Proud to be Out. Proud to be Christian.

by Naomi Brown, LMSW | Published Online on June 05, 2011

God created me and he knew I’d be gay. How radical. June being the month of Pride, I love to look at how religion, or more importantly, faith impacts us. Many religions celebrate justice and equality and many denominations can be affirming, but your personal journey may be a rocky one if you were raised in a traditional Christian religion. I like to say evangelicals have the hardest time coming to terms with who they are and the fact that God loves them just the way they are. Every time I speak in the community, especially on college campuses, the question inevitably comes down to how I have come to terms with a traditional ministry training, growing up in the black church, and being Gay.

The church is the first place we saw reparative therapy in action. For those of you who don’t know what this is it, “I’m gonna pray you’re not gay”: it’s also called conversion therapy -- basically stating how we can and want to be changed. It’s based loosely on the fact that you can be changed and then wake up one day as heterosexual person. Wow, if that worked, you mean all those straight girls I fell for I could have prayed gay. My first girlfriend sang with me in the choir. That was my first love and still is -- God and girls.

For many teens growing up in the church, it is sadly better to be dead then gay. The Religious Right spends millions spewing anti-gay rhetoric in the name of God. Many of these ex gay groups target young people who are just discovering who they are and wrestling with it. Well meaning parents impose this religious closet and look for “the cure” for their gay children. Bullying and suicide often plague these youth whose only “sin” was in being different. Yet no one was more different than Jesus; he was the original outcast. By believing that being gay is a sin, they mistakenly believe that scripture states hate the “sinner” not the "sin”. The Bible becomes justification for discrimination. In a recent Gallup Poll, over half of Americans accept gay relationships and believe Gays should be allowed to marry, and seventy eight percent believe Gays should serve openly in the military (gallup.com). However many Christians still believe homosexuality is a trick of the “enemy” and is akin to demonic possession, that we are possessed by the demon of homosexuality. That’s right up there with adultery and murder when it comes to sin, because in Christianity “sin is sin”.

Here are the facts as I see them: Jesus gave us one new commandment and that was to “Love one another.” There was no disclaimer attached to it. He doesn’t tell us to love only people who believe as we do and who are heterosexual. Instead: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So whether you are Buddhist, Wiccan, Jewish, Ba’hai, Catholic, or some other faith, there is a place for you at the table. It was a table that was set for all of us. In this month where we take time out to formally celebrate Pride, he said "Come unto me all you who labor and are burdened and I give rest-" Matthew 11:28, Welcome home.

There will be a Pride Interfaith Service celebrating the Unity, Justice, and Equality of Pride of many faith communities June 22 @ 7:00 pm at Beacon Hill Presbyterian. Truly all are welcome, regardless of creed or belief. I hope to see you there.

This article appeared in the June 2011 of ignite Magazine.