've provided, but don't ask them for anything more
)
A Yahoo.com search of the words “gay Mormons†brings up as its first choice,
http://www.affirmation.org, a site that “serves the needs of gays, lesbians, bisexual LDS and their supportive family and friends through social and educational activities.â€
But the fundamental problem is that, even though individual members of the GLBT community are trying to reconcile their sexual orientation with the religion of their childhoods or embarking on different spiritual paths, one teaching may, in order to be true, hold all other religious viewpoints as false. This writer’s personal problem with fundamentalist Christianity is that its interpretation of history negates so many other spiritual viewpoints in that only a chosen few go to heaven.
The most comprehensive online listing of religious and spiritual resources I found includes the following categories: Atheist, Baptist, Buddhist, Roman Catholic, Christian Scientist, Disciples of Christ, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopal, Evangelical, Islamic, Jewish, Lutheran, MCC, Methodist, Mennonite, Mormon, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Quaker, Seventh Day Adventist, Unitarian, United Church of Christ and Wiccan/Pagan. The address is
http://www.dv-8.com/resources/us/nation ... gious.html.
I do want to offer a warning: many anti-gay groups have online sites that masquerade as progay sites but, in actuality, are out to “cure†your homosexuality. Watch out for them, ok? Can I hear an Amen?
THE SAVING GRACE
Surprisingly the most amazing examples of religious and spiritual tolerance are inside the rooms of 12-step programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, where each member chooses his or her own Higher Power. Inside a 12-step meeting, 25 people can join together and bring with them 25 interpretations of what or who God is, and everyone gets along—perhaps a template for society to follow. The rapidly expanding participation of GLBT people in 12-step programs is undoubtedly impacting the trajectory of the community’s sense of spirituality.
Additionally, in my experience, the GLBT community brings with it a greater level of religious and spiritual tolerance, while some believe that the community is “chosen†to lead the planet spiritually and creatively, my hope is that we’re all in this together, regardless of sexual orientation. Be still, and know that I am not God, but She is out there somewhere.
Links:
http://www.affirmation.org (Mormon)
http://www.al-fatiha.net (Muslim)
http://www.dignityusa.org (Catholic)
http://www.ecwr.org (Evangelical Christian)
http://www.gaybuddhist.org (Buddhist)
http://www.gaychristians.org (Christian)
http://www.gayjews.org (Orthodox Jews)
http://www.integrityusa.org (Episcopal)
http://www.orthogays.com (Orthodox Jews)
http://www.ufmcc.com (Metropolitan Community Church)
http://www.whosoever.org (Christian)
