Why Do So Many People Treat Gay Christians Like Crap?

You are right that most atheists and agnostics do not berate Christians. But having previous experience living on atheist forums, I've noticed that in general (whether the person is LGBT or not) the militant atheists are children or dependents of Christian families. And in particular, Christian families who are American and evangelical, who have rebelled against the faith being held in that family. I am no psychiatrist, but I can picture a scenario where you might have felt oppressed and pursued as if you were in a horror movie, and you escaped it, and from your point of view someone else is going through the same thing, you might just decide to berate their "stupidity" or "ignorance" for willingly going into a state of suffering, and at the same time, not considering the fact that everyone's beliefs and definitions are different, and that perhaps your interpretation of Christianity is less fundamental or extreme and more kind and gentle.

Sluts will always be sluts. Let them bitch and moan.

 

I think a lot of gay youth abandon their fundamentalist congregations at the age where youth groups and other social networks are just becoming really important. Gay kids don't have to be literally abandoned by their congregations, they are simply filled with self-loathing that no matter how hard they pray that God will not make them straight.

Many GLBT young people feel cast out from the church. Because they know that their moral position is right (that homosexuality is not a choice, that it is an innate sexual orientation and should be accepted by society) they often respond to their church's unspoken condemnation with complete rebellion.

It's no small wonder lots of formerly Christian gays become militant atheists.

That's my take. But I was raised in a denomination where homosexuals are perversions of God's design and will be cast into the Lake of Fire. To them there are no homosexual families, no homosexual love, nothing that mirrors their own family dynamics - gays are people who have been literally posessed by a demonic force.

I got out of it as early as I could because I could not reconcile the hypocrisies that I encountered there.

I realize as I've gotten older that not all Christians are created equal. But you could easily replace "Christians" with any other faith and the maxim still stands.

 

scratch everything i posted if u read it. after taking time to really think about it i mis-interpreted the article. I agree LGBT people of faith face more discrimination than normal LGBT people and that they do face that bigotry on some level from LGBT people. However i would argue that the level of discrimination they face just from LGBT people is not comparable to the discrimination and bigotry that they face from religious people, and in my experience far more LGBT people are accepting of religious LGBT people than not, and i'd put money that a higher percentage are more accepting than religious people are as the bigotry is more ground into certain religious practices than it is LGBT culture. These are just my opinions i still feel that treating someone differently as a result of their faith is wrong, i am a spiritual person, i believe in respecting people's personal faiths, and i believe faith is an important part to a persons well being.

 

I havent had much experience in talking to gay Christians but I spoke, daily, to a gay Christian for 1-2 weeks.

He was an alright guy. I got on quite well with him actually. What I really didnt like about him, though, was that he made me feel guilty about my sexuality every time I brought up me looking at other guys or something.

 

I don't know any gay Christians that will admit they are gay. I'm probably the closest person I know to that description (I go to a nondenominational church twice a week, and I'm a celibate not-straight person).

However, I'm not celibate because - like gay Christians - I think there is something inherently damnable about sex between people of the same gender. I don't feel that way. But I do believe that there is something sacred about sex and gender, or people wouldn't feel so strongly about it. So I'm not very nonchalant about sleeping around. If you do, good for you. I don't. It requires an intense level of trust and intimacy, and at least affection (if not outright love) for me to get in bed with someone.

I do think that it is a little strange to follow a religion where a large segment of your congregation disapproves of you on the basis of your identity. However, being raised in the Christian church did teach me one thing, because I actually bothered to read the book. Christianity isn't about Christians, it's about Christ.

So bend the knee and turn the other cheek. Backlash from the world is the expected response to the gospel, is it not?

Church GLBT allies get a lot of crap as well. The fundamentalist denominations are even more scathing of their fellow denominations than they are of secular people. Most of them consider Christian-founded nondenominational liberal churches (like the Unitarian Universalist church) to be godless and even a tempter from the Devil himself.

Like, how dare my church perform gay weddings and ordain gay clergy and recognize the selfhood of gay youth? Don't they know they're encouraging people to burn?! *eyeroll*

 

I find it extremely wrong to compare but I've received more hate from users in this forum than from my youth group at Church, and I'm Catholic. I am also celibate and I am out and proud.

I do have to make a distinction between who I am in the internet and IRL--I've recently discovered I am prone to picking fights when I am on internet forums and discussion boards. So that might be it, but otherwise, I've received little to no hate from my church youth group and I've received a couple insults from my LGBT friends asking me if the only reason I was Catholic was because of a priest I was having sex with. (WTF?)

This is a comment on the page linked in the OP. All I have to say is, SERIOUSLY??

 

Well you are right. The only place where I discussed atheism with a hostile tone was on the internet forums. I never really tell my Christian and Muslim friends why I think atheism is the way to go, and so on and so forth, except with one friend who actually likes to discuss Christianity with me and we'd research what the Bible says about certain issues, what the American evangelized version of the Bible says in the same passage, and then I would juxtapose it with why I disagree or agree with it from an atheist's point of view. This is pretty fun, actually.

People who are the in-your-face type IRL makes me uncomfortable. I do fully recognize the role they play in society, by rebelling against traditional norms using loud and obnoxious tactics and downplay the importance of lengthy reasoning and discussion. But it's just not my thing.

This post sounds like me talking about myself. But let me put it here and now that I'm merely anecdotally substantiating the ad hoc conclusions of an existing post with another specific example, in an attempt to "prove" the proposed theory, which depending on your philosophy may be terribly illogical still.

 

YUP pretty much.
There were three gay kids in my youth group in high school. All of us are out and happy now, and still very much involved in the church.

 

I personally am a very lackadaisical when it comes to religion unless I feel what someone is saying is sheer stupidity. Personally I respect everyone's religion and beliefs, but whether you're gay or straight, if you tell me I'm going to hell for being gay or eating meat, and yet perhaps you play football or wear mixed fabrics, I suggest you take a look at yourselves. That's where I basically get all riled up when people are basically contradictory assholes

 

All I've learned from seeing "practicing" gay Christians is that anyone will bend and twist their religion until they get something they want to hear.

This, of course, goes much beyond the issue of gay sex. Where do you think all these denominations come from?

 

"All I've learned from seeing "practicing" gay Christians is that anyone will bend and twist their religion until they get something they want to hear."

Thanks for insulting me horribly and making me feel like I might as well just off myself if you're right.

 

Well, I don't think we want you to off yourself.

Take my opinion into context; I personally don't believe in the Bible but everyone of course differs.

 

What the hell. What a horrible thing to say! That is SO GOD DAMN FUCKING DEEPLY OFFENSIVE. You should be ashamed of yourself.

If you have any decency at all, you will apologize to the hundreds of thousands of people you just trashed.

 

Religion is a topic many people, naturally, feel strongly about. But I suggest adopting a live and let live policy.

As some may have gathered from a few replies in such topics, I have a Christian background but am a non-believer. I don't feel the need to elaborate on my own philosophical position, that'll take all day. But I can say it has taken me nearly 20 years to work it out. I don't particularly care for the aggressive atheist way, in the same way I cannot stand the aggressive and proselytizing Christian way. I understand very well why people choose to believe, or choose to remain believers, and I think that should be respected by all. That said, religions themselves as systems must be open for debate, and everyone's opinion on the matter is valid regardless if the difference in opinion is between denominations, between religions or with non-believers.

When people argue about religion they're not usually arguing about facts, but about personal opinion, experience and belief. So no one can claim to have the right answer, and no one should take offence of other peoples beliefs. It is different when you argue against claims like for instance that homosexuality or transgenderism is something that you're not born with and that it can be changed or "fixed" just like that. That is factually wrong and that can be pointed out as bluntly as you feel comfortable with.

My best suggestion on the topic is to go where the facts lead when facts are available, and be careful where you put your faith when no facts are present.

 

My official religious motto is: Whatever floats your prophet.

 

I can get behind that

 

This behavior is not limited to gay people, nor is it limited to religion. It's a phenomenon that occurs with all possible sets of beliefs.

 

Essentially, haters gonna hate. They'll find a reason or make one up.

 

>>>I don't know any gay Christians that will admit they are gay.

I don't know any gay Christians that will admit they're Christian.

Lex