Some Initial Thoughts on Religion and Sexuality

Some Initial Thoughts on Religion and Sexuality

What does it mean to be Christian and gay, or to be part of any religion for which one's sexuality is contentious? I can't disavow my sexuality any more than I can reject my faith. To disbelieve my attraction to men would be no more possible than for me to disbelieve in Christ. I partake of my sexuality -- live it, embody it -- as comprehensively as I do my faith. Both are inextricable from my identity, and in many ways also from each other.

We often hear of people converting to a faith. The implication of the word 'conversion' is that a faith is simply something that one turns to, like a new shelf of clothes in a store. To convert is merely to shift one's view from one set of contents to another. But those of you who have faith will know that the concept of conversion as it's commonly described is far removed from the actual experience of possessing a conviction. Faith requires total immersion. To convert to a faith is to accept the central beliefs -- such as belief in Christ -- completely, and to possess them absolutely.

On similar grounds, I strongly object to the way religious and social commentators describe their attempts to make gays and lesbians disavow their sexualities as conversions in which men and women would simply be turning away from something that isn't intrinsically a part of themselves, or as 'cures', as though gays and lesbians would merely be ridding themselves of a malignant excrescence, a disposable surface. That's not the case at all -- like my faith, my sexuality isn't something I can deny or treat in order to make it go away; it's a fundamental part of my being. More on this later.