I'm writing an essay about the relationship between LGB+ (my paper is on sexuality, not gender; I don't really have time to unpack all of that).
In my research, I found that generally, people in the LGBT community have a smaller percentage of people who are Christian and a higher percentage that are Agnostic/Atheist/don't know, or are not part of the most mainstream religions in the US. I expected this set of statistics, but I'm currently trying to dig into why that is, so I would like to hear some stories of LGBT individuals to understand religious background and lack thereof. I'm just very curious. I can't use it as evidence for my essay, obviously, but I though it would be interesting to discuss.
Some of my guesses:
- Irreligious individuals are more likely to come out as LGBT and NOT be stuck in the closet, given they were not raised in a religious family. It is more likely that they will be accepted by family who they know won't consider them sinful for who they're attracted to. Therefore, there may be a lot more gay religious people than we think.
- LGBT people often leave their religions because of discrimination.
My story: So I started identifying as Agnostic at the age of 16. I was raised Christian protestant (Methodist specifically). When I broke off from the church, I didn't realize I was bi yet. I just saw a lot of fakeness among church members, and honestly, the religion as a whole stopped making sense to me (and at this point, I have done extensive reading of actual scriptures and stand by that). I felt like I'd been spoon-fed other people's interpretations of the Bible, and I felt there was a ton of blind faith involved. I'm also extremely prone to guilt, and every church I went to used guilt as a tactic to bring people to God (which imo is bad practice).
I was raised pretty homophobic tbh, so I didn't realize I wasn't straight until the age of 17 or 18, and I've only put a label on it within the last couple of months (I'm 20 now).
So I wouldn't say there's a direct relationship between my sexuality and religion, but since I don't follow all of the values that were laid out for me when I was younger, I definitely feel more free to be myself.
(To reiterate: this is NOT a debate chat. It's exclusively to share stories so we can see the relationship between sexuality and religion in various people's lives.)
Oooh, I can contribute!
I was raised Catholic and my mom works at a church. LGBTQ+ stuff wasn't really ever discussed at my home, as a positive or a negative, and my parents (or at least my mom) seem to be very "it's fine to be gay, but you shouldn't flaunt it". I realized that I was queer when I was 13, and I have yet to come out nearly 3 years later, apart from to a close friend (I'm biromantic and asexual, for context). Currently I'm not super religious, I pray but I'm not exceptionally faithful and I struggle with it a lot, and I make it to church maybe once a month. I went through the confirmation process this spring. Guilt was never a big factor for me in religion (which is surprising given that I usually struggle with guilt a lot), and I never struggled with feeling like I wasn't supposed to be who I am.
I agree with both of your guesses as well, that's definitely what I think!
Thanks Jynnie! I wish you good luck with figuring out your faith and everything!
Ooh! okay so-
I was raised in a very Muslim household and my family in general was one of the biggest contributors in our community because the church in my area is pretty small. My mother catered for this one program that was established by the community where basically everyone got food delivered to them and stuff. My dad and brothers lead the er- kinda like hymns. Everyone in the church here knows each other (which isn't surprising since it's so small). So I was really invested in the church just out of association.
Now for my family, when I was younger, we never talked about LGBTQ stuff. In fact, I was under the impression until about seventh grade that the word gay was a bad word (like a curse word). Then I figured out my own identity and it was kinda like "…well shit"
After a while, I tried to become more vocal about LGBTQ problems and stuff with my parents but they mostly just brushed it off and it felt like they didn't care about identities until my mom started berating me because i mentioned some of my friends were gay and she went on about how "the people you're around affect you and you have to be wary of them"
Now I'm still closeted to my parents and most of my extended family. (I told my brothers because if I make them accept me while they're still young, they won't be homophobic). I am, however, out at school and to my friends and stuff which was a big step tbh.
I wear a rida (covers my head like a hijab) but my faith is kinda,,, iffy right now. I'm still young and I don't know if I believe in God, nor do I know if I don't believe in Him. It's complicated and it definitely has to do with my own identity as LGBTQ. For a while I hoped that it really was a phase or I convinced myself that since I was still bi I could just get married to a dude and life would be well.
sorry for accidentally typing about a lot more than what you asked or needed heh
Basically- I was born and raised Muslim and while I still practice a lot of aspects of the religion, faith itself is complicated and for me personally, it has a lot to do with my identity as well as other "outdated" traditions and beliefs in the church.
Thanks for sharing! And don't worry about it being too long or anything. I'm really interested in hearing all of this.
Oh! Hey, I'm trans, but also queer.
I was raised in a very Christian household and still am.
I, however, am I Pagan witch.
My family accepted me as Queer, but not as Pagan.
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