Mudblood Catholic (Gabriel Blanchard) wrote a really tertg seven-part (as well as an excurs and a postscript) seri of blogs a while back on beg “Gay and Catholic.” I enurage you to check out each post, startg wh the first one that I’ve lked to.[1] In “Part I: Gaystatn 2,” Gabriel, a Si-B gay Catholic,…
Contents:
- WHAT IS WRONG WH GAY CHRISTIANY? WHAT IS SI A AND SI B ANYWAY?
- HOW CELIBATE GAY CHRISTIANS DEAL WH DIRE
- THE JOY-ROBBG FALSE HOPE OF SI B GAY CHRISTIANY
WHAT IS WRONG WH GAY CHRISTIANY? WHAT IS SI A AND SI B ANYWAY?
Si B Christians, who are gay and celibate, often feel ught between ex-gays and ntent-to-be-gay Christians. * side b gay *
(RNS) — When Grant Hartley first disvered he was gay at age 13, he adopted what he lls an “ex-gay mdset.” He saw his attractns as a sort of tt, somethg he uld overe wh fah. While grateful for the experience of beg gay, Hartley se his gay inty as somethg that go beyond jt sex — “I never say that I’m grateful for same-sex sexual sire,” he said — also clus athetics, culture and worldview.
As Si B disurse was fdg s way to onle foms, the flagship Christian ex-gay anizatn Exod Internatnal closed s doors 2013 after s of g nversn therapy on LGBTQ dividuals. Many LGBTQ Christians who had been harmed by the ex-gay approach — but still held to tradnal church teachgs on marriage — turned to Si B for a more acceptg muny.
HOW CELIBATE GAY CHRISTIANS DEAL WH DIRE
* side b gay *
“There’s a wi range of ways to give and receive love,” said Th, a gay celibate Catholic wrer and speaker wh a forthg book.
Bridget Eileen Rivera, a celibate gay Christian and thor of “Heavy Burns: Seven Ways LGTBQ Christians Experience Harm the Church,” don’t e the Si B label. Greg Johnson, a gay pastor the Prbyterian Church Ameri (PCA) and thor of a forthg book, believ the Si B language n be eful. “When a gay person lands the more nservative, tradnal mp, ’s helpful to distguish them om those who are really theologilly a different place,” he said.
On the flip si, some progrsive crics, who are fewer number, said Hill and Hartley, see Si B as another eratn of the ex-gay movement or a form of rpectabily polics where LGBTQ dividuals reprs their sexualy to w approval om the broar church. “The ia that Si B is jt the ex-gay movement wh a different veneer ignor or mimiz the fact that Si B people are fleeg ex-gay movements and ex-gay church,” said Hartley. “Many of have gone through reparative therapy and have really bad experienc, and we’re vted fightg agast ex-gay theology as well.
THE JOY-ROBBG FALSE HOPE OF SI B GAY CHRISTIANY
Th agreed and add that the motivatns behd Si B and the ex-gay movement are entirely different; one is tryg to make gay people straight, and the other is tryg to expand how the church views love and kship.
Colls said many Si B are cidg whether they have more mon wh the LGBTQ inty found Si A or the tradnal sexual ethic found ex-gay approach. “Si B me out of dissatisfactn wh the simple and easy answers of the ex-gay movement,” said Hartley, “and so, embracg plexy or allowg plexy is ntrast to that sistence on uniformy.”.