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What was it like growing up Christian and LGBTQ+?

Discussion in 'Family, Friends, and Relationships' started by ConnectedToWall, Jan 6, 2016.

  1. ConnectedToWall

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    Just interested to hear stories. Was there homophobia? If so, how did you deal with the homophobia? (This question can apply to those who grew up with other religions and belief systems too) And also as a side note I know that not all Christians are homophobic, so no offense intended. (&&&)
     
  2. Jax12

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    I don't practice anymore, but I use to go to church. I wasn't very serious about going to church; I went because my friends were there.

    Surprisingly, I did not experience any homophobia whatsoever at my church, because they continued to preach on the relationship between you and God. I'm Chinese, and so the adult congregation is conservative, but not the youth group since we grew up in this generation.

    To be honest, I don't really know anyone who's homophobic, or explicitly shows hate towards the LGBT community. My parents have a hard time accepting that I'm gay, but I doubt that's them expressing their homophobia.
     
  3. Kira

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    It was more or less this "hell" I hear so much about, to put it plain and simple. I'm not Christian anymore though, but I spent years pretending I still was for the sake of my crazy relatives. Back then, I hated life and wanted to be flattened by a truck.
     
  4. bookreader

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    Nah, no homophobia. My mom said it's okay to be different.
     
  5. Ravi-VIXX777

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    Really frustrating (still is). I was raised Pentecostal, which in my opinion is one of the more 'out there' branches of Chrisianity. To sum it up, they think everything bad in the world is caused by demons, so they believe there is a gay demon.

    It was very damaging hearing your parents tell you there is a demon in you or that you have a curse caused from someone's sins generations ago. They forced me to go to church as much as possible, read my bible daily, and 'pray the gay away' daily.

    This has caused a lot of resentment towards my parents, but I hide it. I'm forced to hug my mom everyday and say 'I love you' to her. It's annoying. As for my dad, he used to be against it, but he accepts me today. But I don't feel that happy because he only came around when my parents are getting a divorce (where my life is at now, ironic right?) and his apology was sincere, but it can't take away the past. Nor did ever once ask about how I felt; he just condemned me instead.

    I've given up on religion, and passionately despise a higher being if one indeed existed. I just have to remain with my parents for 2 more years and be forced to do things against my will, but I will be leaving them for good once I am financially secure.
     
  6. art3mis

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    I used to live with my mum and both of my grandparents when I was younger. My grandparents where both very religious and also tried to force their believes and ideologies upon me all the time, giving me bibles and rosaries for christmas and forcing me to go to church with them etc.
    My mum used to be a catholic, too, but never really supported these ideas and believes and eventually left church a few years ago.
    I never believed in god and experiencing the whole dimension of intolerance, discrimination and outdated mindsets, the catholic church brought to us at first hand, I left church at the age of 12.

    At the time I lived in this really conservative enviroment, I only came out to my closest friends because seeing how in our school both a gay boy and a lesbian girl got bullied for being gay, I was afraid that the same thing could happen to me if anyone would find out and I was afraid to tell my grandparents, too.

    After my grandpa died, I spent more and more time with my grandma and we had a lot of discussions about religion, believes and also topics like homophobia etc. and I feel like she grew a lot more open minded through that. When I came out to her, she wasn't even surprised because she already noticed that I never really showed interest in boys but to some girls I seemed to have a rather close "friendship". She is still pretty ashamed and doesn't want the rest of our family to know about me being lesbian/pansexual but at least she still talks to me haha. My mom wasn't surprised either but she has been really supportive from the start. Since she has always been the most important person in my life, this makes me so happy...