The articles I will address in this post reflect the "'common misconception that being LGBT and having faith are mutually exclusive, that faith communities are exclusively homophobic and that LGBT people do not participate in faith groups or attend places of worship'" (quoted by Dominic Arnall, the head of programs at the LGBT charity Stonewall) (Gander 2017). The New York Times published the article "The Nashville Statement Is an Attack on LGBT Christians," which points to how structurally there are divisions between Christian denominations and the acceptance of LGBT membership; a prime example being the Nashville Statement, which was made by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood on August 29th. Article 10 of the statement declares, "[w]e affirm that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness. We deny that the approval of homosexual immorality or transgenderism is a matter of moral indifference about which otherwise faithful Christians should agree to disagree" (CBMW.org 2017). The statement makes other declarations regarding LGBT individuals and was signed by over 150 prominent evangelical Christians.
According to social science research referenced in the article, which was conducted by the Pew Research Center, just under half of LGBT people identify as Christian (48%). Therefore, there are harmful consequences of hateful statements such as these. These repercussions were addressed by the social science research presented in the article. The study "Prejudice, Social Stress, and Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations" published in the journal Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity determined that lesbians, gay men and bisexuals have a higher rate of mental disorders compared to heterosexuals. These findings were tied to what is known as "minority stress" which refers to how prejudice and discrimination give rise to oppressive environments that lead to mental health issues. Another research study called "Family rejection as a predictor of negative health outcomes in white and Latino lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults" published by the journal Pediatrics found that family rejection of white and Latino lesbian, gay and bisexual adolescents leads to greater rates of depression, suicide, illegal drug use, and unprotected sex. The publication "Serving Our Youth: Findings from a National Survey of Services Providers Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth Who Are Homeless or At Risk of Becoming Homeless" published by the University of California states that 46% and 43% of displaced LGBT youth are homeless because they ran away from abusive circumstances or were kicked out, due to a rejection of their sexuality or gender identity. These statistics do not however include any information regarding whether the religious beliefs of the parents had any bearing on the rejection of their children's sexuality or gender identity. This information would provide more insight into religion's influence on the adoption of homophobic beliefs and discrimination against LGBT adolescents in this context. Regardless, the article "The Nashville Statement Is an Attack on L.G.B.T. Christians" provided a considerable amount of social science research to support its claim that prejudiced words such as those presented in the Nashville Statement are detrimental to the LGBT community, acting to ostracize its religious LGBT constituents.
Another article published by The Times titled "Your Rabbi? Probably a Democrat. Your Baptist Pastor? Probably a Republican. Your Priest? Who Knows." presents findings published by a political scientist at Yale University and a social policy and government Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University. Since the article presents only the research from the above study, its conclusions are heavily supported. The study takes a look at the political affiliations of Christian and Jewish religious leaders and their impact on the affiliations of their congregants. The stats revealed that for all denominations, the political affiliations of religious leaders more strongly predicted congregants' policy views rather than their party affiliations. For example, the research presented in the article found that though Methodist and Episcopalian memberships were roughly split in terms of party affiliation, a significant portion of Episcopalian pastors were found to identify as democrats and Episcopalian congregants were found to be more likely than Methodists to be proponents of certain policies such as gay marriage and immigration rights. An interesting finding of the study revealed that the political associations of Catholic priests and their congregants varied by geography, where red states had more conservative church bodies as opposed to blue states whose churches were more liberal. These findings point to how the dispersion of religious leaders across the U.S. could impact LGBT individuals' ability to find an accepting place of worship. In states where there are few liberal religious leaders and denominations, it may prove difficult for LGBT Christians and Jews to feel accepted in their religious communities and to even avoid feeling ostracized by them.
The good thing is, there is hope for religious LGBT individuals. The Independent published the article "Muslims, Jews and Christians on being LGBT and believing in God" which discusses the program Faith Role Models started by the LGBT charity Stonewall. The goal of the program is to bring about important discussions regarding the LGBT community such as clearing up misconceptions and addressing topics related to LGBT rights. In the above article, representatives from many religions including Christianity, Islam, and Judaism were asked to speak on their experiences as religious LGBT individuals and some of their responses bring to light how the rejection and acceptance of their sexualities in religious communities has affected them. Abbey Thornton, a representative from Buckinghamshire reflects on a more difficult time in her life noting, "'[w]hen I first had thoughts about being LGBT, my faith was so damaging…I had to really grapple with my faith and research the scripture to not hate myself because of all the negative attitudes within the church'" (Gander 2017). However, Jide Rowland Macaulay of London reflects on a more positive time in his life remarking, "I now know that God loves me regardless, so I trained to be a role model so I can tell the world and other LGBT people that GAY actually stands for 'God Adores You'" (Gander 2017). The overarching consensus reached by these representatives in their interviews was that coming out, though difficult at first, got easier with the support that they garnered from friends, family members, and others that were understanding and accepted and validated their identities in a religious context.
References
CBMW.org. 2017. “Nashville Statement.” Retrieved September 30, 2017 (https://cbmw.org/nashville-statement/).
Gander, Kashmira. 2017. "Muslims, Jews and Christians on being LGBT and believing in God." The Independent, April 5. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
According to social science research referenced in the article, which was conducted by the Pew Research Center, just under half of LGBT people identify as Christian (48%). Therefore, there are harmful consequences of hateful statements such as these. These repercussions were addressed by the social science research presented in the article. The study "Prejudice, Social Stress, and Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations" published in the journal Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity determined that lesbians, gay men and bisexuals have a higher rate of mental disorders compared to heterosexuals. These findings were tied to what is known as "minority stress" which refers to how prejudice and discrimination give rise to oppressive environments that lead to mental health issues. Another research study called "Family rejection as a predictor of negative health outcomes in white and Latino lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults" published by the journal Pediatrics found that family rejection of white and Latino lesbian, gay and bisexual adolescents leads to greater rates of depression, suicide, illegal drug use, and unprotected sex. The publication "Serving Our Youth: Findings from a National Survey of Services Providers Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth Who Are Homeless or At Risk of Becoming Homeless" published by the University of California states that 46% and 43% of displaced LGBT youth are homeless because they ran away from abusive circumstances or were kicked out, due to a rejection of their sexuality or gender identity. These statistics do not however include any information regarding whether the religious beliefs of the parents had any bearing on the rejection of their children's sexuality or gender identity. This information would provide more insight into religion's influence on the adoption of homophobic beliefs and discrimination against LGBT adolescents in this context. Regardless, the article "The Nashville Statement Is an Attack on L.G.B.T. Christians" provided a considerable amount of social science research to support its claim that prejudiced words such as those presented in the Nashville Statement are detrimental to the LGBT community, acting to ostracize its religious LGBT constituents.
Another article published by The Times titled "Your Rabbi? Probably a Democrat. Your Baptist Pastor? Probably a Republican. Your Priest? Who Knows." presents findings published by a political scientist at Yale University and a social policy and government Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University. Since the article presents only the research from the above study, its conclusions are heavily supported. The study takes a look at the political affiliations of Christian and Jewish religious leaders and their impact on the affiliations of their congregants. The stats revealed that for all denominations, the political affiliations of religious leaders more strongly predicted congregants' policy views rather than their party affiliations. For example, the research presented in the article found that though Methodist and Episcopalian memberships were roughly split in terms of party affiliation, a significant portion of Episcopalian pastors were found to identify as democrats and Episcopalian congregants were found to be more likely than Methodists to be proponents of certain policies such as gay marriage and immigration rights. An interesting finding of the study revealed that the political associations of Catholic priests and their congregants varied by geography, where red states had more conservative church bodies as opposed to blue states whose churches were more liberal. These findings point to how the dispersion of religious leaders across the U.S. could impact LGBT individuals' ability to find an accepting place of worship. In states where there are few liberal religious leaders and denominations, it may prove difficult for LGBT Christians and Jews to feel accepted in their religious communities and to even avoid feeling ostracized by them.
The good thing is, there is hope for religious LGBT individuals. The Independent published the article "Muslims, Jews and Christians on being LGBT and believing in God" which discusses the program Faith Role Models started by the LGBT charity Stonewall. The goal of the program is to bring about important discussions regarding the LGBT community such as clearing up misconceptions and addressing topics related to LGBT rights. In the above article, representatives from many religions including Christianity, Islam, and Judaism were asked to speak on their experiences as religious LGBT individuals and some of their responses bring to light how the rejection and acceptance of their sexualities in religious communities has affected them. Abbey Thornton, a representative from Buckinghamshire reflects on a more difficult time in her life noting, "'[w]hen I first had thoughts about being LGBT, my faith was so damaging…I had to really grapple with my faith and research the scripture to not hate myself because of all the negative attitudes within the church'" (Gander 2017). However, Jide Rowland Macaulay of London reflects on a more positive time in his life remarking, "I now know that God loves me regardless, so I trained to be a role model so I can tell the world and other LGBT people that GAY actually stands for 'God Adores You'" (Gander 2017). The overarching consensus reached by these representatives in their interviews was that coming out, though difficult at first, got easier with the support that they garnered from friends, family members, and others that were understanding and accepted and validated their identities in a religious context.
References
CBMW.org. 2017. “Nashville Statement.” Retrieved September 30, 2017 (https://cbmw.org/nashville-statement/).
Gander, Kashmira. 2017. "Muslims, Jews and Christians on being LGBT and believing in God." The Independent, April 5. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
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