My views on gay marriage are at odds wh the nsens of my bishops. Speakg out on this issue has probably done irreparable damage to my reer.
Contents:
MY YEAR AS A PRO-GAY 'ORTHODOX' HERETIC
Orthodox Christiany and homosexualy. A place of support for gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenred Orthodox Christians. Constctive cricism of the church's posn * gay orthodox christians *
For example, the Greek Orthodox Archdce lists homosexualy bi fornitn, adultery, abortn and abive sexual behavr as “immoral and appropriate forms of behavr and of themselv, and also bee they attack the stutn of marriage and the fay. By exprsg our stori, Orthodox Christians who are gay have the opportuny to hopefully one day change the official posn of the Church on issu such as sexual orientatn and gay marriage.
On LGBT matters, if Orthodox progrsiv wanted to dialogue on how the Orthodox Church n better help LGBT Orthodox believers and their fai live out the tth the Church has always tght about human sexualy (homo- and hetero-), then absolutely, let’s do . Neverthels, I thk ’s fair to say that most Orthodox Christians the US — que unlike Orthodox Christians every other untry but Greece — follow the general liberal social le on homosexualy.
I hear stori like this om other LGBTQ Orthodox Christians and I thk for a moment that maybe we do need a Gay iendly Orthodox Church. A church where Gay fahful Orthodox Christians uld pray, nfs and mune whout fear of beg rejected simply for who God ma them to be. * gay orthodox christians *
Orthodox clergy and lay mt hold the le on moral and theologil tth, but if they n’t nmn celty agast gays, who are ma the image of God like every other human beg, then they have no moral thory. When I heard Nik Jovcic-Sas talk about what happens to some gay people Rsia and elsewhere the Orthodox world, I thought about my iend — a believg Christian who liv fahfully to the teachg, but who, if he nfid the wrong person, uld be physilly attacked. The mosque is the nceptn of the associatn of Gay Mlims France (HM2F) – () Their unique ia b a welg and safe sanctuary for Mlim LGBTQ people, as well as a place for women to eely worship si the mosque whout havg to ply wh the ctomary head vergs or s the “back seats”.
This webse receiv numero emails and ntacts om LGBTQ Orthodox people who are seekg to nsult wh a passnate and unrstandg Orthodox prit, or have their same-sex unns blsed by an Orthodox prit or even people lookg for a gay iendly Orthodox parish. What this monstrat to me is that there are Orthodox fahful who are gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenred, or qutng their sexual orientatn, who sire to be full members of the Church whout nyg who God ma them to be, or rejectg their God given sire to love and be loved by someone of the same genr. While I unrstand and support the gay Mlim muny France, their motiv and achievements, creatg a separate Orthodox parish or groups of church that would serve the LGBTQ muny is not somethg that I would enurage or support.
Once the prit found out that this man was gay and a mted relatnship, the prit not only told the man never to e back to the church, but that he would publilly nounce the man if he ever dared to approach the chalice. God Himself created gay people and He created them wh the potential to love and be loved and experience that love the form of life-long unns wh another person of the same genr. But we do not need to repent for beg homosexuals or our need to love and experience love anymore than heterosexual people need to repent for their blogy or their natural clatns to love, be loved and exprs love life-long relatnships.
The Orthodox Church has turned s gay fahful to outsts. Blogy dictat if someone is born gay. Beg gay is not a choice. * gay orthodox christians *
In a recent blog piece I looked at the issue of gay Orthodox Christians who embraced and celebrated their homosexualy and who were sexually active and who received Holy Communn Orthodox church. In this piece I would like to look at the issue of homosexual Orthodox Christians who embrace the teachg of their Church that homosexual sir are disorred and who stggle agast givg to those sir through sexual activy.
Their way is a hard and heroic one, for they sometim fd themselv vilified by Christians who reject them simply for havg homosexual sir as well as by those the gay muny who vilify them for refg to celebrate and exprs their homosexual sir. In that encyclil mentned above, one also fds the words, “Men and women wh homosexual feelgs and emotns are to be treated wh the unrstandg, acceptance, love, jtice and mercy due to all human begs… Assistance is to be given to those who al wh persons of homosexual orientatn orr to help them wh their thoughts, feelgs and actns regard to homosexualy”. The current wtern battle for the full legimatn of homosexualy, often pursued wh dranian fervour, has bee perhaps the issue of our age, and the sounds of battle n sometim afen to other nois—nois such as the song of the g Kgdom.