“God Ma me Gay for a Reason”: Young Men who have Sex wh Men’s Riliency Rolvg Internalized Homophobia om Relig Sourc - PMC

Contents:

• “GOD MA ME GAY FOR A REASON”: YOUNG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN’S RILIENCY ROLVG INTERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA OM RELIG SOURC
• DO GAY PEOPLE GO TO HEAVEN?
• THIS I BELIEVE: GAY FOREVER, HELL FOR NEVER

“GOD MA ME GAY FOR A REASON”: YOUNG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN’S RILIENCY ROLVG INTERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA OM RELIG SOURC

The ma issue that I am alg wh is that I won’t go to heaven bee I’m gay, and that thought sr me and keeps me up at night, particularly now that relig groups are startg to discs the possibily of the lennium beg the send g. Fortunately for saved homosexuals and unfortunately for those who e those vers agast , the vers do not teach or imply that homosexuals will go to homosexual - gays, lbians, bisexuals and transgenr people - will go to heaven IF they tst J Christ as their Savr om s and hell and the wrath of God.

Do not be ceived: Neher the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostut nor homosexual offenrs (arsenokoai)" 1 Cor 6:9, NIVBee the NIV did such a loy job and mistranslated the Greek word, arsenokoai, many people nclud that homosexuals will not her the kgdom of the NIV translators had bothered to study stead of jt gog by what the Greek lexins say, the gay muny uld have avoid a lot of pa and heartache. The most likely explanatn is that the term "dogs" Rev 22:15 primarily has view emasculated male cult prostut whout excludg a wir reference to any who engage homosexual practice. The belief that gays and lbians mt change their sexual orientatn when they get saved is a personal belief of many Christians, based on nothg but their own opn stead of on anythg the Bible actually, their opn that homosexuals go to hell is partially based on the NIV's mis-translatn of 1 Cor to related InfoGod sav gays but do you thk He wants them to stay gay?

DO GAY PEOPLE GO TO HEAVEN?

So then, one would no longer be intified by one's prev inty or slavery to any particular past s—whether as a dnkard, adulterer, homosexual, thief, vetor, idolator, fornitor, extortner, etc. The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicg homosexuals, thiev, the greedy, dnkards, the verbally abive, and swdlers will not her the kgdom of God. I’m a Christian who lov J so much but at the same time I’m gay and I’ve been same sex relatnships i tried many tim to change how I feel to have a better relatnship wh god but I uldn’t What should I do??

Some people say some of the vers are mistranslatns, which i uld pletely unrstand and the word “homosexualy” was not troduced to the bible until 1946 anyways, which i feel supports the theory of mistranslatn. Given the unique velopmental stage of emergg adults and the fact that most religns have rtrictns on homosexual behavr, is important to unrstand how YMSM tegrate their sexual and relig/spirual inti. Keywords: relign, spirualy, gay, young men who have sex wh men, ternalized homophobiaThere has been a growg body of rearch foced on the relatnship between religsy and adolcent health and well-beg (Nonnemaker, McNeely, & Blum, 2003; Werner & Smh, 1992).

Given the unique velopmental stage of adolcence and emergg adulthood and the fact that most religns across the globe offer teachgs that nmn or rtrict homosexual behavr, is particularly important to unrstand YMSM’s experienc and challeng as they stggle to tegrate their sexual inty wh their relig/spirual beliefs. Rearch among olr populatns of MSM and other lbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults dite that religsy n ntribute to inty dissonance between sexual sir and relig beliefs for sexual mory dividuals, which n be rolved by changg religns, reexamg relig texts and doctre, abandong relign, or turng to a more dividualized sense of spirualy (Leong, 2006; Schuck & Liddle, 2001; Thumms, 1991; Yip, 1997, 2005). Ream (2001) found that the prence of homophobic msag relig ntexts n dimish the associated health benefs for gay and bisexual dividuals, but aga, this sample was limed to adults.

THIS I BELIEVE: GAY FOREVER, HELL FOR NEVER

Mory Strs and Internalized HomophobiaInternalized homophobia, also referred to as ternalized heterosexism (Szymanski & Chung, 2003) or sexual prejudice (Herek, 2004), n be fed as directg anti-gay social attus towards the self, leadg to a valuatn of the self, ternal nflicts and poor self-regard (Meyer & Dean, 1998). One type of mory strs is ternalized homophobia, which has been lked to psychologil distrs cludg guilt, sex difficulti, moralizatn, suicidaly and AIDS-related trmatic strs rponse.

Internalized homophobia has also been lked to substance abe, lower levels of self teem and eatg disorrs among both gay and lbian populatns (Cabaj, 1996; Ross & Simon Rosser, 1996; Rowen & Mallm, 2002; Williamson & Hartley, 1998). Rearch on ternalized homophobia and relign is srce; however, trsic religsy or a strong relig mment has been shown to predict ternalized homophobia sexual mory dividuals (Herek, 1987).

Followg on this work, Ream (2001) found that trsic religsy was not herently a risk factor for ternalized homophobia among sexual mory youth; rather, the homophobic msag often prent relig views and livered a relig ntext tend to predict ternalized homophobia. Rter and O’Neill (1989) reported that gays and lbians their sample often moved away om the relign they were raised and also veloped a range of ways to pe wh and grow om their enunters wh relig homophobia. G., relig, school) such as: avoidg church altogether, seekg an alternative church, or g “selective listeng” to avoid ternalizg homophobic msag (McDavt et al., 2009) the range of cisns and experienc that YMSM will make durg their emergg adulthood, is important to unrstand the procs and growth that young men experience while sortg out potential nflicts between relig/spirual beliefs and their sexual inty.