Rachel Waltner Goossen People intifyg as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer have long faced stigmatizatn and discrimatn many North Amerin Mennone church and stutns. But durg the past , two parallel nomatns, Mennone Church USA and Mennone Church Canada, have been movg sporadilly but irrefutably toward polici of clivens.1 The rise of LGBTQ…
Contents:
- GAY AND MENNONE
- DEAR DAD: WE’VE BEEN GAY FOR A REALLY LONG TIME
- MENNONE CHURCH USA PASS ROLUTN ALLOWG PASTORS TO PERFORM GAY WEDDGS
GAY AND MENNONE
* mennonite gay *
People intifyg as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer have long faced stigmatizatn and discrimatn many North Amerin Mennone church and stutns. Until the early 2000s, when profil of LGBTQ Mennone dividuals began appearg a few publitns, Mennon were rarely visible histori criqug homophobia and heterosexism. Borr who intify as LGBTQ, a project culmatg newly-published scholarship the journal Nova Relig: “’Repent of the Ss of Homophobia’: The Rise of Queer Mennone Lears.
At s heart are first person narrativ of theologilly-traed dividuals who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, and queer. Their perspectiv rm and alter Mennone stutns that are seekg, however nvulsively, to acknowledge and addrs homophobic relig culture reachg back many s.
DEAR DAD: WE’VE BEEN GAY FOR A REALLY LONG TIME
While many sectors wh the broar Anabaptist landspe—not only North Ameri, but worldwi—ntue to ny lls for equy and jtice, queer lears are phg Mennone bodi to make history, dismantlg discrimatn agast LGBTQ-intified members and nontg the ss of homophobia. Signifint scholarship clus Roberta Showalter Kreir, From Wound Hearts: Fah Stori of Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenred People and Those Who Love Them(Gahersburg, MD: Chi Rho Prs, 1998); Together Love: Fah Stori of Gay, Lbian, Bisexual and Transgenr Coupl (Kulpsville, PA: Strategic Prs, 2002); The Cost of Tth: Fah Stori of Mennone and Brethren Lears and Those Who Might Have Been (Kulpsville, PA: Strategic Prs, 2004); Alicia Dueck, Negotiatg Sexual Inti: Lbian, Gay, and Queer Perspectiv on Beg Mennone (Zurich: LVerlag, 2012); Stephanie Krehbiel, “Pacifist Battlegrounds: Vlence, Communy, and the Stggle for LGBTQ Jtice the Mennone Church USA, ” Ph. Rachel Waltner Goossen, “’Repent of the Ss of Homophobia’: The Rise of Queer Mennone Lears, ” Nova Relig, 24 (Febary 2021): 68-95.
Richard Lichty, An Increase Time: Story L of Germantown Mennone Church and Its Historic Tst, 1683-2005 (Elkhart, IN: Instute of Mennone Studi, 2015), and an acunt of Hyattsville Mennone Church’s relatnship to Allegheny Mennone Conference Emma Green, “Gay and Mennone, ” The Atlantic, 18 March 2015,. On the historic first licensg of an openly queer lear Mennone Church USA, see “Theda Good, Lbian Mennone Mister, Licensed Denver, a First Step Towards Gay Ordatn, ” Huffgton Post, 4 Febary 2014,.
Lately, though, the Mennone church has been facg a spl over how to terpret that ial of jtice — and how appli to the qutn of gay and lbian membership and marriage.
MENNONE CHURCH USA PASS ROLUTN ALLOWG PASTORS TO PERFORM GAY WEDDGS
Earlier this year, Wiman's church overwhelmgly voted to accept lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr members, and to officiate same-sex marriag. The official stance of Mennone Church USA, however, is that homosexual activy is a s, and that marriage is between a man and a woman.