The Rainbow Connection [LGBTS Club]

[Shining Raichu]

Welcome to magma_wolf and Game Over1375!! Adding yo names to the list now.

im gay but only a few friends know it. i just dont know how to tell my parents

I pretty much agree entirely with what Scarf said, we'd need to know a bit more about your situation before we start being all "yeah just come out!" because sometimes it's really not as easy as that. What I will say though is that you've done the right thing telling your friends first - it definitely helps because then if telling your parents goes badly (which hopefully it won't) then you'd have a place to go. I don't mean to scare you by saying that, a lot of the time it does turn out just fine, but there are some parents who aren't quite as OK with the whole thing as they should be.

I'm assuming that means you want to join, so welcome to the club Magma Wolf! :) Andy (Shining Raichu) will come over and add you to the club once he's done polishing his nails or lining his eyes or whatever doing manly things.

I lol'd. A lot. :P

Some people might say that I'm a little too honest with some things, but every now and then, someone needs to be frank. I guess I'll be that person, if I'm accepted. ^o^

Honesty is kinda what we're all about here :)

 

[Game Over1375]

Thank you for adding me Shining Raichu. Now then *cracks knuckles* I've been meaning to ask a certain question.

Are you a Christian (be you Catholic, Baptist, etc) who is either Gay, Lesibian, Bi, Asexual, etc? Or are you a Christian who supports those who are?

This might seem a little...personal, I know, but I'm curious to these sort of things. My answer? I am a Christian who not only supports LGBTQIAA, but is also a former bisexual (still kinda am, just not as much I guess).

 

[-Jared-]

Thank you for adding me Shining Raichu. Now then *cracks knuckles* I've been meaning to ask a certain question.

Are you a Christian (be you Catholic, Baptist, etc) who is either Gay, Lesibian, Bi, Asexual, etc? Or are you a Christian who supports those who are?

Aha, a question I can answer. :P

Yes, I am a Christian who is gay. To be more specific, I am a Lutheran. I attend church semi regularly (I wish it could be more regularly, but sometimes life prevents that. xP) and I am a member of the Church Council. Unfortunately, no one at church know I am gay, yet. :\ But fortunately, I don't think it'll be TOO big of a deal. :P And my family is also composed of Lutherans who support gay rights.

 

[Shining Raichu]

Thank you for adding me Shining Raichu. Now then *cracks knuckles* I've been meaning to ask a certain question.

Are you a Christian (be you Catholic, Baptist, etc) who is either Gay, Lesibian, Bi, Asexual, etc? Or are you a Christian who supports those who are?

You're very welcome!

In answer to your question, no. I'm an atheist and I'm not a fan of religion at all for its overall views on LGBT issues. The fact that this question was even asked is proof that being a Christian and in support of the LGBT community is still seen as an oddity, or going against the grain.

My general view on being gay and religious is that I personally can't see why anyone would do it. It does not change my opinion of that person at all (and I can't stress that enough) however I do think that they're making their life as a gay person so much harder than it really needs to be. That said, I do understand that being gay does not mean that people stop believing in God (since I was an atheist before I knew I was gay and therefore my atheism is separate from my sexuality), but it does trouble me a little that people are subscribing to institutions that discriminate against them.

Even if their particular religious community is down with the gays, it is in the Bible - the fabric of the religion itself - that gay is not OK. I could never get past that and I have a bit of trouble seeing how any gay person could.

As to my notions on religion itself, I will tolerate it only to the point where it begins to hurt other people outside of the religion. Sadly in my experiences, that has not been very far at all.

 

[-Jared-]

You're very welcome!

In answer to your question, no. I'm an atheist and I'm not a fan of religion at all for its overall views on LGBT issues. The fact that this question was even asked is proof that being a Christian and in support of the LGBT community is still seen as an oddity, or going against the grain.

My general view on being gay and religious is that I personally can't see why anyone would do it. It does not change my opinion of that person at all (and I can't stress that enough) however I do think that they're making their life as a gay person so much harder than it really needs to be. That said, I do understand that being gay does not mean that people stop believing in God (since I was an atheist before I knew I was gay and therefore my atheism is separate from my sexuality), but it does trouble me a little that people are subscribing to institutions that discriminate against them.

Even if their particular religious community is down with the gays, it is in the Bible - the fabric of the religion itself - that gay is not OK. I could never get past that and I have a bit of trouble seeing how any gay person could.

As to my notions on religion itself, I will tolerate it only to the point where it begins to hurt other people outside of the religion. Sadly in my experiences, that has not been very far at all.

Well, I can speak for at least my family when I say that the Bible, as Holy as it is, was also written by humans. It is completely possible that a human, at some point in time, mistranslated something, left something out, or even possibly snuck something in there as a "take that" to someone they knew at the time.

This thinking is partially why Lutherans are real big on "personal interpretation." The bible was written ages ago (years and times elude me. >__>) for a period and culture vastly different from our own. Who is to say, God didn't say that because he figured a majority of people wouldn't like it, so just say "Don't do it" and that eliminates some strife. At the time, at least. I often wonder, if God came down to Earth now and said "Yo, dawg, I think that old bible is cool and all, but I gotta say, this new bible I wrote just now is the best bible of all time. OF ALL TIME" what kind of stuff would be in it. Like, law and commandment-wise. xD

Of course, this is all based on a lot of thought and talk amongst family and religious leaders, and this interpretation could be ENTIRELY wrong, and I acknowledge that. But it is how my heart feels is right, and I choose to live my life as such. I just figured, I'll share what I think so you can see how I feel as a gay Christian. A lot of people, especially some other Christians would probably claim I am a heretic for saying that, but eh. Their opinion. xD

EDIT: Also, I should note that not all Lutherans feel this way. There are two branches of Lutheranism that I know of, a more liberal one, the Sierra Pacific Synod, and the more conservative one, the Missouri Synod. My church is part of the SPS that voted to allow gay people to become ministers. Just thought that might be necessary, as I just claimed Lutherans as a whole, up there. >__>

 

[-ty-]

Well, I can speak for at least my family when I say that the Bible, as Holy as it is, was also written by humans. It is completely possible that a human, at some point in time, mistranslated something, left something out, or even possibly snuck something in there as a "take that" to someone they knew at the time.

This thinking is partially why Lutherans are real big on "personal interpretation." The bible was written ages ago (years and times elude me. >__>) for a period and culture vastly different from our own. Who is to say, God didn't say that because he figured a majority of people wouldn't like it, so just say "Don't do it" and that eliminates some strife. At the time, at least. I often wonder, if God came down to Earth now and said "Yo, dawg, I think that old bible is cool and all, but I gotta say, this new bible I wrote just now is the best bible of all time. OF ALL TIME" what kind of stuff would be in it. Like, law and commandment-wise. xD

Of course, this is all based on a lot of thought and talk amongst family and religious leaders, and this interpretation could be ENTIRELY wrong, and I acknowledge that. But it is how my heart feels is right, and I choose to live my life as such. I just figured, I'll share what I think so you can see how I feel as a gay Christian. A lot of people, especially some other Christians would probably claim I am a heretic for saying that, but eh. Their opinion. xD

EDIT: Also, I should note that not all Lutherans feel this way. There are two branches of Lutheranism that I know of, a more liberal one, the Sierra Pacific Synod, and the more conservative one, the Missouri Synod. My church is part of the SPS that voted to allow gay people to become ministers. Just thought that might be necessary, as I just claimed Lutherans as a whole, up there. >__>

The word translated into "homosexual" is also translated in different passages as "perverts"; The "pervert" interpretation is used more frequently than "homosexual". Essentially, who ever interpreted the bible at some point in time
subjectively believed that the two terms were synonymous; obviously they are not. So I would agree that human error is overlooked.

 

[Shiny]

Are you a Christian (be you Catholic, Baptist, etc) who is either Gay, Lesibian, Bi, Asexual, etc? Or are you a Christian who supports those who are?
While I'm Athiest, my best friend in the entire world and at times playful lover (we're not actually romantic, it's a girl : P) is Anglican and supports gay rights and her father is actually an Angelican Priest (or whatever is the name given to religious figures in various religions) and he totally supports the gay community as their oldest daughter (my biffle's older sister) is bisexual and they frequently attend rallies for gay rights.

 

[Ineffable~]

Are you a Christian (be you Catholic, Baptist, etc) who is either Gay, Lesibian, Bi, Asexual, etc? Or are you a Christian who supports those who are?

This might seem a little...personal, I know, but I'm curious to these sort of things. My answer? I am a Christian who not only supports LGBTQIAA, but is also a former bisexual (still kinda am, just not as much I guess).

I don't see how this is personal. :P

I'm not a Christian per se; I am spiritual in the sense that I believe in general that there's a higher power, however this higher power may look or act, or whether this higher power pays attention to the world or even intended to create it in the first place. I just don't feel any particular reason to pick any religion over another, however I'm very interested in the individual religions and learning about them, so I think it would be cool to participate in some of the ceremonies or practices of several religions and hope to do that some day. I don't feel any conflict between going to a church and going to a mosque.

I've honestly never once felt the apparent hostility in religion. I've mentioned this before but I've had two basic church experiences: one where I was completely accepted and there was no issue at all; and another where it was a little awkward but I think mostly because I already knew the people.

Noob to this, and want to join, mostly cause I'm gay, don't expect activeness though. :P

Welcome to the club! :D

 

[Alice]

I don't see how this is personal. :P

I'm not a Christian per se; I am spiritual in the sense that I believe in general that there's a higher power, however this higher power may look or act, or whether this higher power pays attention to the world or even intended to create it in the first place. I just don't feel any particular reason to pick any religion over another, however I'm very interested in the individual religions and learning about them, so I think it would be cool to participate in some of the ceremonies or practices of several religions and hope to do that some day. I don't feel any conflict between going to a church and going to a mosque.

I've honestly never once felt the apparent hostility in religion. I've mentioned this before but I've had two basic church experiences: one where I was completely accepted and there was no issue at all; and another where it was a little awkward but I think mostly because I already knew the people.


Welcome to the club! :D

OMG, you have NO idea how insanely confused I've been for the past 5 minutes, because of your avatar.

Y U NO SEE PAST DISGUISE EYES?!?



Anyway, I'm bi and a Christian. I don't really have any justification for this, I just can't give up either side, so I opted to stop giving a crap one way or the other. Worked pretty well.

 

[Ineffable~]

OMG, you have NO idea how insanely confused I've been for the past 5 minutes, because of your avatar.

Y U NO SEE PAST DISGUISE EYES?!?

Muahahahahahahaha! :P
The only difference is the size that's what she said
I totally could have taken over the entire club and you wouldn't even have noticed! :D


-Scrambles for a way to make this on topic-
Um.

The fact that this question was even asked is proof that being a Christian and in support of the LGBT community is still seen as an oddity, or going against the grain.

I feel this is more of a stereotype than anything. I've literally never actually known any genuinely religious homophobic person. All of the homophobes and transphobes I have known have been people to whom religion is mostly irrelevant. Even then the only "religious homophobes" I see online are just people who one day found out they can use religion as an excuse to hate people for no good reason and then so became "serious" about being a "Christian". That's not real religion at all, so I think you're really mistaking actual religion for, you know, the thing I just mentioned. Trust me, real good religious people exist. I know many of them.

 

[Esper]

Are you a Christian (be you Catholic, Baptist, etc) who is either Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Asexual, etc? Or are you a Christian who supports those who are?

I'm not Christian, nor a follower of any other religion, and never have been. I know there are a lot of gay Christians and supporters in my area (the San Francisco area, of course), but the only Christians I personally know who are supportive are creaters (Christmas and Easter Christians) and not all that big on church stuff as much as they are generally believers.

I feel this is more of a stereotype than anything. I've literally never actually known any genuinely religious homophobic person. All of the homophobes and transphobes I have known have been people to whom religion is mostly irrelevant. Even then the only "religious homophobes" I see online are just people who one day found out they can use religion as an excuse to hate people for no good reason and then so became "serious" about being a "Christian". That's not real religion at all, so I think you're really mistaking actual religion for, you know, the thing I just mentioned. Trust me, real good religious people exist. I know many of them.

This is my experience, too. Like in high school there were more than a few who'd say something about how a trans or gay person is wrong "in the eyes of God" or something like that while that same person did plenty of things that I don't think God's eyes would be too pleased to watch, if you know what I mean. They're the kind of people who never question or reflect on their beliefs one way or the other so their understanding/religious conviction is only skin deep and more a tool than anything.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Are you a Christian (be you Catholic, Baptist, etc) who is either Gay, Lesibian, Bi, Asexual, etc? Or are you a Christian who supports those who are?

I think I talked about how my priest said at mass that same-sex marriage is one of four things that are always wrong when we go vote.

 

[Shiny]

If possible, I'd like to ask a new question.

Where do you think homophobia stems from?

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Where do you think homophobia stems from?

Humans have a natural fear of things that are different and that they don't understand.

 

[TheWeirdBadger]

I'd love to join this thread!!
I'm gay (I am also Christian and live in the American South)
I came out during the summer of 2010.
I'd be more than happy to be a shoulder to lean on or an ear that will listen for anyone out there that needs help :)

 

[Nakuzami]

Well, I think I've been stalking this club long enough (well, maybe only a week or two, but that's long enough for me X3) so... sign me up~!

Well, I can speak for at least my family when I say that the Bible, as Holy as it is, was also written by humans. It is completely possible that a human, at some point in time, mistranslated something, left something out, or even possibly snuck something in there as a "take that" to someone they knew at the time.

Oh. My. God. I love you for saying this! I've been thinking- and occasionally saying- that for SO long now, lol. I've never actually read the bible, but people use it as an excuse enough that I'm not too fond of the little book. I'm not fond of it because of what I've heard/know is inside, but because of the people who use it for an excuse all the time.

I believe in God, yes, but my beliefs are perhaps a little... weird. I don't really consider myself to belong to any religion, but a majority of my family are Christians, and most of them (the others I'm not sure of) are supportive of gay couples/marriage/all that good stuff.
My beliefs could be considered weird, I guess, because while I do believe in God, I don't believe in Satan (pity, are birthdays are off by about ~6 minutes. We could have been friends! :D) and, well, there's quite a bit more to it but... well, go read some Sylivia Brown books or something. xD

On a slightly different topic, but still on the topic of "being gay is bad" for all those supposedly "religious" people, it annoys me when people say that gay, bi, lesbian, trans., y'know, all those people like that, are mistakes or something. I mean, if they're all mistakes that are scum in the eyes of God, and God supposedly creates everone... then that God makes a hell of a lot of mistakes. Why does that God make so many mistakes? Why doesn't that God correct those mistakes? Why do I think all people who think like that are idiots?
Questions we may never know the answer to... or at least, those people who believe things like that won't be able to properly answer, at least enough to satisfy.

Where do you think homophobia stems from?

I agree with FreakyLocz14 here. People are just afraid of what is different and they can't understand. It happens so much to so many types of people/things, it makes me sad. Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's wrong or that you're superior to it in any way. That sort of thinking is something that I will never understand. -.-'

Erm... I guess that's all I have to say for now. At least, that I feel like thinking up/typing, lol.

 

[Esper]

Where do you think homophobia stems from?

Fear of the unknown, like Freaky said. But more specifically I think homophobia comes from a couple of places. I could ramble on and on about all the things I think are involved in it, but I think the biggest one is related to gender and identity.

The stereotypical man (I'm using a man as an example because that's the slice of the population where I've noticed the most homophobia) builds an identity based on a lot of things, including being attracted to women. When you have men who could be attracted to him, it conflicts with his own sense of identity. In his view of the world women are the desired object and a man is the one who does the desiring. For a man to be the object of another man's desire is the same as making him a woman (in the homophobe's mind). The homophobic man equates this to an attack on his masculinity because homosexual attraction is a foreign concept to him and he therefore fears, and imagines, it happening toward him. He then needs to prove his masculinity and the stereotypical ways a man does this are through acts of violence or asserting power over a woman. That means that he'll act hostile to a gay man because he simultaneously sees the gay man as a male (and therefore rival worthy of fighting) and because he sees him as feminine and therefore below him and deserving of oppression.

This whole thought process isn't actually playing out in the man's head, of course. He's not really aware he's doing it and so he'll use whatever excuse he has handy to justify his actions (if they ever go challenged in the first place).

 

[Ineffable~]

Where do you think homophobia stems from?

Fear of the unknown, like Freaky said. But more specifically I think homophobia comes from a couple of places. I could ramble on and on about all the things I think are involved in it, but I think the biggest one is related to gender and identity.

The stereotypical man (I'm using a man as an example because that's the slice of the population where I've noticed the most homophobia) builds an identity based on a lot of things, including being attracted to women. When you have men who could be attracted to him, it conflicts with his own sense of identity. In his view of the world women are the desired object and a man is the one who does the desiring. For a man to be the object of another man's desire is the same as making him a woman (in the homophobe's mind). The homophobic man equates this to an attack on his masculinity because homosexual attraction is a foreign concept to him and he therefore fears, and imagines, it happening toward him. He then needs to prove his masculinity and the stereotypical ways a man does this are through acts of violence or asserting power over a woman. That means that he'll act hostile to a gay man because he simultaneously sees the gay man as a male (and therefore rival worthy of fighting) and because he sees him as feminine and therefore below him and deserving of oppression.

This whole thought process isn't actually playing out in the man's head, of course. He's not really aware he's doing it and so he'll use whatever excuse he has handy to justify his actions (if they ever go challenged in the first place).

It's funny that the man in question doesn't consider the possibility that women can "desire" men. :P

Umm, anyway, yeah this is totally true. I'll just say I agree to avoid trying to reword it and failing. xD

I'd love to join this thread!!
I'm gay (I am also Christian and live in the American South)
I came out during the summer of 2010.
I'd be more than happy to be a shoulder to lean on or an ear that will listen for anyone out there that needs help :)

Well, I think I've been stalking this club long enough (well, maybe only a week or two, but that's long enough for me X3) so... sign me up~!

Welcome you two! ^^

 

[Kura]

Welcome to the club, guys! I hope you make yourself welcome here :3

 

[FreakyLocz14]

It's religion is some, but not all people. There are non-homophobic religious people, and I've even met homophobic atheists.