Have you ever known someone who is/was Catholic and in the LGBTQ community? If you did, do you know how their family reacted to their child's sexuality?
I am a gay dude and also a Roman Catholic (tho i dont practice this religion that much, tho I have good relationship with God). I also grew up in a conservative Roman Catholic family, including relatives. They have been vocal to me about them not being ok if any of us (but really, just me) would be gay. They said we (again, I) will be a disgrace to the family's name. Tho I am not out to them yet, soon tho.
My biological dad and the majority of his side of the family are Catholic. I haven't said a word to him or anyone on that side of the family about my sexuality (nor my gender identity). I'm too scared of what he might say (despite the fact that I don't live with him anymore anyway). I mean, back during the last presidential election year, he got frustrated when I said I supported Obama, I don't know what he'd do if I came out to him. I'd rather avoid it, at least for now.
Replace Catholic with Protestant and gay with trans, and this describes my situation perfectly. In our family, being LGBT means you should be disowned and will go to hell. But I believe that God is bigger than that. I did actually know a Catholic family whose oldest daughter was a lesbian, and they fully accepted her. "Love is love," they said.
Catholic here and have yet to come out to my family who just assumes I'm straight by default. They seem kinda unsure about the LGBT+ community and still believe some but not all of the old stereotypes about gender. However the church we go to is very accepting and I have met many people who are apart of the community and proud Catholics. I'm probably going to come out to them when I'm in college and out of the house just in case, but I'm sure once educated they'll understand.
I've met a few LGBTQ+ people who were raised in a very religious setting, but most don't follow the faith anymore. For them, as far as I know, they're still on good terms with their parents- but I believe the whole coming out process was rocky for most if not all of them, and it took a while for their parents to accept them. Siblings and younger family members were much more understanding from the get go. Still, I think it's a case-by-case thing. It depends on the people and how traditional, conservative, etc the parents are.
Agnostic used to be religious but I just couldn't reconcile my sexuality with my faith I would like to believe again but probably never will.
Semi- religious muslim/agnostic here. I'm not out, and i don't think my family would respond too well, but who knows? Mabye in a shocking turn of events, they would, there's still hope, even if it's seemingly non-existent. I still don't know how to reconcile my sexuality with what I believe.
I really wish all religions were as accepting to OUR reality. It was encouraging to see that there were LGBT friendly churches opening up. Maybe change isn't too far away! Bright Blessings!!!
As I had mentioned in a previous thread that my very first boyfriend whom by the way was much older than myself was a Catholic priest and a very popular one to say the least. One of the qualities that he always liked about me was my demeanor. He loved how no one was able to question or have any curiosity about my sexuality and therefore, in public, he introduced me as his cousin or nephew. As time progressed within our relationship, I was introduced to members of his immediate family. It was not long after that introduction that I found out that some of them knew about him being gay. In fact, he even had a sibling who was married with children and yet, he too was on the down low and would meet guys at hotels, gyms, etc. He even came on to me several times while his brother was not around. I remember this one particular evening, he took me to his mom's house for the very first time and introduced me to her as his office assistant. He told her that we were going to the office in the den and take care of a lot of paperwork. Once we went to the den to take care of some paperwork, she came to the staircase and asked me to come help her bring some snacks that she made for the both of us. However, once I met her in the kitchen, she closed the door to the den and started talking to me. Well...in a nutshell...she accused me of influencing him to being a gay man and that I was not welcome in her home again and to stay away from her son. She also brought up the fact of him being a priest who is very well known not only within the Catholic diocese but also within the local media. I did respond to her by saying that he is much older than myself and have been the one influencing me instead of the other way around and furthermore, from her approach towards me that I am not the first guy that she has seen him with to question his sexuality. Therefore, she needs to have this conversation with him instead of me. Needless to say, I was ready to leave, but I stayed long enough to finish the paperwork that I came to do. On the way home, he noticed how quiet I was and began to question me about what his mother talked to me about. He said he heard her voice but could not make out what she was saying to me. Reluctantly, I finally told him what was said and decided that it would be best for the both of us if we broke up and go our separate ways. He was very upset and tried to talk me out of breaking up with him. Later on, his sister contacted me and told me that he went off on his mother about me and told her that he was still going to see me whether she liked it or not. Their mother gave in to his demands even though deep inside, she did not like it. She had a very close relationship with him and she did not want him to disappear from her life. Therefore, she contacted me to apologize. Honestly, I have to say that initially, I was very uncomfortable dating him because I would go to Church on Sundays and he would be up at the pulpit delivering his sermon and how the congregation just loved him to death. Yet, I couldn't help but let my mind wander to what was going to happen between us later that evening when we got home because the sex was AMAZING!!!!!!...He loved sex and even had a sex room in the house we lived in and he was very exploratory when it came to sex and loved role playing to the up most. This is where my guilt would creep in during the first year of our relationship all the time. Many of his family members were known within the city as great business men and women and I had really good relationships with them especially the sister. The mother did come around to accepting me in public when she saw that a lot of her family members embraced me at a family event that I really did not want to attend but some of his relatives insisted that I come. To conclude, this is my personal story with religion and sexuality.
Not Catholic (or me), but a close friend of mine is non-binary, bisexual, and from a Muslim family. I don't think she's out to them, though.
