What’s like to be gay and Catholic? An terview wh Eve Th | Ameri Magaze

Contents:

• WHAT SHOULD A GAY CATHOLIC DO?
• INFORMATN FOR GAY & LBIAN CATHOLICS
• LIVG S? HOW GAY CATHOLICS MANAGE THEIR CONFLICTG SEXUAL AND RELIG INTI
• GAY AND CATHOLIC - ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH
• WHAT A GAY, CATHOLIC MAN IS DOG TO HELP THE L.G.B.T. MUNY
• WHAT’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND CATHOLIC? AN TERVIEW WH EVE TH
• MY JOURNEY AS A CELIBATE GAY CATHOLIC
• FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG

WHAT SHOULD A GAY CATHOLIC DO?

The Roman Catholic Church, the largt Christian nomatn the Uned Stat wh an timated 62 ln members, has weled celibate gay and lbian people to s church life but creasgly is beg more tolerant even of this populatn. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, a text which ntas dogmas and teachgs of the Church, nam “homosexual acts” as “trsilly immoral and ntrary to the natural law, ” and nam “homosexual tennci” as “objectively disorred. The 1986 Letter stat, “Although the particular clatn of the homosexual person is not a s, is a more or ls strong tenncy orred toward an trsic moral evil; and th the clatn self mt be seen as an objective disorr.

A 2005 Vatin document, approved by then Pope Benedict XVI, stcted that the Church “nnot adm to the semary or to holy orrs those who practice homosexualy, prent ep-seated homosexual tennci or support the so-lled ‘gay culture.

INFORMATN FOR GAY & LBIAN CATHOLICS

To disunt this, some homosexual activists have argued that moral imperativ om the Old Ttament n be dismissed sce there were certa ceremonial requirements at the time—such as not eatg pork, or circumcisg male babi—that are no longer bdg. Do not be ceived: Neher the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostut nor homosexual offenrs nor thiev nor the greedy nor dnkards nor slanrers nor swdlers will her the kgdom of God” (1 Cor. Jt as one n acquire alholic sir (by repeatedly beg toxited) whout nscly choosg them, so one may acquire homosexual sir (by engagg homosexual fantasi or behavr) whout nscly choosg them.

Furthermore, the ten percent figure clus people who are not exclively homosexual but who only engaged  some homosexual behavr for a perd of time and then stopped—people who had gone through a fully or partially homosexual “phase” but who were not long-term homosexuals.

The morn arguments favor of homosexualy have th been sufficient to overe the evince that homosexual behavr is agast dive and natural law, as the Bible and the Church, as well as the wir circle of Jewish and Christian (not to mentn Mlim) wrers, have always held. The iative began part bee a iend poted out that my work foc on helpg queer adults rtore a relatnship wh God that has too often been damaged by the silenc and falsehoods that make gay people feel like outsirs wh their if, by the time a young person begs askg qutns about their own sexual orientatn, they already tst that there is a place for gay people the Catholic Church?

LIVG S? HOW GAY CATHOLICS MANAGE THEIR CONFLICTG SEXUAL AND RELIG INTI

I have spoken wh orthodox Catholics who say they would not put their own children Catholic schools or who have left Catholic tn part bee of anti-gay I learned rrponds wh what I heard om my panns durg the retreat weekend. D., released an pecially strgent policy 2022 that bars stunts om “advot[g], celebrat[g], or exprs[g] same-sex attractn” or “transgenrism” “ such a way as to e nfn or distractn” and urg the e of the term same-sex attractn all circumstanc, as opposed to more lloquial terms like gay. Archdce of Denver’s policy, released 2022, urg teachers to nont “genr iology” whenever possible, bars “gay-straight allianc”and requir schools to tell parents if a stunt “beg[s] to assert an inty at odds wh their blogil sex, ” which would out young people to parents whout regard for the child’s reasons for g out only to peers or tsted mentors.

This was a theme among several nversatns wh my terviewe: Silence about gay life don’t keep people out of emotnal entanglements, jt mak harr for queer young people to navigate their iendships. In the Catholic muni which she grew up, she was tght a “basele msage that homosexual acts were sful, ” but even that was only brought up “briefly and tentatively when you had a chasty talk. ’” Even though she wasn’t out of the closet, she had heard of other gay stunts who were expelled and was “always lookg over my shoulr for whether I would get lled to the office or kicked out.

GAY AND CATHOLIC - ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH

They want stunts to know that gay Catholics exist, both bee the stori n illumate our fah and bee gay stunts should never feel that they have to choose between their fah and their inty. Several people referred to the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the bt source, whether or not they accepted Catholic want stunts to know that gay Catholics exist, both bee the stori n illumate our fah and bee gay stunts should never feel that they have to choose between their fah and their Catholics I spoke wh want a church that is not aaid of qutns—and not aaid to learn om gay cultur while guidg gay people to eper flourishg. The regivg provid by gay people durg the AIDS epimic ma clear, she said, that “queer muny [is] a radil refal to dispose of anyone, ” addg, “Regardls of your posn on gay sex, there is a lot to learn” om queer muni about how to live real Catholics also want schools to re-exame their assumptns around genr difference and what lsons stunts might benef om.

WHAT A GAY, CATHOLIC MAN IS DOG TO HELP THE L.G.B.T. MUNY

C., that would pull out of social servic the cy rather than acce to a bill that would afford benefs to same-sex spo, a qutn, too long neglected, aris for the whole church: What is a gay Catholic supposed to do life?

A gay layman I know who serv an important role a dce (and even wr some of his bishop's statements on social jtice) has a solid theologil tn and sir to serve the church, but fds impossible to be open the face of the bishop's repeated disparagg remarks about gays. Eight Polish gays wh a Catholic background, who intified themselv as strong believers, shared their experienc durg semi-stctured terviews that were subjected to terpretative phenomenologil analysis. They ed a number of strategi to rencile nflictg inti, cludg limg their relig volvement, qutng terpretatn of the doctre, unrmg prits’ thory, tryg to reject homosexual attractn, puttg tst God’s plan, g profsnal help, and seekg acceptance om clergy.

Keywords: Gay, Catholic, Spirualy, Relign, Sexual orientatn, IntyIntroductnSexual inty often exists a dynamic teractn wh other self-imag such as cultural background (ethnic and/or relig), which requir that dividuals manage multiple inti (Stevens, 2004). Other studi also highlight the distrs associated wh fear of rejectn for crossg the taboo by religly oriented gays and lbians (Mahaffy, 1996; Rodriguez & Ouellette, 2000; Thumma, 1991). In some Mlim untri, for example, homosexualy is seen as immoral, sful or an illns, strictly forbidn, and punishable by imprisonment and floggg (Jaspal & Cnirella, 2012; Taylor & Snowdon, 2014).

WHAT’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND CATHOLIC? AN TERVIEW WH EVE TH

O’Brien (2004) ed the term “double stigma” to scribe the experience of gay Christians who felt addnally rejected by other gays for beg openly relig, bee the LGBT environment remas cril and dismissive of Christiany. Another study by Mark (2008) showed that some gay Orthodox Jews seek sexual nversn therapi bee they feel great prsure to nform to munal norms, and experience tense guilt and betrayal if they fail to fulfill them.

Attempts to supprs nflictg, erotic impuls toward same-sex were also mentned reference to gay Mlims (Jaspal & Cnirella, 2010; Kugle, 2010) or Christians (Barton, 2010; Rodriguez & Ouellette, 2000). Exampl of that n be found studi on lbian Christians (Mahaffy, 1996), Mlim gay Iranians the UK (Taylor & Snowdon, 2014), or Canadian gay Jews (Schnoor, 2006) is, however, ltle rmatn on how people perceive the sts of reprsg eher spirual or sexual parts of their inty, what psychologil mechanisms they e to rce rultg tra-psychic tensn, and how this affects their well-beg.

For example, when attendg a relig stutn, the gay inty would be -emphasized and, when attendg a gay ftival, the relig one (Coyle & Rafal, 2001, Rodriguez & Ouellette, 2000; Wood & Conley, 2014). Some gays jo LGBT-affirmg relig groups and create their own personal or munal spirualy (Buchanan, Dzelme, Harris, & Hecker, 2001; Rodriguez & Ouellette, 2000; Schuck & Liddle, 2001; Thumma, 1991).

MY JOURNEY AS A CELIBATE GAY CATHOLIC

It is possible that a siar strategy uld be ed by Christian gays, who are tght that is the sful act and not the sner who should be people rencile their sexual and relig inti on a social level different ways.

For stance, gay Jews the study of Coyle and Rafal (2001), preferred not to disclose their sexual inty wh their Jewish muny and, like muters discsed by Brekh (2003), often avoid discsg relatnships or sexualy-related issu, and kept a very low profile. Participants this rearch scribed their relig socializatn and s impact on how they experienced their homosexualy, experienced tra-psychic nflicts and attempts to rolve first thor (IP) is non-Christian and, spe livg Poland, did not have a Catholic upbrgg. Participants perceived the topic of the study extremely meangful and were very willg to share their to meetg dividual participants, an terview gui was created wh areas to be discsed wh every participant and sample open-end qutns and prompts to explore their experienc of growg up a relig fay, disverg their sexualy, and meang attributed to homosexualy wh reference to their fah.

FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG

Of participants wh themeTheme 1: Growg fah8Theme 2: Disverg one’s homosexualy8Theme 3: Experiencg a nflict Spirual dilemmas8 Fear of disappotg fay7 Anticipatg rejectn by the muny8Theme 4: Seekg peace Rcg relig volvement5 Qutng the terpretatn of the doctre4 Unrmg prits’ thory6 Tryg to reject homosexual attractn3 Puttg tst God’s plan6 Usg profsnal help5 Seekg acceptance om clergy6Theme 5: Comg-out a Catholic fay8Theme 6: Bearg the s5Theme 1: Growg FahAll participants scribed their relig socializatn at home, school, and the Church great tail.

Rak and Arthur served as church mistrants and participated relig youth anizatns, tryg to embody their fah everyday life and follow Catholic prcipl distguishg what was right, moral, or sacred, and what was immoral or 2: Disverg One’s HomosexualyAll participants said that acknowledgg their attractn to same-sex was challengg and even challengg to their self-image. Borys relled startg to “disver somethg himself” but uld not unrstand why he was different om his classmat, and searched rmatn about homosexualy on the Inter to faiarize himself wh the topic and unrstand his own talked about boobs and ass all the time.