“God Ma me Gay for a Reason”: Young Men who have Sex wh Men’s Riliency Rolvg Internalized Homophobia om Relig Sourc - PMC

Contents:

• 'IF I GROW UP TO BE GAY, WILL I GO TO HELL?'
• ‘DON’T E BACK, THEY’LL KILL YOU FOR BEG GAY’
• BEG A GAY CHRISTIAN N BE HURTFUL AND GELLG. BUT I REFE TO LOSE FAH
• A POLICE OFFICER AT MY PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL TOLD ME I’M GOG TO HELL BEE I’M GAY
• DO GAY PEOPLE GO TO HEAVEN?
• RELIGN AND ACCEPTANCE OF GAYS
• “GOD MA ME GAY FOR A REASON”: YOUNG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN’S RILIENCY ROLVG INTERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA OM RELIG SOURC

'IF I GROW UP TO BE GAY, WILL I GO TO HELL?'

Children hear about Israel Fol's homophobic ments, and they have Pl HeyHer qutn is doubly shockg given she has two gay uncl, we speak openly about homosexualy our fay, and her father and I uld not re ls about the genr of the people she choos to love.

‘DON’T E BACK, THEY’LL KILL YOU FOR BEG GAY’

Growg up I was obliv to the impact that our homophobic muny, Brisbane the ‘80s and early ‘90s, had on my iend’s self homophobic jok, the “fag” pranks such as boys verg school books wh the word “fag”, and, y, people thory clarg that hell awas him, have all ntributed to McCulloch feelg ashamed, unacceptable and unlovable for his entire life. They experience poorer mental health out than their peers as a direct rult of the stigma, prejudice, discrimatn and abe they experience jt for beg, who last week lnched a crowdfundg mpaign aimg to raise $3 ln to ver his legal bills his appeal agast his ntract termatn by Rugby Atralia (which was shut down on Monday morng), fend his homophobic post as “an act of love and passn” have no ia of the effect that the msag have on the people they are I thk of how my iend has suffered om homophobia his whole life, and all the boys and girls, past and prent, who will be eply wound and trmatised by Fol’s words, is unfathomable how anyone uld ever jtify them as lovg or ’s not unmon to e ancient texts to provi jtifitn for hatred, but if Fol wants to play the bible rd, let’s talk about what else he uld do wh $3 ln stead of fendg his right to tell already vulnerable and margalised people that hell awas them. I uldn't stop lookg out the wdow, " he statn was Malaysia, bee tourist visas are ee on life as a Somali asylum seeker Malaysia is tough - and there too homosexualy is most asylum seekers live limbo for years before beg regnised as a refugee, Mohamed's se was fast-tracked and he has been accepted for rettlement.

Durg my unrgraduate gree, I basilly gave up gog to church altogether bee felt like all the Christian stunts were harned anti-gay ’s a time and a place for what I ll “activist church-gog”: gog to a church where you know you won’t be accepted jt to remd them that queer Christians do exist. ’ “So, the days nservative Christians regularly assert that God only has a problem wh my beg bisexual if I fail to rist the ‘temptatn’ of physilly exprsg my homosexual si — of actg, that is, acrdance wh the very nature They gave me.

The ma issue that I am alg wh is that I won’t go to heaven bee I’m gay, and that thought sr me and keeps me up at night, particularly now that relig groups are startg to discs the possibily of the lennium beg the send g. Fortunately for saved homosexuals and unfortunately for those who e those vers agast , the vers do not teach or imply that homosexuals will go to homosexual - gays, lbians, bisexuals and transgenr people - will go to heaven IF they tst J Christ as their Savr om s and hell and the wrath of God. Do not be ceived: Neher the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostut nor homosexual offenrs (arsenokoai)" 1 Cor 6:9, NIVBee the NIV did such a loy job and mistranslated the Greek word, arsenokoai, many people nclud that homosexuals will not her the kgdom of the NIV translators had bothered to study stead of jt gog by what the Greek lexins say, the gay muny uld have avoid a lot of pa and heartache.

BEG A GAY CHRISTIAN N BE HURTFUL AND GELLG. BUT I REFE TO LOSE FAH

The belief that gays and lbians mt change their sexual orientatn when they get saved is a personal belief of many Christians, based on nothg but their own opn stead of on anythg the Bible actually, their opn that homosexuals go to hell is partially based on the NIV's mis-translatn of 1 Cor to related InfoGod sav gays but do you thk He wants them to stay gay? Unrstandg this, that the law is not laid down for the jt but for the lawls and disobedient, for the ungodly and sners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murrers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexualy, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is ntrary to sound doctre,.

Now we know that the law is good, if one lawfully, unrstandg this, that the law is not laid down for the jt but for the lawls and disobedient, for the ungodly and sners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murrers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexualy, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is ntrary to sound doctre, acrdance wh the gospel of the glory of the blsed God wh which I have been entsted. Unrstandg this, that the law is not laid down for the jt but for the lawls and disobedient, for the ungodly and sners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murrers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexualy, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is ntrary to sound doctre, acrdance wh the gospel of the glory of the blsed God wh which I have been entsted.

A POLICE OFFICER AT MY PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL TOLD ME I’M GOG TO HELL BEE I’M GAY

Now we know that the law is good, if one lawfully, unrstandg this, that the law is not laid down for the jt but for the lawls and disobedient, for the ungodly and sners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murrers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexualy, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is ntrary to sound doctre,.

DO GAY PEOPLE GO TO HEAVEN?

My clients and my rearch rponnts who are eher lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr (LGBT) or love someone who is, have shared wh me the paful nflicts they face as they fear that their relign will not allow them to accept their children or themselv. Consirg that the Catholic Church and members of fundamentalist Christian church and Jewish tradns have been the most outspoken opponents of gay rights, is perhaps not surprisg that LGBT people and their fai intify relign as a major obstacle acceptg homosexualy and transgenr inti, eher themselv or a fay member. In addn to s admonn agast homosexualy, Levic also has passag that perm fathers to sell their dghters to slavery (21:7), prohib men om shavg their beards (19:27), and ll for the ath of anyone who works on the Sabbath (Exod.

Keywords: relign, spirualy, gay, young men who have sex wh men, ternalized homophobiaThere has been a growg body of rearch foced on the relatnship between religsy and adolcent health and well-beg (Nonnemaker, McNeely, & Blum, 2003; Werner & Smh, 1992). Given the unique velopmental stage of adolcence and emergg adulthood and the fact that most religns across the globe offer teachgs that nmn or rtrict homosexual behavr, is particularly important to unrstand YMSM’s experienc and challeng as they stggle to tegrate their sexual inty wh their relig/spirual beliefs.

Rearch among olr populatns of MSM and other lbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults dite that religsy n ntribute to inty dissonance between sexual sir and relig beliefs for sexual mory dividuals, which n be rolved by changg religns, reexamg relig texts and doctre, abandong relign, or turng to a more dividualized sense of spirualy (Leong, 2006; Schuck & Liddle, 2001; Thumms, 1991; Yip, 1997, 2005). Mory Strs and Internalized HomophobiaInternalized homophobia, also referred to as ternalized heterosexism (Szymanski & Chung, 2003) or sexual prejudice (Herek, 2004), n be fed as directg anti-gay social attus towards the self, leadg to a valuatn of the self, ternal nflicts and poor self-regard (Meyer & Dean, 1998). Internalized homophobia has also been lked to substance abe, lower levels of self teem and eatg disorrs among both gay and lbian populatns (Cabaj, 1996; Ross & Simon Rosser, 1996; Rowen & Mallm, 2002; Williamson & Hartley, 1998).

RELIGN AND ACCEPTANCE OF GAYS

Followg on this work, Ream (2001) found that trsic religsy was not herently a risk factor for ternalized homophobia among sexual mory youth; rather, the homophobic msag often prent relig views and livered a relig ntext tend to predict ternalized homophobia. G., relig, school) such as: avoidg church altogether, seekg an alternative church, or g “selective listeng” to avoid ternalizg homophobic msag (McDavt et al., 2009) the range of cisns and experienc that YMSM will make durg their emergg adulthood, is important to unrstand the procs and growth that young men experience while sortg out potential nflicts between relig/spirual beliefs and their sexual inty.

Young men were eligible to participate the study if they were: a) 18- to 24-years old; b) self-intified as gay, bisexual, or uncerta of their sexual orientatn and/or reported havg had sex wh a man; c) self-intified as Csian, Ain Amerin, or Lato of Mexin scent; and d) a rint of Los Angel County, and they anticipated livg Los Angel for at least six men were reced at public venu (e. Axial dg was then nducted to piece the data back together to fully scribe the procs, leadg to the stcture of this paper which scrib: 1) the homophobic msag heard relig ntexts; 2) how the msag were ternalized; 3) the effects of the msag on inty and self perceptn; and 4) the often plited strategi the young men employed to pe wh the msag and ntue their spirual, relig, and/or personal velopment. The majory of the HYM sample (81%) intified as gay, wh 12% intifyg as 1Dcriptn of the Study Sample om Wave 3 Survey (N = 483) and Qualative Study (N = 36)VariablCategoriTotal Sample n (%)Qualative Rponnts n (%)Age18 – 19 yrs88 (18)6 (17)20 – 21 yrs195 (40)18 (50)22+ yrs200 (41)12 (33)Race/ethnicyAin- Amerin115 (24)12 (33)Csian192 (40)12 (33)Mexin scent176 (36)12 (33)RinceFay237 (49)16 (44)Own place/apartment203 (42)17 (47)Wh iends/partner31 (6)1 (3)No regular place/other12 (3)2 (6)EmploymentIn school50 (10)6 (17)In school, employed149 (31)6 (17)Employed, not school235 (49)19 (53)Not employed, not school49 (10)5 (14)Edutn levelLs than high school26 (5)2 (6)High school/GED110 (23)6 (17)Votnal17 (4)- (0)Some llege284 (59)26 (72)College gree46 (10)2 (6)Sexual intyGay390 (81)28 (77)Other same-sex inty23 (5)2 (6)Bisexual57 (12)4 (11)Straight6 (1)--Don’t know/Refe7 (1)2 (6)Sexual attractnMal only339 (70)25 (69)Mal and femal131 (27)10 (28)Femal only7 (1)1 (3)Neher/don’t know6 (1)--Immigratn statBorn outsi US74 (15)7 (19)Born US407 (84)29 (81)Level of religsyNot at all relig138 (29)10 (28)Not very relig124 (26)14 (39)Somewhat relig172 (36)11 (31)Very relig43 (9)1 (3)Level of spirualyNot at all spirual37 (8)4 (11)Not very spirual60 (13)8 (22)Somewhat spirual216 (45)12 (33)Very spirual168 (35)12 (33)Table 2 prents data related to relig affiliatn and the past and prent role of relign and spirualy rponnts’ liv.

“GOD MA ME GAY FOR A REASON”: YOUNG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN’S RILIENCY ROLVG INTERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA OM RELIG SOURC

6)2 (6)Don’t know/Refed7 (1)1 (3)Changed relignY257 (53)19 (53)QualativeSourc of Msag about Homosexualy Among the qualative rponnts, all thirty-six reported beg raised a relign that uld be classified as Christian (e. In the church, was not unmon for rponnts to report that sermons seemed to often return to the subject of homosexualy, makg the young men feel unfortable or fearful as Royal, an Ain Amerin rponnt who reported that both his grandmother and mother were pastors a Christian church, scrib:It’s like he [the pastor] would preach a different thg but would always go back to homosexuals and sexualy for some reason.

Man whose fay nverted om Catholicism to Prottantism explaed:Yeah, I remember beg a Catholic church and not hearg anythg about homosexuals at all…It wasn’t until I got to the Prottant church that was blatantly like brimstone, hell fire…He [the pastor] would start to preach about God and blah, blah, blah. ‘But the people this untry, the gays, oh my god pecially the gays…The gays and the lbians and the atheists and the socialists, they are gog to brg this untry down and this untry was found on the grace of God’ many adolcents, about half of the YMSM this study felt they had few choic whether or not they attend relig servic growg up. ”Rponnts who heard repeated homophobic msag (some of the more relig young men reported gog to church four or five tim a week) scribed different procs they employed to evaluate the msag to their personal belief system.

” Rodrigo, a young man who scribed himself as “spirual”, was born to a Catholic hoehold, and after his mother nverted to a nservative Evangelil church, he scribed a lengthy ternal stggle as this newer relign tght that homosexuals had a “mon” si of them:In the Evangelil belief, ’s not that ’s [homosexualy] jt a s, ’s a mon si of you…whenever they did mentn that, they’d say ‘Ooh, this person has the mon them.