From PostSecret this week:
I hope she finds a way to accept herself and love herself.
There’s Nothing To Fix…
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This post and the previous one made me think of an interesting interview I watched on Larry King Live (ugh) some weeks ago about this Christian music singer who came out as a lesbian (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/04/christian-singer-jennifer-knapp-comes-out-in-interviews-with-christianity-today-advocatecom/1)
It was interesting to me that she believed that she could be Christian and lesbian at the same time.
I believe you have a very narrow, media-dictated perception of what a christian is. Christians are quite capable of being gay or gay friendly. We now have openly gay episcopal and methodist bishops and pastors. Some denominations are very against, but it’s not a universal situation by any means. It’s worth mentioning that I’ve never heard of a muslim, sikh, or hindu spiritual leader that was openly gay or even supportive of gays…at best, it’s ignored.
I wouldn’t say I have a media-dictated perception of what Christianity is, because I am a Christian and I know from having gone to church myself for a good 20 years that the stand of many denominations of Christianity is still that homosexuality is a sin. It’s one of my problems with the church and why I can no longer attend regularly – because I just don’t want to hear that kind of ranting.
It’s great that there are some denominations that are moving away from this but I’d still say that they are a minority. For this singer, as a religious person, it was definitely something she struggled with. As a person whose career was linked to her faith, there was that aspect to consider too. Her new album will not be marketed as Christian music or through Christian radio.
I like how she talks about how she can be Christian and gay at the same time. For many religious persons, when coming to terms with being gay and coming out, in addition to the social pressure, they would have to grapple with the faith aspect (unless they are part of the churches you mentioned). And I like how she articulated that it need not be such a contradiction.
PS: I do acknowledge that most religions have equally uncompromising stands. I guess this one interested me because I’m a Christian (though not a properly practising one) and I think examples like this might be helpful to people who struggle with the religion vs gay thing, especially within the church.