My journey as a celibate gay Catholic - Outreach

Contents:

• 'SO MANY OF THE CELIBATE GAY CHRISTIANS ARE CEL'
• HOW IS GAY CELIBACY DIFFERENT OM STRAIGHT CELIBACY?
• MY JOURNEY AS A CELIBATE GAY CATHOLIC
• WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE
• THE MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEG OF CELIBATE GAY CHRISTIANS
• HOW CELIBATE GAY CHRISTIANS DEAL WH DIRE

'SO MANY OF THE CELIBATE GAY CHRISTIANS ARE CEL'

Celibate gay Christians are an emergg group who are openly and unapologetilly queer and also follow their church’ teachgs to absta om LGBTQ2 sex. ” The terms origated nservative Christian circl the late 1990s on a webse lled Bridg Across the Divi, a discsn fom created to brg together Christians who “disagree about moral issu surroundg homosexualy, bisexualy and genr variance.

Some church and Christian anizatns that once promoted nversn therapy (to “turn” people om gay to straight) have now shifted away om , cludg Exod Internatnal, an anizatn of “ex-gays” (Christians who claim to no longer be gay, lbian or bisexual) that disband 2013. There’s a Facebook group for Si B Christians and a webse lled Spirual Friendship, which is n by gay celibate Christian wrers Wley Hill and Ron Belg.

HOW IS GAY CELIBACY DIFFERENT OM STRAIGHT CELIBACY?

“I unrstand why they want to make the distctn that they do, between inty and practice, or between orientatn and sire, ” says Tonstad of celibate gay Christians. But he had to figure out how to square his inty wh his membership the Roman Catholic Church, which still holds that homosexual acts are wrong. He eventually nclud that he tsted the church’s thory on the issue — beg gay was okay but actg on sir was not.

MY JOURNEY AS A CELIBATE GAY CATHOLIC

Th still n’t expla exactly what ma her tst the church’s teachgs on homosexualy but thks the charist, the sacrament which the bread and we is transformed to the body and blood of Christ, had a lot to do wh . “I wanted to believe that the Bible didn’t have what I read as the prohibn agast gay sex, but I uldn’t good fah actually say that’s what said, ” he says.

At age 19, he me out as gay while attendg Try Wtern Universy (TWU), a private Christian school Brish Columbia that, until recently, mandated s stunts sign a pledge to not have gay sex. “The nversatn had progrsed far enough [on mp] that no one thought that havg homosexual sir or havg the sire to physilly alter your genr inty was sful, but actg on that sire was, ” he says.

“So I knew celibate gay Christians who were given rol as rince advisers, stunt learship rol, whereas male stunts who had boyiends were explicly told that they wouldn’t be given those posns. “I wanted to believe that the Bible didn’t have what I read as the prohibn agast gay sex, but I uldn’t good fah actually say that’s what said. Some nservative fah muni disapprove of Si B pri and would prefer the label “same-sex attracted” over “gay.

WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE

Facg all this cricism, Jason says openly embracg his inty as a gay man has helped him unrstand others’ experienc of opprsn. “There really is mory strs beg gay, pecially when you’re a nservative church, nstantly worryg about how you’re beg perceived, how you’re gog to f to suatns, if you’re safe or not.

I am one of few gay stunts who openly accepts my sexualy, as many of are prsured by our peers to “pray away” orr to make iends and for admistratn to allow to serve stunt posns.

THE MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEG OF CELIBATE GAY CHRISTIANS

We are not allowed to have any sort of LGBT-iendly stunt anizatn, publish anythg the school newspaper that uld be read as pro-gay rights, or participate other ways. This is jt one example of the limatns on our ee gay stunts here eher try datg members of the oppose sex, believg that they’ve fixed themselv, or they m their liv to celibacy.

) Many of the celibate gay Christians I know claim that they eely choose the celibate life bee most rrectly reflects God’s purpose, but as someone who grew up that environment, I know that they simply don’t want to lose their church, their iends, their fay, and potential reer.

HOW CELIBATE GAY CHRISTIANS DEAL WH DIRE

Sometim I feel like a total eak, but I have to remd myself to feel sorry for them, bee they are simply sperate to have a normal fay, a normal life, while everyone around them is sayg they n’t have that unls they “pray away the gay. ” This also enurag a culture of secrecy, where many of the gay people oppose-genr relatnships simply turn to Grdr or Tr for sexual fulfillment. Sce the closeted or celibate gay Christians will not speak to me, I n only hope that they notice that my girliend and I are not the evil, broken, God-hatg liberals that they are told we are.

I thk many straight people, or liberal people, or people om Northern areas really have no ia jt how many gay Christians still enter straight relatnships as late as 2016, or how limed our rights are on Christian mp. Wh creasg equency over the past year, Equip has received some versn of the followg email om pastors and ncerned iends: “I’m walkg wh a gay celibate Christian, and they mentned that they’re terted jog a celibate partnership.

The followg explor the qutns for pastors and those misterg to gay Christians mted to a historic sexual ethic, wh the ultimate remendatn of disuragg gay celibate Christians om experimentg wh certa exprsns of celibate partnerships.