SZ 201 Religion, Gender, and Sexuality

SafeZone 201 Religion, Gender, and Sexuality

354 Baker University Center 740.593-0239 lgbt@ohio.edu www.ohio.edu/lgbt delfin bautista, Director bautista@ohio.edu

Revised December 2014 by dwb

What’s in the packet?

What is SZ 201: Religion, Gender, and Sexuality • LGBT Religion 101 … pg. 3 • SZ 201 … pg. 3 • Time together … pg. 3 • Respect Guidelines … pg. 4 • Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing … pg. 5 LGBT 101 Refresher • Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity 101 … pg. 6 Why this conversation matters • Religion and Sexual Orientation … pg. 8 • Religion-Based Bigotry … pg. 9 • Did you know … pg. 11 • Missing Voices … pg. 12 • Religion and LGBT Issues … pg. 14 How faith traditions engage Sexuality and Gender • Buddhism … pg. 17 • Christianity … pg. 19 • Hinduism … pg. 23 • Humanism … pg. 26 • Islam … pg. 27 • Judaism … pg. 34 • Two Spirit … pg. 40 • LGBTQ Identities and Religions Chart … pg. 43 • Denominational Perspectives … pg. 46 Sexuality and Sacred Texts ~ Declobbering the clobber passages • Judeo-Christian Scripture and Sexuality … pg. 47 • Gender Identity and the Bible: Jewish and Christian Perspectives … pg. 50 • So you still think Homosexuality is Sinful … pg. 52 • The Bible and Same-Sex Relationships: Fictions and Facts … pg. 53 Faith-based Allyship • Simple Engagement Strategies for Christians … pg. 54 • Assess your community … pg. 54 • Ways of advocating for trans* people in your faith community … pg. 55 • 10 Things your Congregation can do to Become More LGBTQ-Welcoming … pg. 56 • Queer 101: Identity, Inclusion, and Resources … pg. 58 • Inclusive Language Guidance … pg. 59 • Queer Tips to get Through the Holidays … pg. 61 • Best Practices for Religious, Faith and Spiritual Leaders … pg. 63 • Coming Out as Sacrament … pg. 64 • LGBT Activism as Ministry … pg. 68 • Open Letter on Sexual and Gender Diversity … pg. 73 Religious Resources Roundup • Athens and National … pg. 75

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LGBT Religion 101 From The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry (CLGS)

Over the last fifty years, people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) have become increasingly more visible in North Atlantic societies and in some other parts of the world as well.

In the United States today, openly LGBT people are found in nearly every town and city, vocation and profession, in news and entertainment media, and in political life. LGBT people have also been more visible in some (though certainly not all) religious institutions and faith communities. While this greater visibility has brought greater understanding about the lives and concerns of LGBT people, many faith communities still have questions and are often confused about the religious issues associated with diverse human sexualities and gender identities.

SafeZone 201: Religion, Gender, and Sexuality The OHIO SafeZone project is a voluntary, educational effort that helps participants better understand queer identities while also exploring strategies on how to be an ally to LGBTQ communities on and off campus. The workshop offers a starting point for deeper engagement of the dynamics of gender and orientation. In response to the changing landscape of religious rhetoric regarding sexuality and gender, we’ve developed the opportunity to “scratch the surface” of this unique and powerful intersection of identities. This workshop will help participants better understand the intersections of religion, gender, and sexuality through discussions on how religious communities engage (or don’t engage) gender and orientation. Also, participants will explore how various communities of faith can serve as allies to the LGBT and queer communities. The workshop offers a starting point for the deeper engagement of the complex yet rich dynamics of intersecting religion, gender, and sexuality

About our time together Edited from: Diversity Works, Amherst, MA, Task Force Against Homophobia

1. This workshop is grounded in several core beliefs: Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia decrease opportunities to talk freely and learn about LGBT people—farther perpetuating the oppression caused by Heterosexism and Cissexism. We have all learned unwanted oppressive beliefs. While we did not ask to be taught them, change hinges on our ability to separate fault/guilt from responsibility.

2. Discussing feelings is important to your understanding of the issues of difference and diversity.

We hope to create a sense of safety so that feelings can be shared. We invite ALL questions.

This is a safe place to ask what you want/need to know. However, due to our limited time today, we will not spend much time on any one topic.

3. There may be LGBT people in this group. Some may choose not to come out, while others will come out. This may be true as well for others who have LGBT family members or loved ones.

4. Please respect our time here together. Turn off all electronic devices.

5. We ask that you commit to spending additional time reading this packet and web resources to supplement this workshop.

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6. One one person can speak for all LGBT people. How could they? There is no one “LGBT”, but rather a diverse and varied community of individuals who are LGB and/or T. This workshop and views expressed are intended to give you a better understanding of issues that LGBT people may face and potential common trends. Remember that a little information is better than none, but a little information applied too broadly can be detrimental as well. Overall, to best understand LGBT people you need to meet, befriend, and understand them as individuals.

7. Unlike most workshops, our goal is not to cover all material in this packet in detail. Our goal is to give you some good information and to get you started or help you continue on your journey to be an ally and advocate.

8. To make this workshop a safe place for all, we invite additional ground rules from you at this time.

Respect Guidelines •

Discussing feelings is important to your understanding of the issues of difference and diversity.

We hope to create a sense of safety so that feelings can be shared.

•

There may be LGBTQ people in this group. Some may choose not to come out, while others will come out. This may be true as well for others who have LGBT family members or loved ones.

•

One person can’t speak for all LGBTQ people. How could they? This workshop and views expressed are intended to give you a better understanding of issues that LGBTQ people may face and potential common trends. Remember that a little information is better than none, but a little information applied too broadly can be detrimental as well. Overall, to best understand LGBT people you need to meet, befriend, and understand them as individuals. o No one person can speak for an entire faith community; much like the spectrum of identities and experiences within the LGBTQ communities, the understanding and experience of a religious tradition is unique to the individual and/or a community.

•

Please respect our time here together. Turn off all electronic devices.

•

We invite ALL questions. This is a safe place to ask what you want/need to know. However, due to our limited time today, we will not spend much time on any one topic.

•

Unlike most workshops, our goal is not to cover all material in this packet in detail. Our goal is to give you some good information and to get you started or help you continue on your journey to be an ally and advocate.

•

We ask that you commit to spending at least one additional hour reading this packet and web resources to supplement this workshop.

Recognize Your Communication Style Expect to Learn Something About Yourself and Others Speak Clearly and Use Personal Examples When Making a Point Participate Honestly and Openly Engage in the Process by Listening as Well as Speaking Confidentiality/Curiousity/Charity Take Responsibility for Yourself and What You Say

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Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing From the Religious Institute; this declaration has been endorsed by 4612 religious leaders across faith traditions

Sexuality is God’s life-giving and life-fulfilling gift. We come from diverse religious communities to recognize sexuality as central to our humanity and as integral to our spirituality. We are speaking out against the pain, brokenness, oppression and loss of meaning that many experience about their sexuality.

Our faith traditions celebrate the goodness of creation, including our bodies and our sexuality. We sin when this sacred gift is abused or exploited. However, the great promise of our traditions is love, healing and restored relationships.

Our culture needs a sexual ethic focused on personal relationships and social justice rather than particular sexual acts. All persons have the right and responsibility to lead sexual lives that express love, justice, mutuality, commitment, consent and pleasure. Grounded in respect for the body and for the vulnerability that intimacy brings, this ethic fosters physical, emotional and spiritual health. It accepts no double standards and applies to all persons, without regard to sex, gender, color, age, bodily condition, marital status or sexual orientation.

God hears the cries of those who suffer from the failure of religious communities to address sexuality.

We are called today to see, hear and respond to the suffering caused by sexual abuse and violence against women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons, the HIV pandemic, unsustainable population growth and over-consumption, and the commercial exploitation of sexuality.

Faith communities must therefore be truth-seeking, courageous and just. We call for: • Theological reflection that integrates the wisdom of excluded, often silenced peoples, and insights about sexuality from medicine, social science, the arts and humanities.

• Full inclusion of women and LGBT persons in congregational life, including their ordination and marriage equality.

• Sexuality counseling and education throughout the lifespan from trained religious leaders.

• Support for those who challenge sexual oppression and who work for justice within their congregations and denominations.

Faith communities must also advocate for sexual and spiritual wholeness in society. We call for: • Lifelong, age-appropriate sexuality education in schools, seminaries and community settings.

• A faith-based commitment to sexual and reproductive rights, including access to voluntary contraception, abortion, and HIV/STI prevention and treatment.

• Religious leadership in movements to end sexual and social injustice.

God rejoices when we celebrate our sexuality with holiness and integrity. We, the undersigned, invite our colleagues and faith communities to join us in promoting sexual morality, justice, and healing.

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Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity 101 From the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Office of LGBTQ Ministries

Finding the Right Words Language about sexual orientation and gender identity shifts and changes: new words are born; other words change meanings. Learning how different people use language to create meaning is important, as is using inclusive language ourselves. In conversation with many people and communities, we’ve developed some working definitions: • Sexual Orientation • Gender Identity and Expression Going Deeper Definitions like the ones below can be helpful on that path, but don’t stop there. Here are three steps for truly deepening your understanding.

• Explore your own sense of self: What do the definitions below bring up for you? What language do you use to describe your own sense of self?

• Talk to people you trust about sexual orientation and gender identity. Ask them what is true for them and talk about the things that confuse you or that you are curious about.

• Build relationships with people who have different sexual orientations and gender identities from your own. Be respective of each person’s right to privacy by asking open-ended questions to learn more about how they experience the world.

Basic Definitions Sexual Orientation ~ We affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Sexual orientation is a central part of who we are—being true to ourselves and honoring each other’s truth is a spiritual imperative. Sexual orientation describes the pattern of a person’s sexual attractions based on gender.

Sexual attraction and romantic attraction are often lumped together as if they are the same. That is not always the case. Affectional orientation describes the pattern of a person’s romantic attraction, or the gender of the people a person falls in love with or desires to partner with.

There are three basic types of sexual orientations: Monosexual, polysexual, and asexual.

Monosexual Sexual Orientations ~ Some people are exclusively attracted to members of only one gender. Sexual orientation labels used by monosexual people include: • Gay: generally refers to a man who is attracted to men. Sometimes refers to all people who are attracted to people of the same sex; sometimes "homosexual" is used for this also, although this label is seen by many today as a medical term that should be retired from common use.

• Lesbian: a woman who is attracted to women. Sometimes also or alternately "same gender-loving woman" or "woman loving woman."

• Straight: a man who is exclusively attracted to women or a woman who is exclusively attracted to men; also sometimes generally used to refer to people whose sexualities are societally normative. Alternately referred to as “heterosexual.”

Polysexual Sexual Orientations ~ Some people are attracted to members of multiple genders. Sexual orientation labels used by polysexual people include: • Bisexual: attracted to people of one's own gender and people of other gender(s). Often referred to as "bi." See Bisexuality 101.

• Pansexual: attracted to people regardless of gender. Sometimes also or alternately "omnisexual."

• Queer: similar to pansexual, queer can be an identity label meaning that a person is attracted to people of many genders; however, queer is a multi-faceted word with more than one definition and use, and is viewed as offensive by some people. See Queer 101 to learn more.

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Asexual Sexual Orientation ~ Some people do not experience sexual attraction. Most people this applies to identify as asexual.

• Asexual: not sexually attracted to anyone and/or no desire to act on attraction to anyone. Does not necessarily mean sexless. Asexual people sometimes do experience affectional (romantic) attraction. See Asexuality 101.

In addition to the above, some people don’t like and don’t use labels. Other people identify as Questioning (a term used to describe someone who is unsure of or exploring their sexual orientation and/or gender identity).

Gender Identity and Expression ~ We affirm each person’s ability to judge for themselves who they are and express themselves in the way that is most authentic to their soul. We honor the diversity of truths that exists within our communities. Gender is complex and multi-faceted. In North American culture several distinct facets of ourselves get lumped together when we talk about “gender”: • Biological sex: attributes such as anatomy, chromosomes, and hormones that is usually assigned at birth and inform whether a person is male, female, or intersex.

• Gender identity: a person’s internal sense of being a man, a woman, neither of these, both, and so on; one’s inner sense of being. Everyone has a gender identity.

• Gender expression: the ways in which a person manifests masculinity, femininity, both, or neither through appearance, behavior, dress, speech patterns, preferences, and more.

The cultural expectation is that one’s biological sex, gender identity, and gender expression will align in stereotypical ways: that someone who is male will identify as a boy/man and have a masculine gender expression, for example. This expectation does not serve our diverse world and the myriad experiences of self that exist.

Definitions can never encompass who we are as full human beings. The spiritual invitation is to cross divides of difference and take risks by authentically choosing to get to know one another. Labels can be tools of liberation or oppression—it’s all in how we use them.

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Religion and Sexual Orientation From North Dakota State University’s Safe Zone Training

We must bring faith discussions back to their roots of seeking understanding. A vocal minority is falsely promoting the notion that religious people stand in opposition to equal rights. Our job is to promote the truth that a majority of people of faith believes strongly in fairness and justice. -Harry Knox, Former Director of HRC Religion and Faith Program.

Religion has been a source of both comfort and suffering for many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. While most LGBT people have been raised in an organized religion — and many continue to cherish their faith community — too many have been forced to leave those communities behind because of condemnation of gay, lesbian and bisexual people.

In recent years, a growing number of organized religious groups in the United States have issued statements officially welcoming gay, lesbian and bisexual people as members; most still do not address transgender people.

Recently the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) announced that it would allow churches to decide if they would like to have a clergy member who openly identifies as lesbian or gay. The ELCA also voted in favor of allowing churches to determine if the past would be able to perform same-sex commitment ceremonies. This announcement spawned much discussion and support from both sides of the aisle.

To find information about the stands that different religious organizations have taken with regard to LGBT parishioners, same-sex unions, openly gay clergy, and other relevant issues of today, turn to the resource roundup at the end of this packet.

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Religion-Based Bigotry From Faith in America’s “Addressing Religious Arguments to Achieve LGBT Equality”

Religion-based bigotry is the foundation of anti-gay attitudes in our society and in the minds of a majority of Americans, particularly persons of faith. The term religion-based bigotry was coined because it best fits the description of the problem. The term religion-based bigotry encompasses the attitudes of prejudice, hostility or discrimination that are falsely justified by religious teachings or belief. We will never see full and equal rights unless we address the root of people’s anti-gay attitude.

Religion-based bigotry is not synonymous with bigotry. It is a uniquely vile form of bigotry as the prejudice, hostility and discrimination behind the words are given a moral stamp of approval.

Faith in America’s core message is that religious-based condemnation and rejection of LGBT people cause great harm to LGBT individuals and our society.

We have learned that when we focus on the harms caused by religious hostility toward gay people – its destructive role in the lives of gay and lesbian Americans and explaining that being gay is not a lifestyle choice but is how you are born– persons of faith can understand why religion must no longer be misused to justify hostile attitudes and actions toward LGBT people. These stories, told by the people who have been the subject of or witness to religion-based bigotry serve as a powerful tool to begin changing the hearts and minds of persons of faith.

Faith in America’s efforts—and those of many other LGBT organizations—are working. A recent Gallup poll that showed a majority of Americans no longer consider homosexuality as immoral and we believe this is in large part due to the efforts to show Americans that being gay is not a lifestyle choice. Personal stories move people.

The following are core messages you can use when addressing those espousing religion-based bigotry.

1. Religion-based bigotry causes enormous harm to LGBT people, especially young, vulnerable teens. More than a million LGBT teens are suffering debilitating depression because their families and religious institutions see them as deviants. Suicide rates amongst LGBT youth are four times higher than those of heterosexual youth. LGBT people are victims of discrimination and bigotry, which are often justified and promoted by religious teaching that says homosexuality is immoral, sinful or abominable. If we don’t talk about it, no one will know how much hurt and suffering it causes. It is particularly important for those in the religious movable middle to hear this, because no concept is more antithetical to the faith values of love and compassion than causing harm to others. In 2008, Faith in America published CRISIS: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay in America. Traveling the country promoting CRISIS has allowed us to see firsthand the transformative power of telling stories about our youth. People don’t want to hurt children. They may not have sympathy for an adult advocacy leader talking about job discrimination or marriage, but they do sympathize with vulnerable teenagers.

For example, Dr. David Gushee, a Christian ethicist, author and Southern Baptist minister, wrote the following about CRISIS in the June 2009 issue of Christian Century (a mainline Protestant publication going to 70,000 members, largely clergy): “As an evangelical Christian whose career has been spent in the South, I must say I find it scandalous that the most physically and psychologically dangerous place to be (or even appear to be) gay or lesbian in America is in the most religiously conservative families, congregations and regions of this country. Many of the most disturbing stories in this volume come from the Bible Belt. This marks an appalling Christian moral failure.”

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When people of faith understand they are causing harm, it creates a conflict or question – can causing such harm to others exist comfortably with the core faith principles of love and compassion? That inner conflict will be resolved in two ways: 1) Avoidance that results in unresolved inner conflict; or 2) Analysis and reconsideration of their attitude or belief.

It is this conflict – a deeper analysis, process or journey – that our messaging guidelines can help foster in the minds and hearts of the religious middle. This process of change does not happen overnight. But by sharing the harm caused by religiously based rejection and condemnation of gay people, we can plant the seeds of change.

2. Sexual orientation is a natural part of a human’s being whether it be heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual. Studies have shown that if a person believes sexual orientation is a choice, they are 70% more likely to be against LGBT equal rights (2007 Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs Survey).

Conversely, if a person believes sexual orientation is part of how you are created, they are 70% more likely to be in favor of LGBT equal rights.

We’ve learned there is something much deeper here that we need to address. The religious teachings that many people of faith embrace play an important role in whether people see being gay as a choice.

Many people of faith believe: • • • •

Heterosexuality is for all people the normal and natural expression of sexuality. Homosexuality is a conscious choice to deviate from this norm.

Gay people, according to religious teachings, are committing a sin and are an abomination.

Gay people are making a conscious choice to go against God’s will or order.

If it is a conscious choice, children who are exposed to gay teachers or gay married couples might CHOOSE to be gay.

We must educate Americans on the scientific facts about sexual orientation. Homosexuality is not a deliberate choice. It is innate to some people. One’s sexual orientation is not a deliberate decision to act against God’s will.

Just as religion-based bigotry underlies most anti-gay attitudes, the belief that homosexuality is a sinful choice is the cornerstone of religion-based prejudice against gay people. We cannot ignore it and hope to change the attitude of someone who has been taught that homosexuality is sinful. But when we offer someone a better understanding of sexual orientation, we can affect their mindset without getting mired in a never-ending theological discussion.

Rebutting the argument that being gay is a choice is important for another reason as well. Most persons of faith, conservatives in particular, are familiar with how church teaching in the past has justified treating women and African Americans as inferior. They know that religious communities have, for the most part, rejected such prejudices as harmful and misguided. By emphasizing that being gay is an innate condition, we can get them to understand that it is equally wrong to treat others unfairly based solely on their sexual orientation.

3. Religion-based bigotry against LGBT people is wrong…just as it was wrong to use religious teachings to justify discrimination against Native Americans, African Americans, minority religious groups, woman and interracial couples. Connecting the dots between historical bigotry against other groups and the attitudes of some people today toward homosexuality is one of the most effective ways to educate people about the denial of equal rights to the LGBT community.

Most people know that, historically, religion has been used to justify discrimination against women, religious minorities and people of color. Putting anti-gay religious beliefs in this historical context can be a

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powerful tool in connecting discrimination that most Americans today accept as morally wrong and the discrimination faced by LGBT people. By citing historical instances of religion-based bigotry and prejudice, you allow people to be more comfortable with attitudinal change – they realize they are not stepping out alone against a commonly accepted viewpoint but rather following historical progress toward justice and equality.

When talking about the misuse of religion to justify discrimination in the past, it is important not to say that the LGBT community’s struggle with discrimination is exactly the same as the Civil Rights Movement. Rather, the point is that religion-based bigotry has been a common denominator of injustice toward many groups in American society’s past. When given a chance, many people will see the underlying historical pattern of using religious teachings and beliefs to justify harmful discrimination.

There is another benefit to citing other times in the past when religious teachings have been used to justify discrimination. Many times, when people of faith are challenged about their anti-gay views, they cite biblical verses or other religious texts as a safe haven when they are unable to articulate why they hold prejudiced attitudes toward LGBT people. Instead of telling people that their interpretation is wrong, you can remind them that other religious texts have been used in the past to justify attitudes and laws that are recognized today as morally wrong and unjust – such as discrimination against women, people of color and religious minorities.

History provides the moral judgment, and we do not have to be theologians engaged in scriptural debates to point people to the judgment rendered by history.

Did you know?

From GLAAD, “Religion, Faith, and Values”

• • •

• • • • •

Catholics support marriage equality at 54%, which is higher than the national average.

Individual Evangelical Christians are consulted in the media at a higher rate than their presence in the population would warrant (34% of media coverage versus 26% of the U.S. population).

Over half of Roman Catholics consulted in the media presented negative messages about LGBT issues, despite the fact that 71% of American Catholics support civil marriage equality and 73% of lay Catholics support anti-discrimination laws that would protect LGBT people in the workplace and in public accommodations.

The mainstream media used far fewer religious voices from Mainline Protestant, Jewish, or other religious sources whose messages were predominantly positive.

Many faith groups are developing rites and rituals for transgender individuals.

African-American church leaders increasingly support LGBT equality. According to the latest research, fully one-third of African-American Protestants support marriage equality.

Faith groups have taken the lead in addressing LGBT youth homelessness.

The Orthodox Jewish world is slowly backing away from its fierce opposition to LGBT people.

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SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

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RESOURCES

WHAT CAN I DO? !!!!

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Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues: Buddhism From the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion and Faith Program

Though it is impossible to present a comprehensive overview of Buddhism within this context, we hope this brief overview will lead you to further explore the religion.

Based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, Buddhism is considered a way of life for more than 700 million individuals across the globe. The fourth largest religion in the world, Buddhism is largely built on concepts that foster individual enlightenment and encourage personal responsibility. It is sometimes described more as a philosophy or psychology than a religion.

Though varied in practice and beliefs, the majority of individuals who subscribe to Buddhism belong to one of three major schools of thought: Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism or Vajrayana Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism, also known as Southern Buddhism, is viewed as the more traditional form of Buddhism. Practiced primarily in southern areas of Asia, Theravada Buddhism is considered the oldest and most traditional school of the three. Conversely, Mahayana Buddhism, also known as Northern Buddhism, is considered a more diverse form of Buddhism, whereas Vajrayana Buddhism, also known as Tibetan Buddhism, incorporates major aspects of both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism and has become a much-revered form of Buddhism in the United States. In the West, Theravada Buddhism, Zen Buddhism (a branch of Mahayana Buddhism) and Tibetan Buddhism are most predominant.

The basis for all schools of Buddhism includes the Three Universal Seals (premise of existence), the Four Noble Truths (philosophical enlightenment), the 12 Links of Dependent Origination (laws of existence) and the Eight-Fold Path (guide to enlightenment). As a branch of the Eight-Fold Path, the Five Precepts serve as voluntary guidelines for life and are the bases of Buddhist morality. They include an individual’s choice or willingness to be: • Aware of the suffering caused by violence: I undertake the training to refrain from killing or committing violence toward living beings. I will attempt to treat all beings with compassion and loving kindness.

• Aware of the suffering caused by theft: I undertake the training to refrain from stealing — to refrain from taking what is not freely given. I will attempt to practice generosity and will be mindful about how to use the world’s resources.

• Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct: I undertake the training to refrain from using sexual behavior in ways that are harmful to myself and to others. I will attempt to express my sexuality in ways that are beneficial and bring joy.

• Aware of the suffering caused by harmful speech: I undertake the training to refrain from lying, from harsh speech, from idle speech or gossip. I will attempt to speak and write in ways that are both truthful and appropriate.

• Aware of the suffering caused by alcohol and drugs: I undertake the training to refrain from misusing intoxicants that dull and confuse the mind. I will attempt to cultivate a clear mind and an open heart.

Although there is no general consensus with regard to sexual orientation within Buddhism, overall the third precept is most often referenced when discussing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues.

Sexual Orientation Sexual orientation, specifically, was not elaborated upon by Siddhartha Gautama, nor is there any reference or guidance for lay people regarding sexual orientation or same-sex behavior within the Pali Canon, the scriptural texts that hold the Buddha’s original teachings. The Vinyana, a Buddhist text for monks, forbids Buddhist monks and nuns from having sexual relationships with men, women and those of other genders, such as pandanka (interpreted as those with indeterminate sexual characteristics or

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people who do not conform to sexual norms, such as prostitutes). These textual references do not target LGBT people specifically, as everyone within the monastic order is expected to refrain from all forms of sexual relations. This practice is especially common within Theravada Buddhism, which focuses heavily on the monastic tradition.

Zen Buddhism does not make a distinction between same-sex and opposite-sex relationships. Instead, the expectation is not to harm, exploit or manipulate others, which would directly violate the third precept.

For instance, Zen Buddhists often refer to hedonism, ascetic masochism and prostitutions as practices that violate the “Middle Way.” Regarding Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama’s perspectives are complex and evolving.On the positive side, he has publicly condemned violence against LGBT people and has been reported to have said, “If the two people have taken no vows [of chastity] and neither is harmed why should it not be acceptable. Yet in a 1997 press conference he commented that “from a Buddhist point of view [lesbian and gay sex] is generally considered sexual misconduct.” have been mixed and somewhat influx. During a meeting with representatives of the LGBT community, the Dalai Lama reportedly showed interest in how modern scientific research might create new understanding of the Buddhist texts, acknowledging a “willingness to consider the possibility that some of the teachings may be specific to a particular cultural and historic context."

Gay Clergy In general, there is no rule prohibiting LGBT people from serving as Buddhist monks or nuns. Though some select temples and monasteries may prohibit the ordination of LGBT people, schools of Buddhism, overall, have not adopted a consensus on the practice.

Marriage Overall, it is difficult to qualify Buddhism’s perspective on same-sex marriage, since perspectives vary greatly within the religion. Because of Buddhism’s core theme to attain enlightenment, the path one chooses to take within the religion is largely personal, as is one’s beliefs. Hence, most Buddhist literature indicates that opposition to or support for marriage rights for same-sex couples is a personal, rather than religious, statement.

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10 Bible-Based Reasons to Support LGBT Christians From the Reformation Project

1. Condemning same-sex relationships is harmful to LGBT people. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that good trees bear good fruit, but the church’s rejection of same-sex relationships has caused tremendous, needless suffering to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

2. Sexual orientation is a new concept, one the Christian tradition hasn’t addressed. Many Christians draw on our faith’s traditions to shape our beliefs, but the concept of sexual orientation is new. Before recent decades, same-sex behavior was understood along the lines of gluttony or drunkenness—as a vice of excess anyone might be prone to—not as the expression of a sexual orientation. The Christian tradition hasn’t spoken to the modern issue of LGBT people and their relationships.

3. Celibacy is a gift, not a mandate. The Bible honors celibacy as a good way of living—Jesus was celibate, after all—but it also makes clear that celibacy must be a voluntary choice made by those who have the gift of celibacy. Requiring that all gay people remain celibate because their sexuality is “broken” is at odds with the Bible’s teachings on celibacy.

4. Sodom and Gomorrah involved an attempted gang rape, not a loving relationship. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is commonly assumed to have been the result of God’s wrath against homosexuality, but the only form of same-sex behavior described in the story is an attempted gang rape—nothing like the loving, committed relationships that are widespread today. The Bible explicitly condemns Sodom for its arrogance, inhospitality, and apathy toward the poor, but never for same-sex behavior.

5. The prohibitions in Leviticus don’t apply to Christians. Leviticus condemns male same-sex intercourse, but the entire Old Testament law code has never applied to Christians in light of Christ’s death. Leviticus also condemns eating pork, rabbit, or shellfish, cutting hair at the sides of one’s head, and having sex during a woman’s menstrual period—none of which Christians continue to observe.

6. Paul condemns same-sex lust, not love. Like other ancient writers, Paul described same-sex behavior as the result of excessive sexual desire on the part of people who could be content with opposite-sex relationships. He doesn’t have long-term, loving same-sex relationships in view. And while he describes same-sex behavior as “unnatural,” he also says men having long hair goes against nature, and most Christians read that as a reference to cultural conventions.

7. The term “homosexual” didn’t exist until 1892. Some modern Bible translations say that “homosexuals” will not inherit the kingdom of God, but neither the concept nor the word for people with exclusive same-sex attraction existed before the late 19th century. While the Bible rejects lustful samesex behavior, that isn’t close to a condemnation of all gay people and relationships.

8. Marriage is about commitment. Marriage often involves procreation, but according to the New Testament, it’s based on something deeper: a lifelong commitment to a partner. Marriage is even compared to the relationship between Christ and the church, and while the language used is oppositesex, the core principles apply just as well to same-sex couples.

9. Human beings are relational. From the beginning of Genesis, human beings are described as having a need for relationship, just as God himself is relational. Sexuality is a core part of what it means to be a relational person, and to condemn LGBT people’s sexuality outright damages their ability to be in relationship with all people—and with God.

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10. Faithful Christians are already embracing LGBT brothers and sisters. From denominations like the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA) to organizations like the Gay Christian Network and the Reformation Project, Christians across the country are already putting their commitment to LGBT equality in action. They’re showing their fellow believers what it looks like to be a faithful Christian who fully affirms LGBT Christians.

Gender Diversity and Christian Community

By Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, www.TransFaithOnline.org

I believe the time has come for Christians to widen their welcome to include the full range of human diversity, including gender diversity. I believe this both because of the biological and psychological realities around us and because of the message of gradually expanding inclusiveness I see in Scripture.

I hope for a time when Christian congregations everywhere will embrace all of God's creation as good.

Our society is currently ruled by a binary gender construct: a largely unquestioned set of assumptions that there are only two sexes (male and female), and that those born "male" are naturally drawn to what our society happens to call "masculine" (including attraction to women only) and that those born female are naturally drawn to what our society calls "feminine" (including attraction to men only). It is a system that allows for only one set of choices: Either a person must self-define as exclusively male or female, or else admit to being unnatural, mutant, or abnormal.

Once a person has self-identified as female, social attitudes conspire to blur any distinction between her biological sex and socially assigned female gender roles, which for women tend to be either unpaid in the private sphere or severely limited in the public sphere. If she refuses to conform to the limitations of femininity, she will be labeled as "controlling," "strident," or "lesbian." Many women are frightened into conformity by such labels. Boys and men are also pressured into gender-conformity through name calling, but in their case, the name-calling ("sissy," "weakling," "queen") teaches contempt for the feminine as that which is weak, dependent, or passive.

Thus, gender control of females is achieved by extolling "masculine" virtues but placing them beyond the reach of "real women," while gender control of men is achieved by degrading "femininity" so that no "real man" would ever want to be associated with it.

In this century, both the women's movement and the movement for gay, lesbian, and bisexual civil rights have raised gender issues in very new and different ways. One of the most helpful contributions they have offered is the distinction between sexual orientation, gender identity, gender roles, and gender expression. Many of our discussions around gender confuse these four elements. Sexual orientation concerns the gender to which one is attracted. Gender identity refers to a person's "core" feeling of maleness, femaleness, or other. Gender role refers to a socially constructed correlation between one's biology and one's skills, attitudes, interests, and behavior. (It is worth noting that these gender role expectations differ widely from culture to culture and from era to era.) Gender expression refers to the way people present themselves through their clothing, body language, and behaviors, whether as masculine, feminine, or other.

Using this helpful lens, when we look at the realities of the creation around us, we discover a diversity for which we are not always prepared. Whether gay or "straight," many men are not drawn to masculine behaviors, attitudes, and roles, and many women are not drawn to feminine behaviors, attitudes, and roles. We see in all of creation, animal as well as human, both cross-sex and same-sex relationships. We see different cultures that have entirely divergent expectations of male roles and female roles.

We also find individuals who cannot authentically identify as male or female. Some people have chromosomes or partially developed sex organs that do not match their apparent gender. As many as 4 percent of all children are born with degrees of both male and female genitalia, and one person in five

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hundred has a chromosomal composition other than XX or XY. The presence of these intersexual persons among us dispels the notion that the human race is built upon a clear-cut male-female polarity.

People who self-identify as transgender also reflect in their testimony and experience the pain and struggle of trying to fit into a social construct that doesn't work.

While the church was looking the other way, gender issues became much more complex, and as a consequence, much of the debate within church walls is increasingly irrelevant to the realities with which individuals are struggling. In Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Judith Butler points out that transgender people force us to confront the inadequacies of the male-female paradigm.

They are "the exception, the strange, that give us the clue to how the mundane and taken-for-granted world of sexual meanings is constructed." By refusing (or being unable) to perform society's expected gender roles and presentations, by falling outside of the "normal" male-female polarity, transgender people reveal that the "taken for granted world of sexual categorization is a constructed one, indeed one that might well be constructed differently."

All of us are therefore called to confront the binary gender construct for our own good and the good of those who are transgender. Because gender roles are by no means equitable, binary gender assumptions and roles are devastating to all of us-- "masculine" men, "feminine" women, and those somewhere in the middle.

Enormous numbers of heterosexual people are transgendered in the sense that they transgress the gender-role assignments of our society's binary gender construct. There are many boys and men who do not like sports, machinery, or business, preferring poetry, knitting, or peace-making. Similarly, many girls and women have little tolerance for the roles our society defines as "feminine," preferring stock-market trades to childcare, or white-water rafting to a beautification day at the spa. Should people be forced to adjust their clothes, grooming, and behavior in order to fit a social abstraction? Or is the huge amount of role transgression an indication that our male-female polarity has outlived its usefulness?

For several decades, transgender diversities have become increasingly obvious in various subcultures all over the planet. Meanwhile, most Christian churches have buried their heads in the sand of endless dialogue about whether or not it is compatible with Christian witness to ordain or provide union ceremonies for those members who happen to be gay or lesbian. While the church was looking the other way, gender issues became much more complex, and as a consequence, much of the debate within church walls is increasingly irrelevant to the realities with which individuals are struggling.

For instance, now that some Christians are getting used to the idea of gayness and lesbianism as identities rather than a choices, many people are realizing that such essentialism is only another limiting abstraction. Not that we choose our sexual orientation or gender presentation like flavors of ice cream.

No, we choose them as the only way to live authentically. But understanding how our society constructs "normalcy" can give us the freedom to move beyond static identifications--if a person needs such freedom to live authentically.

Does this leave us in total confusion? It certainly is an upheaval--but do we want to deal with reality, or delude ourselves by returning to a mythic time when men were primary and dominant, women were secondary and submissive, everybody was heterosexual, and folks were expected to repress or keep hidden any impulses to the contrary?

Jesus said, "I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). That doesn't sound as though we are intended to shrink ourselves to fit into what our society happens to define as proper gender identities, roles, and presentations. In fact, as I read the Scriptures, I see a movement toward inclusion, toward a widening of the welcome to embrace all kinds of diversity, including gender diversity.

The creation story begins by affirming that God is neither male nor female, but both. The first chapter of Genesis emphasizes that both male and female are made in the image of the creator God. Both are

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equally created in the divine image of one supreme Being--who therefore must be understood to encompass both maleness and femaleness and everything in between. According to scholars of Genesis, the original creature was adam, an earth creature who was both male and female. It was only in response to adam's need for companionship that God put adam into a deep sleep to divide the creature into what we now understand as male and female.

Contemporary Christians need to embody this same daring biblical inclusiveness toward all people of faith. Regarding gender inclusion in Scripture, perhaps the best example is that of the eunuch, a term that refers to castrated men or to people who are unable to have children. By modern understanding, the term includes intersexuals and post-operative transsexuals and symbolically includes homosexuals and celibates.

In ancient Israel, eunuchs were excluded from the temple--and thus from the assembly of God's people (Deut. 23:1). But the prophet Isaiah reverses that legislation, proclaiming inclusion and offering to faithful eunuchs "a monument and a name better than sons and daughters" (56:4-5).

Jesus also spoke well of eunuchs in his discourse on marriage and divorce, classifying people who do not marry as either "so from birth," or "made eunuchs by others," or those who "made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:12). This movement toward acceptance is capped by Acts 8:26-40, where a eunuch from Ethiopia is baptized into the new covenant community of Jews who are disciples of Jesus. This eunuch, symbolizing the community of ostracized sexual minorities, is among the first of the outcasts from ancient Israel to be welcomed into Jesus' discipleship of equals.

Jesus, whom Paul refers to as the "Second Adam," also defied gender norms. He didn't marry, although he had the religious obligation to do so at eighteen. He performed acts like cooking or washing the feet of his disciples--acts culturally assigned to wives or slaves, not to a free male, and certainly not to a rabbi.

Contemporary Christians need to embody this same daring biblical inclusiveness toward all people of faith. This would entail simply accepting people's gender presentation at face value, approaching everyone as the human equals they are, and relaxing about gender--our own and everyone else's.

I dream of the day when Christian congregations will embrace the prophetic universalism of Isaiah: "For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel: I will gather others to them besides those already gathered" (56:7-8).

Franciscan ethicist and author Richard Rohr recently commented: "Like the cosmos itself, God is about only two things: diversity and communion. The whole creation cannot be lying."

When Christian love is universal, then and only then will Christianity begin to be about those same things. Indeed, if Christianity is to survive as a living religion, such communion with diversity will have to come about. The whole of God's creation cannot be lying.

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Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues: Hinduism From the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion and Faith Program

Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions, and Hindus constitute a sixth of the world’s population today. Most Hindus live in India but there are about 1.5 million Hindus, both Indians and non-Indians, in the United States. As a result, homosexuality is a complex matter in Hinduism and depends heavily on cultural context and tradition.

Hinduism and Sexuality “Same sex desire and even sexual activity have been represented and discussed in Indian literature for two millennia, often in a nonjudgmental and even celebratory manner,” according to Hindu scholar Ruth Vanita. For example, the erotic sculptures on ancient Hindu temples at Khajuraho and Konarak, and the sacred texts in Sanskrit constitute irrefutable evidence that a whole range of sexual behavior was known to ancient Hindus. The tradition of representing same-sex desire in literature and art continued in medieval Hinduism.

When Europeans arrived in India, they were shocked by Hinduism, which they termed idolatrous, and by the range of sexual practices, including same-sex relations, which they labeled licentious. British colonial rulers incorporated their homophobic prejudices – largely attributed to certain Christian teachings – into Indian education, law and politics. As a result, homosexuality was made illegal in 1861, when British rulers codified a law prohibiting carnal or lustful intercourse “against the order of nature” with any man, woman, or animal – in other words, any sex that is not between a man and a woman with the aim of reproduction is outlawed. Thus, the marginal homophobic trend in pre-colonial India became dominant in modern India. Some Indian nationalists, including Hindus, internalized Victorian ideals of heterosexual monogamy and disowned indigenous traditions that contravened those ideals. Homosexuality remained a criminal offense in India until 2009 when New Delhi’s highest court deemed this colonial era law unconstitutional.

Homosexuality and Hindu Law Ancient Hindu law books, from the first century onward, categorize non-vaginal sex (ayoni) as impure.

But penances prescribed for same-sex acts are very light compared to penances for some types of heterosexual misconduct, such as adultery and rape. For example, one Hindu text, the Arthashastra, an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy, and military strategy, imposes a minor fine on a man who has ayoni sex. Modern commentators sometimes misread another text, the Manusmriti, the authoritative words of Brahma, interpreting its severe punishment of a woman’s manual penetration of a female virgin as suggesting that the text is anti-lesbian. In fact, however, the punishment is exactly the same for either a man or a woman who engages in this act, and it is related not to the partners’ genders but to the loss of virginity and marriageable status. The Manusmriti does not suggest punishing a woman who penetrates a female who is not a virgin, and the Arthashastra prescribes a negligible fine for this act.

The sacred Hindu epics and the Puranas, a compendia of devotional stories, contradict the law books.

They depict gods, sages and heroes springing from ayoni sex. Ayoni sex never became a major topic of debate, nor was it categorized as an unspeakable crime.

There is no evidence of anyone in India ever having been executed for same-sex relations.

Sex and Gender Hindu scriptures contain many surprising examples of diversity in both sex and gender. Many of the deities are androgynous and some even change gender in order to participate in homoerotic behavior.

For instance, medieval texts narrate how the god Ayyappa was born of intercourse between the gods Shiva and Vishnu when the latter temporarily took a female form. A number of 14th-century texts in Sanskrit and Bengali (including the Krittivasa Ramayana, a devotional text still extremely popular today)

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narrate how hero-king Bhagiratha, who brought the sacred river Ganga from heaven to earth, was miraculously born to and raised by two co-widows, who made love together with divine blessing. These texts explain that his name Bhagiratha comes from the word bhaga (vulva), because he was born of two vulvas.

Another sacred text, the fourth-century Kamasutra, emphasizes pleasure as the aim of intercourse. It categorizes men who desire other men as a “third nature.” The text goes on to subdivide such men into masculine and feminine types and describes their lives and typical occupations (including flower sellers, masseurs and hairdressers). The Kamasutra also includes a detailed description of oral sex between men and refers to long-term unions between male partners.

Hindu medical texts dating from the first century also provide taxonomies of gender and sexual variations, including same-sex desire.

Hijras: The Third Gender Described as neither male nor female, but rather as a third-gender, hijras are traditionally depicted as a powerful force within Hinduism. Although no census data exists, it is estimated that over 2 million hijras reside in India. With a recorded history of more than 4,000 years, the power of the hijras as sexually ambiguous individuals can only be understood through the use of Hindu mythology.

In Hindu mythology, ritual, and art, the power of androgyny or sexual ambiguity is a frequent and significant theme. Bahuchara Mata, the main object of hijra veneration, is a version of the Mother Goddess, for whose sake they undergo emasculation. In return for their emasculation the Goddess gives them the power to bless people with fertility, granting them an important religious role in births and marriages. The ceremonies that hijras perform are called badhai as a reference to the gifts of cash and goods they receives as payment of these occasions. However, hijras are also thought to have the power to curse a family’s fertility, explaining why they are often treated with a combination of mockery, fear and stigma forcing many to live in ostracized, poorer urban districts.

Though there are many similarities in gender variant experiences and identities between the hirja and MTF transgender communities, they are in fact separate and distinct. Unfortunately for both, due to the social stigma, the both communities have limited means of survival often restricted to performing badhai, begging, and sex work.

Until 2009 the hijra and the transgender community had few rights and were not recognized by Indian law. The Indian government, as of 2099, allows MTF transgender people to get identity cards stating their true gender as well as allows transgender people to receive sexual re-assignment surgery free of cost at government hospitals. In addition, the Election Commission of India added the option of using “other” on the voter ballet. Previously, the ballots forced transgender people and hijras to select either “male” or “female.”

Modern Trends and Views There are now many Indian LGBT groups in the United States and in India, most of whose members are Hindu. Some right-wing Hindu groups, active both in India and in the United States, have expressed virulent opposition to homosexuality. However, several modern Hindu teachers emphasize that all desire, homosexual or heterosexual, is the same, and that aspirants must work through and transcend desire.

For example: • Hindu philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti said that homosexuality, like heterosexuality, has been a fact for thousands of years, and that it becomes a problem only because humans focus too much on sex.

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When asked about homosexuality, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the international Art of Living movement, said, “Every individual has both male and female in them. Sometimes one dominates, sometimes other; it is all fluid.”

Mathematician Shakuntala Devi, in her 1977 book The World of Homosexuals, interviewed Srinivasa Raghavachariar, head priest of the Srirangam temple. Raghavachariar said that samesex partners must have been cross-sex partners in a former life. The sex may change, he said, but the soul retains its attachments; hence love impels them toward one another.

When, in 2002, Hindu scholar Ruth Vanita interviewed a Shaiva priest who had performed the marriage ceremony for two women, the priest said that having studied Hindu scriptures, he had concluded, “Marriage is a union of spirits. And the spirit is not male or female.”

As Amara Dasa, founder of Gay and Lesbian Vaishnava Association, noted in Tritiya-Prakriti: People of the Third Sex, several Gaudiya Vaishnava authorities emphasize that since everyone passes through various forms, genders and species in a series of lives, people should not judge each other by the material body but should view everyone equally on a spiritual plane and be compassionate, as God is.

Still, there is little discussion of this issue in most Hindu religious communities. Consequently, some teachers and lay followers retain their anti-gay beliefs. As a result, many LGBT Hindus have left their religious communities.

Indian newspapers, however, have reported several same-sex weddings and same-sex joint suicides over the last 25 years. These incidents have primarily involved female Hindu couples living in small towns and unconnected to any LGBT rights movement. Several weddings have taken place by Hindu rites, some with family support. The suicides often resulted from families forcibly separating same-sex partners. In Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India and the West, Ruth Vanita analyzes these phenomena.

The millennia-long debate in Hindu society over homosexuality, which was somewhat suppressed in the colonial period, is again becoming active. In 2004, Hinduism Today reporter Rajiv Malik asked several Hindu swamis (teachers) to describe their feelings about same-sex marriage. The swamis expressed a range of opinions, positive and negative. They felt free to differ with each other — evidence of the liveliness of the debate, made possible by the fact that Hinduism has no one hierarchy or leader. As one swami, Mahant Ram Puri, remarked, “We do not have a rule book in Hinduism. We have 100 million authorities.”

Legal progress for LGBT individuals continues to be made in India. In 2009 New Delhi’s highest court decriminalized the colonial era law prohibiting homosexual activity. Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar declared: “The old law violates Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees all people ‘equality before the law;’ Article 15, which prohibits discrimination ‘on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth;’ and Article 21, which guarantees ‘protection of life and personal liberty.”

However, the decision to decriminalize homosexuality applies only in the territory of India’s capital city.

This case is expected to continue at a national level forcing India’s government either to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, or change the law nationwide.

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Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues: Humanism From the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion and Faith Program

Background Often viewed as an alternative to traditional denominations which are centered on religious creeds, Humanism is a worldview built on a system of ethics that has, at its core, a respect for all human beings.

The American Humanist Association (AHA), calls Humanism “a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.” The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) further describes Humanism as being “based on human and other natural values in a spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities.” Intent on addressing issues of social justice, Humanists believe that it is possible to be “good without God,” that morality and good behavior can be practiced without belief in a deity. With its roots in Greek philosophy, Humanism also draws on the traditions of medieval Islam and the Italian Renaissance, which were similarly based on the values of learning and reason. The word, however, was not coined until the 19th Century, and reflects that period’s increasing focus on the sciences. Today, Humanism finds its formal representation in national and international organizations and their many local chapters. In addition to the American Humanist Association and the International Humanist and Ethical Union quoted above, there is the Council for Secular Humanism and the American Ethical Union, among others.

LGBT Inclusion Humanists, today, are committed advocates for LGBT equality, and uphold every person’s right to act as their nature dictates. In 2010, the American Ethical Union’s assembly resolved that, “Ethical Humanism reaffirms its support for equal rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Questioning and Queer people.” In addition to the inclusive stance noted above, Humanist organizations advocate specifically for transgender individuals. Among other efforts, the American Humanist Association recently partnered with the American Civil Liberties Union to work for equitable treatment of transgender people employed by the Social Security Administration.

On Marriage Equality In 2004, the American Humanist Association adopted a resolution stating that the organization “reaffirms the validity of sexual equality and supports local, state and federal action to legalize same-sex marriage.”

All Humanist organizations continue to advocate for marriage equality.

On Ordination Humanist organizations designate Secular or Humanist Celebrants who are available to officiate at weddings, memorials and baby namings. There are no restrictions for LGBT individuals who wish to become Celebrants.

On Employment Leading Humanist organizations in the United States have been vocal in their support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). In response to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s granting of federal protection against discrimination for transgender individuals, Roy Speckhardt, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association, stated, “No one should suffer from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Next Steps The welcoming and affirming stance adopted by Humanist groups in the United States provides an example for similar communities to follow. Recognizing that the challenges facing their LGBT members affect the entire human race, Humanists consistently use that stance as a foundation for hands-on work in the struggle for equality.

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Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues: Islam From the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion and Faith Program

More than a billion Muslims inhabit this planet, and they inhabit geographic, linguistic and cultural spaces that are enormously diverse. As a result, their beliefs on issues relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people cannot be easily summarized. To a large extent, much depends on how individual Muslims and Islamic sects interpret the Holy Quran and other theological sources. Islam is divided into two distinct sects, Sunni and Shia. Sunni Islam is the denomination of the majority, which is further divided into four major schools of thought: the Hanafi, the Hanbali, the Maliki, and the Sha’afi. It is due to such variation that there is no single school of thought in Islam. Unfortunately, generally speaking, regardless of Sunni or Shia, a majority of Muslims do have very negative attitudes toward people of LGBT. Teachings on LGB Issues To the traditionalists the Quran is clear about homosexuality, and there is no tolerance for debating the context or semantics. According to Al-Fatiha, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates for the rights of LGBT Muslims, most traditional scholars of Islam consider same-sex acts to be sinful, and many believe that having a gay or lesbian sexual orientation is unnatural.

However, only a few passages in the Quran and several hadiths (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) refer to sex between two males. The Quran, which mentions gay sex in the story of Lut (or Lot as he is known in Jewish and Christian Bibles), does not call for a specific punishment for this behavior. Yet one hadith reads: “When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shakes.”

Another hadith, discussing the punishment for two men caught having intercourse, says, “Kill the one that is doing it and also kill the one that it is being done to.” Still another appears to condemn lesbian sex: “Sihaq [lesbian sexual activity] of women is zina [illegitimate sexual intercourse] among them.”

The “Shari’ah,” or Islamic law, equates same-sex intercourse to “zina” or “fornication” between unmarried heterosexual couples, which is punishable by death. Some Islamic legal historians, however, do not believe that these hadith actually came from Muhammad. They argue that as a religious and governmental leader Muhammad never punished homosexuals and argue that the ruling about gay sex was derived long after Muhammad’s death.

Some scholars in the United States have argued that there is no definitive basis in the Quran or other theological texts for the condemnation of gay, lesbian and bisexual people. They also argue that at certain points in history, Muslim societies have recognized people in same-sex relationships as legitimate. A 2008 Jakarta Post article stated, “Homosexuals and homosexuality are natural and created

by God, thus permissible within Islam...” Moderate Muslim scholars have said there is “no reasons to reject homosexuals under Islam, and that the condemnation of homosexuals and homosexuality by mainstream ulema (clergy) and many other Muslims was based on narrow-minded interpretations of Islamic teachings.”

Those scholars, however, are in the minority. Many others have spoken out against LGBT people.

According to Mission Islam, an online network on varying Islamic teachings, every major Islamic school of thought considers sex between two men to be sinful and unlawful. Some schools of thought believe it merits severe physical punishment; including stoning to death. Others would sentence it with imprisonment or banishment from the state. Today, most governments that follow Islamic law defer on the punishment used for offenders. But, there have been cases where men convicted of having gay sex have been killed. According to the International Lesbian and Gay Association, only eight predominately Muslim countries, as of 2011, retain capital punishment for homosexual behavior: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Qatar, Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and Mauritania.

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LGBT Muslims living in the United States do not typically experience this sort of physical punishment though they often face verbal persecution and social exclusion from traditional Muslim communities. In response to a question on the IslamOnline community about how Muslims should interact with “homosexuals,” the former president of the Islamic Society of North America, Muzammil Siddiqi, said in 2003: "Homosexuality is sinful and shameful. … But nowadays this act has become a phenomenon. There are agencies and lobby groups that are working hard to propagate it and to make it an acceptable and legitimate lifestyle. For this reason it is important that we should speak against it. We should warn our youth and children from this devilish lifestyle. We should make it very clear that it is Haram, absolutely forbidden and that it kindles the wrath and anger of Allah. … We should deal with [homosexuals] in the same way we deal with any people who are involved in alcoholics, gambling or adultery.

“We should have deep repugnance to their acts and we must remind and warn them. Those who insist on this lifestyle, consider it legitimate and feel ‘gay pride,’ we should not associate with them and should not take them as friends. We should certainly avoid those people.”

Al-Fatiha’s website argues, however, that as women have brought change to mainstream Islam’s views of women’s rights, the acceptance of LGBT people in the Muslim community will slowly spread, and it will minimize the misconceptions that are common in much of the Muslim community today. It states: “Although mainstream Islam officially condemns homosexuality, there is a growing movement of progressive-minded Muslims, especially in the Western world, who see Islam as an evolving religion that must adapt to modern-day society. It is within this movement that Al-Fatiha Foundation works to enlighten the Muslim and outside world that Islam is a religion of tolerance and not hate, and that Allah (God) loves His creations, no matter what their sexual orientations might be.”

Transgender Issues While transgender issues have not been explicitly addressed by most major Islamic institutions, there is information concerning cross-dressing, those transgressing traditional gender roles and sexreassignment surgery.

One hadith appears to condemn cross-dressing, stating: “Cursed are those men who wear women’s clothing and those women who wear men’s clothing.” Another condemns “the hermaphrodites among the men and the over-masculine women.” On the other hand, hermaphrodites, and men who had no sexual desire toward women, were allowed in the company of Muhammad’s wives, although no other men were allowed to see them.

In 1988, sex-reassignment surgery was declared acceptable under Islamic law by scholars at the world’s oldest Islamic university, Al-Azhar, in Egypt. The highest-ranking religious leader of the Republic of Egypt issued an official decree, entitled “Fatwa on Sex-Change Operation,” which named a transgender identity as a natural disposition and sex-reassignment surgery permissible if it had proven that it was impossible for the patient to live according to his or her biological sex and the patient was not consciously choosing to be transgender. It stated: “As for the condemnation of [men] who by word and deed resemble women, it must be confined to one who does it deliberately, while one who is like this out of a natural disposition must be ordered to abandon it. … The rulings derived from these and other noble hadiths on treatment grant permission to perform an operation changing a man into a woman, or vice versa. … It is, however, not permissible to do it at the mere wish to change sex from woman to man, or vice versa.”

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A similar sentiment can be found when discussing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s stance on transgender people. Sex changes have been legal in Iran since Ayatolla Khomeini, the spiritual leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution, passed a fatwa authorizing them for “diagnosed transsexuals” over 25 years ago.

According to a BBC News article, “Iran carries out more sex change operations than any other nation in the world except for Thailand. The government even provides up to half the cost for those needing financial assistance and a sex change is recognized on your birth certificate.”

Malaysia, another Islamic nation, also has a long record of recognizing transgender people and will reissue their official legal documents to accurately reflect their gender identities.

Many people from predominantly Muslim countries — including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt — have reported having sex-reassignment surgeries by renowned medical surgeons and experts in the field of reconstructive surgery.

Muslim Allies Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) and Al-Fatiha are two Muslim voices on contemporary issues who seek to promote a theologically-sound framework for Islamic liberalism. Al-Fatiha, which was founded in 1998, has made great strides toward equality for LGBT Muslims. It organizes retreats and conferences, provides educational materials on issues related to Islam and LGBT people, and advocates on issues of immigration, asylum and human rights.

Similarly, MPV creates opportunities for religious discourse, volunteer and community activities and cultural events that have helped to establish and nurture vibrant progressive Muslim communities across the country. MPV also provides academic works written by scholars of Islam in simple and youth-friendly language through the Literary Zikr project. The first Literary Zikr entry features an adaptation of Dr. Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle’s chapter “Sexuality, Diversity, and Ethics in the Agenda of Progressive Muslims” which explicitly discusses homosexuality from an Islamic perspective. Dr. Kugle’s work demonstrates that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims do indeed deserve a place in Islam. In fact, there is a solid basis within Islam for respect and acceptance for diversity including sexual diversity.

MPV and Al-Fatiha are just two examples of Muslim allies, there are numerous other groups seeking to create an open and welcoming community for LGBT Muslims and the LGBT community as a whole. In recent years nearly a dozen Muslim community groups signed onto civil rights and faith community coalition letters in support of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act and/or the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, signed into law in 2009, expanded previous hate crimes statutes to include prosecution of bias crimes based on disability, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation. ENDA, when enacted, will prohibit workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

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Sexual diversity in Islam: Is there room in Islam for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims?

Excerpts from Dr. Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle, Muslims for Progressive Values

Does the Qur’an talk about sexuality? Not exactly. Sexuality is a modern concept. The Qur’an refers to sex acts. The Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) and early scholars also talked about sexual acts and desire.

However, classical scholars did not talk about the difference between sexual acts and identity.

Is there a difference between sex and sexuality? Yes—and it is an important difference. “Sex” refers to sex acts. “Sexuality” has to do with feelings of desire and the way a person relates to other people, as well as actual sex acts. So sex may be part of sexuality—but sexuality is much more than sex. For example: • If a woman is raped, she has sex—a sexual act occurs to her body—against her will. Rape does not have anything to do with her sexuality. The sex act of rape is not related to her desire or her identity. (This is true when the victim of rape is male, as well.)

• Sometimes a man has desire for other men, but does not have sex with men. His sexuality includes his desire for men, even if his behavior does not include sex acts with men.

Could sexual diversity be part of God’s plan? Yes. The Qur’an celebrates diversity. It even protects diversity of religion, by instructing Muslims to protect other religious groups, such as Jews, living under Muslim rule. The Qur’an says that variety in human appearance, culture, language and even religion were created by God’s divine wisdom. We know that homosexuality exists, among human beings with free will. It also exists among animals—and the Qur’an says animals do not have free will, they are only obedient to God. In the Qur’an, Surat al-Rum (Qur’an 30:22) says God has created human beings with different alwan, a word that can mean both “colors” and “tastes.” Human beings certainly have different tastes in many things—including sexuality. It seems clear that sexual diversity must also be a type of human diversity that was created by God’s divine wisdom.

Does the Qur’an specifically mention sexual diversity? Yes. Surat al-Nur (Qur’an 24:31-24:33) specifically mentions “men who are not in need of women.” These “men who are not in need of women” might have been gay or asexual, but by definition they were not heterosexual men. They are not judged or condemned anywhere in the Qur’an.

Does Islam say anything specifically about homosexuality? No. First of all, we can not say “Islam says…” or “the Islamic law says…” because only people speak. Islam itself can not say anything. So where can we look for answers? We can look in the Qur’an, which is the basis of Islam. The Qur’an does not even mention the word “homosexuality,” though. It does not refer to gays, lesbians, or bisexuals. In fact, scholars had to come up with a term for homosexuality in Arabic. They came up with al-shudhudh al-jinsi, a phrase that means “sexually rare or unusual.” If the Qur’an mentioned homosexuality by name, scholars would have simply used that term.

Did the Prophet know of any kinds of sexual or gender diversity? Yes. There were men in Arab society at the time of the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) who fit the Qur’an’s description of “men who are not in need of women.” A detailed study of early Islamic literature also showed that the Prophet accepted men called mukhanath. Mukhanath were men who were seen as “acting like women”—they might be considered transgender today or they might have been gay men whose sexual orientation was seen as making them “like women.” The Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) seemed to recognize these men were different from others. His wife, Umm Salama, had a mukhanath friend named Hit. Unlike other men, Hit was allowed to enter both men’s space and women’s space—Muhammad even trusted the mukhanath enough to let him enter the private women’s space of the Prophet’s household.

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Did the Prophet ever punish anyone for homosexuality or homosexual acts? No. After the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) died, his companions once discussed whether to punish a person for homosexuality.

If the Prophet had ever done so, his companions would have simply referred to his decision. Since they didn’t know what to do, we know that the Prophet gave them no example to follow.

In the case of Hit, Umm Salama’s mukhanath friend, Muhammad did “punish” him in a way, but not for his sexuality. Muhammad found out that Hit described a woman’s body to a man—which he could do because he was able to enter both women’s and men’s spaces. At that point, Muhammad told his wife not to allow Hit into the women’s quarters anymore. However, Muhammad did not criticize Hit for his sexuality or for “acting like women”—he only criticized Hit for not respecting the privacy of women.

Doesn’t the Qur’an say that homosexuality is unnatural? No. Using words like “natural” and “unnatural” as ways to describe sexuality is something that was started by European Christians. When today’s Muslims use this argument to say homosexuality is against Islam, they are actually borrowing ideas from European Christians. The conclusion that homosexuality is “unnatural” is not based on anything in the Qur’an. Again, the word “homosexuality” is never even used and does not exist in the Qur’an!

Are there words used in the Qur’an to talk about sexual behavior that is not allowed? Yes, there are a few: • Fahisha is a word that is used to mean “doing something that is not allowed” or “transgression.”

Fahisha can mean something that is sexual or something that is not sexual.

• Zina is the only word used in the Qur’an for a transgression that is definitely sexual. Zina means “adultery.”

The words fisq or fusuq mean “corruption.” They are used to describe the state of mind of someone who is doing something that is not allowed—in other words, someone who is committing fahisha. Some scholars try to connect fahisha, fisq and homosexuality. However this connection is not clear from the Qur’an. Some scholars also try to connect zina and homosexual acts, by saying homosexuality is like adultery. The problem is that this connection does not exist in the Qur’an—the Qur’an simply does not say that! Human jurists are the ones who say there is a connection.

The Qur’an only talks about heterosexual relationships. Doesn’t that mean everyone should be heterosexual? Not necessarily. The Qur’an assumes that heterosexuality is the most common kind of sexuality and discusses heterosexual relationships in some detail. However, just because something is unusual doesn’t mean it is wrong. For example: • The Qur’an refers to people who are intersex—those with signs of being both male and female.

This is not a common condition, but it does exist. The Qur’an does not say this condition is “wrong.” The Qur’an offers some guidance for how to treat intersex people in society, but there are many things it does not mention—including their sexuality.

• The Qur’an also refers to “men who have no need of women”—people we might call “gay” or “asexual” today. Yet the Qur’an does not condemn them.

Can Islam accept homosexuality? Yes. In Islam, there is a solid basis for respect and acceptance of diversity—including sexual diversity. Although historically many Muslim law-makers forbade homosexual acts, it is important to remember that Islamic law is not the word of God. Islamic law is the result of reasoning by law-makers, so the law is made by human beings. That doesn’t mean Islamic law is not important for Muslims, but it does mean that it is not a perfect reflection of what God wants for human beings. Many Muslims do not accept homosexuality because of prejudice or sexism—and many jurists share these views. As a result, it is important to continue to re-examine the shari’ah to better understand the true meaning of the Qur’an and the example of the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH). By re-examining the principles of shari’ah, scholars—along with other believers—can help recover it’s original purpose: to protect civil liberties, promote human rights and help people lead more ethical lives.

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Quranic Values as an Inspiration for Gay Marriage

By Pamela K. Taylor, co-founder, Muslims for Progressive Values

Like the Bible, and most other religious texts, the Qur'an doesn't have any verse that says, "God has made you black and white, male and female, straight and gay. Be you as brothers to one another, working, eating, praying, loving as one family." On the other hand, it also does not say "Marriage is only between one man and one woman," or even "between one man and up to four women."

There is a clear assumption in many passages in the Qur'an that marriage is between men and women.

Passages that talk about how a couple should decide when to wean a child, what times of day it is permissible to have sexual relations during Ramadan, or what to do when conflict arises and a divorce seems the best solution.

But other passages -- passages that talk about the fundamental nature of human relationships as a duality -- do not have a gender dichotomy. The word "zauj," often translated as mate or spouse, signifies one half of a partnership, both husband and wife. This is a powerful concept which affirms the fundamental equality of both spouses and leaves room for a genderless conception of human partnering.

This fundamental pairing of human beings is described in several passages which talk about the creation of humanity as a people. The initial human entity -- the word in Arabic is grammatically feminine and is often translated as soul, though it can mean self, person, or ego -- is given a mate of like nature, created from her own substance. • 4:1 O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from her created her mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women. • 30:21 And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your hearts: verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.

I acknowledge that it is radical to interpret these verses as providing a vision of human pairing that does not discriminate on the basis of gender, and that traditionalist Muslims would frown on such an interpretation. However, it remains a fact that the Qur'an is a living document, Islam is a living religion, and while there are those who would like to continue interpreting the Qur'an as it was interpreted five hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago, I believe that the Qur'an must continually be understood in light of current information about human nature, race, gender, and class, and with reference to modern understandings of what is just, what is compassionate.

This process is going on in other areas of Qur'anic interpretation -- take for instance the verses which talk about human development in the womb. There were some quite amusing interpretations of these verses over the years -- at least from the point of modern gynecology. No Muslim in his or her right mind would say we should stick with the old interpretations and ignore modern science, especially when modern science gives us a picture that is very much in keeping with the Qur'anic verses.

Modern science has also shown that the brains of gay men and women are different, structurally, from the brains of straight men and women. Other studies point to factors in the womb that affect sexual orientation. And many studies point to a genetic bases for homosexuality. Our experiences of gay couples show us that gays find the same love, mercy and tranquility with others of the same sex that the majority of us find in heterosexual pairings.

How then can we fail to interpret the Qur'an in light of these understandings, this knowledge of human nature and physiology that simply did not exist in the 600s or the 900s?

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Equally important, the Prophet teaches us to want for our brothers and sisters what we want for ourselves. The Qur'an teaches us to exemplify justice, mercy and compassion. If I want a warm, loving, fulfilling marriage with a person I choose, how can I deny that to my brother or sister? If social circumstances favor those who are married -- and in our society married couples have special benefits and/or rights in terms of economics, inheritance, visitation during sickness, adoption, etc -- how can we justify denying those rights and benefits to an entire segment of our society? If the Qur'an teaches that sexual activity outside of marriage is a sin (and it does), how can I condemn a significant portion of the population to sin or to a life of celibacy (which the Qur'an frowns upon as well)?

It may be a radical reading to use the Qur'an and the teachings of the Prophet to justify gay marriage, but to me it is the only one which upholds the fundamental Islamic ideals of fairness, equality of all human beings, compassion and mercy.

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Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues: Orthodox Judaism From the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion and Faith Program

Background Orthodox Judaism, a branch of Judaism rich in its traditions, has a variety of forms, from Haredi (ultraOrthodox), to Hasidic (mystical Orthodox) to Modern Orthodox. As well, Orthodoxy preserves great cultural distinctions from all over the world which color its views of gender and sexuality. Despite its diversity, Orthodoxy collectively views itself as the authentic expression of Jewish faith and observance in a direct line from the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai through the many interpretive layers of the Talmud and later Medieval authorities. All the major Jewish denominations, (Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Orthodox) are responses to the challenges of modernity. While Orthodox Judaism is decidedly the most traditional of the denominations, its religious varieties are also shaped by different formulations of acceptance and resistance to the modern condition.

There is no central governing body but despite the different forms it has taken they all share some common principles of faith and a deep loyalty to Halacha or Jewish law. Halacha is a code of behavior that covers a vast range of ethical rules, social mores, ritual practices and spiritual disciplines. A quarter of the medieval code, the Shulchan Aruch, which to this day guides Orthodox Jews, focuses on sexual practice and marriage. Judaism celebrates creation as an inherent good. Consequently, Jewish law does not disparage sex. However, Orthodox tradition only supports heterosexual relations and only within the context of heterosexual marriage.

Orthodox tradition is religiously organized and socially structured by biblical and rabbinic teachings on fixed gender roles, creating separate religious duties and always separate spaces for men and women during worship. Orthodox Judaism believes that the Torah is of divine origin and represents the word of G-d. Jewish sacred texts, commonly understood in the Christian world as the Old Testament, include the Five Books of Moses, (referred to as the Torah), the Prophets (Nevi'im) and the Writings (Ketuvim). The whole of the Jewish Bible is sometimes referred to as the Written Torah or Tanakh, (a Hebrew acronym for Torah, Prophets and Writings). The Oral Torah is a rich collection of interpretations, legal discussions and literary expansions found in the Talmud and Midrash.

The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, known as the Orthodox Union, and the Rabbinical Council of America, are organizations that represent Modern Orthodox Judaism, a large segment of Orthodoxy in the United States.

LGBT Inclusion Orthodox policies related to LGBT inclusion are grounded in the Torah and subsequent rabbinic teachings, which prohibit sexual relationships between individuals of same gender, and base gender roles on birth biology. Sex between men and particularly anal intercourse is deemed a violation of biblical weight. Lesbian relations are not mentioned in the Bible and are prohibited explicitly only by later rabbinic authorities.

Orthodoxy in the United States encompasses a wide range of attitudes toward LGBT people and the issues they face. The recognition that sexual orientation and gender identity are generally not chosen has softened attitudes. In the most traditional sectors of Orthodoxy empathy has grown only in a very limited way, but in the center and left of the movement there is a slow but steady shift toward more understanding and inclusive attitudes and policies.

While the public stance of a synagogue or rabbi may adhere strictly to religious law, individual congregants and the rabbi himself may often be personally welcoming of LGBT members. In 2010, more

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than 150 Orthodox rabbis and educators signed a declaration calling for the welcoming of LGBT Jews in the Orthodox community.

"Every Jew is obligated to fulfill the entire range of mitzvot between person and person in relation to persons who are homosexual or have feelings of same sex attraction. Embarrassing, harassing or demeaning someone with a homosexual orientation or same-sex attraction is a violation of Torah prohibitions that embody the deepest values of Judaism.”

Organizations such as Eshel are dedicated to the work of supporting those efforts, and of serving Orthodox LGBT individuals in their desire to live fully in their religious and cultural traditions. For guidance on finding welcoming synagogues and rabbis, contacting Eshel is a good first step. The organization maintains contacts with congregations across the country and offers its own community of Orthodox LGBT Jews, both online and at regular gatherings.

As with other issues of LGBT inclusion, there are growing signs of welcome in a few spaces. However, most transgender people will find Orthodox communities extremely difficult to navigate. According to Jewish law, gender reassignment surgery is forbidden on the foundation of a law against male castration.

The law from the sacrificial rules of Leviticus, “You shall not offer to the Lord anything [with its testes] bruised or crushed or torn or cut” was extended to human castration, since the end of the verse broadens the context, “and you shall have no such practices in your own land.” Leviticus also outlines prohibitions on altering the physical body with which one was born, "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves: I am the Lord." Both of these texts have been used to reject transgender congregants.

Transgender people are further constrained by Orthodox Judaism’s emphasis on binary gender and strict separation between men and women. For example, a transgender person who has not medically transitioned poses a challenge for a rabbi who must decide whether that person will sit with men or women during worship. In some Orthodox settings, however, transgender people who have transitioned are accommodated. Joy Ladin, for instance, is employed as an out transgender woman at Yeshiva University, the oldest and most comprehensive educational institution under Jewish auspices in America.

Individuals whose gender expression does not fit a rigid definition of male or female or who have not physically transitioned will find most Orthodox spaces unaccommodating.

On Marriage Equality In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of marriage equality, the Union of Orthodox Congregations released a statement, saying, “We reiterate the historical position of the Jewish faith, enunciated unequivocally in our Bible, Talmud and Codes, which forbids homosexual relationships and condemns the institutionalization of such relationships as marriages.” However, marriage equality is a matter of civil law. The separation of church and state ending the importing of religious tests into civil law has been key to the freedom of religion for all Jews. For this reason while there is much resistance to marriage equality in the Orthodox Jewish world, there is little effort to fight the present civil trends. No Orthodox body approves of any religious ceremony for same-sex weddings. Openly gay Orthodox rabbi, Rabbi Steven Greenberg, has officiated at same-sex commitment ceremonies and has been sharply criticized by his colleagues for doing so.

On Ordination Acceptance at Orthodox seminaries and ordination as an Orthodox rabbi is denied to individuals who are openly LGBT, as they are to women. There are, to date, only a few openly gay Orthodox rabbis all of whom revealed their sexual orientation only after ordination. While Orthodox Judaism presently ordains only men as rabbis, the liberal edge of Modern Orthodoxy has created a position for women, albeit with a distinct title, Maharat.

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On Employment In general the Orthodox Jewish community supports protections against the discrimination of LGBT people in the workplace, as long as religious policies are not in jeopardy. In June 2014, Nathan Diament, Executive Director for Public Policy at the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, released a formal statement, saying, “The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (“ENDA”)—which, if passed, would bar sexual orientation discrimination in America’s private sector—contains an appropriate exemption for religious institutions.” Again, policy is set by individual communities. (For example, after minor controversy, Yeshiva University welcomed Joy Ladin, a transgender woman, to return to full participation as a professor following her transition.)

Next Steps Like other denominations founded in a traditional reading of sacred texts, the Orthodox Jewish community is weighing the power of those readings against the immediate needs of their members and against rapidly changing views in the culture at large. There is an increasing move toward new applications of halacha interpretations that balance the Torah’s strictures against specific behaviors with its broader emphasis on compassion, as embodied in Leviticus 19:18: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues: Reconstructionist Judaism From the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion and Faith Program

Background The Reconstructionist Movement is the smallest of the four leading Jewish denominations but of particular interest because of its progressive stance, the influence of its Rabbinical College and its 100 synagogues spread across the United States. Founded on the teachings of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, the Movement sees Judaism as a constantly evolving entity, with ethical and moral decisions shaped by both past traditions and present reality.

According to the Jewish Reconstructionist Community’s web site, the sacred texts of Judaism are considered, “neither literal transcriptions from a supernatural being nor anachronisms that are mere constructs and fictions.” The site further explains that, “We value our dialogue with the voices of our sacred texts because of the passion, values, aspirations and wisdom they express and how they inform and shape our current Jewish lives.” The Reconstructionist vision of G-d is of a “power or process working through nature and human beings.”

LGBT Inclusion Of the four leading Jewish denominations, the Reconstructionist Movement is considered the most consistently welcoming and affirming. The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College was the first Jewish seminary to accept openly LGBT students, and the Reconstructionist Movement is committed to creating communities that welcome all people, including LGBT individuals and their families. The Movement celebrates same-sex marriages, allows LGBT ordination, and includes the representation of LGBT people in its religious school curricula.

The Reconstructionist Movement welcomes transgender individuals, accepts transgender students to the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and ordains transgender rabbis. Rituals and prayers specific to the life events of a transgender person have been developed, and support is provided to Reconstructionist communities working toward becoming more fully welcoming and affirming of transgender members.

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On Marriage Equality The Reconstructionist Novement recognizes and celebrates same-sex marriage. A resolution passed by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association in 2004 states that the Movement, “endorses and supports the right of same-sex couples to share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities and commitments of civil marriage,” and that, “civil marriage for same-sex couples must include all the benefits commonly bestowed upon opposite-sex couples, including, among other rights, healthcare coverage and related decision-making, privileges under immigration and naturalization law, survivor benefits, inheritance rights, and child custody.”

On Ordination The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College was the first Jewish seminary in the United States to endorse the ordination of LGBT rabbis and investiture of cantors, adopting a non-discrimination admissions policy in 1984. By 1992, the Reconstructionist Commission on Homosexuality, comprised of representatives from Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, had established a Movement-wide policy prohibiting discrimination in the placement of LGBT rabbis. The Reconstructionist Movement also welcomes LGBT rabbis to its highest leadership positions. In 2007, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association elected Rabbi Toba Spitzer its president, making her the first openly LGBT person to head a rabbinical association in the United States. In 2013, Rabbi Deborah Waxman was elected President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, becoming the first woman and first lesbian to lead a Jewish seminary and congregational union.

On Employment The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and joined other faith groups in signing a letter to President Obama in 2012 that asked for legislation grounded in the belief that, “no one should face discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity,” and further noting that, “LGBT Americans face significant discrimination and harassment in the workplace, which threatens their and their families’ economic security.”

Next Steps While there is no doubt that the Reconstructionist Movement is at the forefront of the work toward LGBT inclusion, there is still progress to be made. Reconstructionist Rabbi Joshua Lesser, founder of the Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender and Sexual Diversity, hopes to see greater inclusion of single LGBT people who may not fit the family-centric atmosphere found at synagogues of all denominations. He stresses that the time is ripe for another push toward inclusion. “This is the moment,” he says. “People are beginning to recognize what is possible.”

Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues: Reform Judaism From the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion and Faith Program

Background The largest Jewish denomination in the United States, the Reform Movement is grounded in the desire to integrate ancient Jewish teachings with a constantly evolving society and culture. According to the Union for Reform Judaism, “The great contribution of Reform Judaism is that it has enabled the Jewish people to introduce innovation while preserving tradition, to embrace diversity while asserting commonality, to affirm beliefs without rejecting those who doubt, and to bring faith to sacred texts without sacrificing critical scholarship.” While synagogues operate as autonomous communities, the Reform Movement follows policies set by the Union of Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and draws on the affiliated resources of such organizations as the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism or Institute for Judaism, Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity. (See Resources below.)

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LGBT Inclusion As early as 1977, the Central Conference of American Rabbis passed a resolution that called for “legislation which decriminalizes homosexual acts between consenting adults, and prohibits discrimination against them as persons.” They further resolved to “undertake programs in cooperation with the total Jewish community to implement the above stand.” Similarly, the Union for Reform Judaism passed a resolution in 1977 stating that “homosexual persons are entitled to equal protection under the law” and affirming their opposition to “discriminating against homosexuals in areas of opportunity, including employment and housing.” In the decades following the adoption of these two resolutions, the Union for Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis have passed over a dozen resolutions on this subject, covering a range of issues from same-sex marriage to the inclusion of LGBT Jews in Jewish life. In addition, the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, a joint instrumentality of the Union for Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, passed a resolution in 2003 on the inclusion and acceptance of the transgender and bisexual communities and an additional resolution in 2014 on the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.

Today, the web pages of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism state, “Each of us, created in God’s image, has a unique talent, with which we can contribute to the high moral purpose of tikkun olam, the repair of our world. Excluding anyone from our community lessens our chance of achieving this goal of a more perfect world.”

LGBT individuals will continue to find a range of experiences in Reform communities. The vast majority are fully welcoming, inclusive and affirming, while many others are committed to becoming so. The majority of congregations include explicit policies on non-discrimination regarding sexual orientation and gender identity with regard to membership and family life. Reform Judaism is welcoming of transgender people, allows for the ordination of transgender rabbis and encourages its communities to become fully inclusive of transgender individuals. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, which advocates for the Movement’s social justice and legislative priorities in Washington, D.C., advocates for the full inclusion and equality of transgender individuals under the law. Reform Movements camps and the Reform Movement youth group, the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY), have taken steps over the past decade to become more inclusive of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. In addition, NFTY recently adopted a proposal to focus on gender and sexuality equality as one of their 2014 – 2015 social action themes.

On Marriage Equality In 1996 and 1997, the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Union for Reform Judaism, respectively, adopted resolutions in support of civil marriage for same-sex couples. In 2000, the Central Conference of American Rabbis gave its full support to Reform rabbis who choose to officiate same-sex marriages. The resolution recognizes, “that the relationship of a Jewish, same gender couple is worthy of affirmation through appropriate Jewish ritual,” but also acknowledges, “the diversity of opinions within our ranks on this issue.” The Conference thus gives its support to both those “who choose to officiate at rituals of union for same-gender couples” and to “those who do not.”

On Ordination LGBT rabbis and cantors are ordained in the Reform Movement, and are accepted as students at Reform seminaries. The history of inclusion dates to 1990, when the Central Conference of American Rabbis endorsed a report on “Homosexuality and the Rabbinate,” that included the authors’ urging that, “all rabbis, regardless of sexual orientation, be accorded the opportunity to fulfill the sacred vocation that they have chosen.” Women have been ordained in the Reform Movement since 1972, and resolutions calling for their ordination date to 1922.

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On Employment The Reform Movement firmly supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which offers protections for LGBT workers. That spirit of support stretches back to 1977, when the Union of American Hebrew Congregations—now the Union for Reform Judaism—resolved that “homosexual persons are entitled to equal protection under the law,” and noted their opposition to “discrimination against homosexuals in areas of opportunity, including employment and housing.” In recent years, the Religious Action Center has led the mobilization of the faith community in support of ENDA. Next Steps The Reform Movement’s groundbreaking resolutions on inclusion represent the evolving understanding of what it means to be LGBT. While the language of some of the Movement’s earlier resolutions may be outdated, more recent resolutions reflect the evolution of LGBT-related language over the past several decades. Overall, the value of full equality for LGBT individuals has and continues to inform the Reform Movement. While the policies and practices of the Reform Movement aim for full inclusion, there is still work to be done.. Some congregations are still working to create communities where LGBT individuals and their families are not just accepted but fully integrated in the community. Within the Reform Movement, the Religious Action Center and the Institute for Judaism, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity at Hebrew Union College provide vital consultation and support services in these endeavors.

Keshet, a national grassroots organization working for the full inclusion of LGBT Jews in Jewish life, has also worked with various Reform congregations and institutions looking to increase their inclusiveness of LGBT Jews.

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Two Spirit: My Journey Home

by Lynn Young (Lakota), www.TransFaithOnline.org

The only way I know to write about “Two Spirit” is to weave my own story with the stories of other Indigenous people of Turtle Island, the land now known as North America. I am drummer, drum maker, activist, educator, and artist of Lakota heritage. I have been in a same sex relationship for 17 years. My wife and I were married in Massachusetts in October of 2012, a marriage that our home state does not recognize as valid. I describe myself as an interfaith person, but my foundational spirituality is as a Native American Traditionalist.

What is Two Spirit?

Two-Spirit is an identity that encompasses being an Indigenous LGBTQ person -- and so much more. My identity places me at the intersection of the LGBTQ community and Indigenous culture, which is a unique place to be -- with a story rich in honour and complexity.

To be Two Spirit is to navigate gender, but not necessarily transgender experience. Certainly, an Indigenous person of transgender experience may identify as Two Spirit, but Indigenous lesbian, bisexual, and gay individuals may also identify under this broad label. There is also space here for Indigenous genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and other non-binary identified people.

To be Two Spirit is first and foremost to be Indigenous, connected to Native culture and rooted in our Indigenous histories. With the resurgence of traditional Indigenous teachings and cultural reclamation and preservation efforts, Two Spirit identities will also move with us into our futures. Being Two Spirit means placing oneself within an Indigenous worldview that is altogether different than the colonial European society that has grown up around us. The Indigenous worldview is one that centers on gender expression and identity, not sexual orientation. The labels and concepts simply don’t line up.

Two Spirit is my gender. My Two Spirit identity informs how I interact with other Indigenous folks in a variety of contexts, guides how I engage with the world at large, and most importantly it influences how I experience, and am in relationship, with myself. The Two Spirit gender construct is one where both masculine and feminine spirits coexist in one being. Each Two Spirit person carries their identity differently; it is experienced and expressed uniquely. If you gathered ten indigenous folks who identify as Two Spirit in a room (which is always awesome!) you would likely get as many interpretations of the term as you had individuals.

Many indigenous languages have specific words to identify the Two Spirit people among them. The Lakota have the “wikte,” the Crow have the “boté,” and the Navajo the “nádleehí.” Actually, these are not translations of “Two Spirit” at all. Each Native term has its own cultural meaning within that Nation’s history and traditions. The term “Two Spirit” is a modern term (circa 1990) that was coined as a way to have common language across the Two Spirit intertribal community. As Two Spirit people, we differ in our gender identities and expressions. Tribal histories and traditions also differ. But the common threads for Two Spirit people are the honouring of Two Spirit people within tribal societies, and our indigeneity.

Pre-Contact Concepts Before the European invaders hit the shores of the Americas, traditional Indigenous societies from all regions, from all language groups and living all manner of lifestyles (agrarian, hunter-gatherer, etc.) recognized and embraced individuals whose gender did not fall neatly into male or female, masculine or feminine. In fact there was no expectation that individuals should fit this either/or pattern. Indigenous views of gender in those days were broadly visioned, not binary. Sometimes three, four, five, or more genders were recognized in a particular culture, and all were accepted as normal components of the created order.

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In pre-contact Native societies, the emphasis was not so much on placing people into categories, as it was about empowering the individual to fulfill one’s role in tribal society. There was a flexibility that enabled individuals to express their particular gifts in community. As a result, Two Spirit people were honoured in their societies, often performing sacred ceremonial and spiritual functions reserved only for Two Spirit people, such as shaman, medicinegivers, and interpreters. Two Spirit people were considered uniquely qualified to perform these and other sacred functions due to their perspectives and experiences walking the Two Spirit path.

The word “berdache” was used by Europeans who first encountered Indigenous / Native American individuals who do not fit into European gender expectation. Translations of the term from the early contact period range widely, though none of them are flattering. Even more importantly the use of “berdache” inaccurately caricatured Two Spirit people compared to how we were perceived by our tribal societies.

As a result, many Indigenous Two Spirit folk find the word “berdache” offensive. “The B Word” is something I avoid except to explain why I don’t use it -- because of the oppressive colonial baggage that it carries. Other Indigenous people make different choices and that is not a wrong thing. Selfdetermination is a key value in Native cultures, so we do not all have to agree on such things.

Historically, identities we now place under the Two Spirit label were viewed as a genders unique unto themselves, and many of us who identify as Two Spirit today also embrace this way of visioning gender.

Despite what you may have heard, there is no one way to be transgender, no official lesbian way of being, and no rule book for being bisexual. Gender is unique and complex for everyone -- and the Native worldview makes space for these diverse realities.

So, there is no single Two Spirit identity. Language and understanding vary with the Indigenous cultural group, as well as from person to person. Different experiences of Two Spirit identity are simply understood as different ways of being Two Spirit, rather than introducing opposition or hierarchy. The priority, in terms of Indigenous worldviews, is that these experiences are authentic for the Indigenous individuals who live them.

Coming Home to Ourselves Therefore, I can only speak for myself, for what the term Two Spirit means to me and the way being Two Spirit is experienced in my life. There is an innately female spirit within me, and a innately male spirit within me. They coexist. They are a team. They work in consort to inform what I do, how I walk in the world, and how I breathe from moment to moment. But, in the place where they come together deep in the core of my Isness, they have grown together; they are woven and twisted around each other in an entirely beautiful way. Two Spirits -- one solidly rooted core.

When I initially used the term Two Spirit to self-identify, it was a way of affirming both my identity as a member of the LGBTQ community and my Indigenous identity. My initial discovery of, and subsequent journey into a deeper understanding of my Indigenous identity, has occurred over time, with each additional footfall bringing me closer and closer to encountering my cultural home. The depth and rhythm of Two Spirit identity has also taken me to deeper understandings of myself.

Revealing these aspects of cultural identity and gender identity has been like scrubbing an old tile floor with a toothbrush and uncovering a fiercely beautiful mosaic. Each individual tile of understanding that is revealed contributes to my overall image of myself. This is process of engaging culture and gender in an increasingly Indigenous way.

In indigenous circles, the process of going about one’s identity path as a Two Spirit person, is not a process of coming out, so much as a process of coming in. Coming in - to our cultural and ancestral home. Coming in - to a deep understanding of the ancient histories and traditions associated with our

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Indigenous gender identity. Coming in - to the warmth of our cultural fires and finding nourishment there, finding home. The nourishment that I have found here, has empowered me to step into the circle with other Two Spirit leaders, and join in the work of restoring Two Spirit roles and functions that were erased from our cultural memory by colonization.

Now I identify as Two Spirit. Having taken this journey of discovery, Two Spirit is not merely an affirming label to claim my culture and my sexual orientation. Today, I claim Two Spirit as my actual gender -- not male or female, but an ancient non-binary gender identity uniquely and wholly Indigenous. This Two Spirit journey of self-discovery has been my journey home.

I have the honour of serving on the board of Transfaith and that connection has also brought rich conversation about what it means for me to identify as Two Spirit. In the Transfaith community, we recognize that many Two Spirit people are gender non-conforming compared to European gender expectations -- and yet quite traditional in terms of an Indigenous worldview.

We honor that, while these identities are not necessarily “transgender,� they remain a crucial and valuable part of an even larger multi-faith, cross-cultural conversation about gender diversity -- one which is too often overcome by simplistic European approaches to gender and sexual orientation. So with Transfaith, we are seeking to prioritize Two Spirit conversation about gender identity and expression, holding Sacred the notion that these conversations must be authentic and culturally appropriate, grounded in an Indigenous worldview.

We invite you to journey with us, weaving in your own stories and understandings.

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LGBTQ Identities and Religions Chart From Purdue University’s Safe Zone Program

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***from the Religious Institute’s A Time to Seek: Study Guide on Sexual and Gender Diversity***

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Judeo-Christian Scripture and Sexuality From A Time To Seek: Study Guide on Sexual and Gender Diversity…by Rev. Debra Haffner and Timothy Palmer, Religious Institute

People of faith who disagree on matters of sexual ethics often seek wisdom from a common source— their sacred texts. The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament are frequently part of the dialogue regarding sexual ethics and LGBT civil rights. The challenge for faith communities is to discern insights and guidance from the Scriptures that can be useful in contemporary discussions of sexuality and gender. Although the Bible has a good deal to say about sexuality, many theologians and people of faith believe that much of it does not speak to modern societies. For instance, parts of the Bible explicitly forbid certain behaviors—such as divorce, intercourse during menstruation, and re-marriage—that many faith communities now accept. Other Biblical texts permit (or tacitly approve) such practices as polygamy, prostitution and the treatment of women as property that are now prohibited. Meanwhile, the Bible is essentially silent on abortion, birth control and masturbation.

Biblical references to sexual and gender diversity are relatively rare, and focus primarily on a few verses about male homosexual behavior. The Bible does not address such modern understandings as sexual orientation and gender identity that contribute to current thinking on human sexuality.

Same-Sex Behaviors Although differences in translation can influence our understanding of the Hebrew and Greek texts, the following five passages clearly refer to certain kinds of male-to-male sexual behaviors: • Leviticus 18:22 • Leviticus 20:13 • Romans 1:24–27 (Romans 1:26 is the only passage that mentions female sexual behavior, decrying women who exchange “natural intercourse for unnatural”) • 1 Corinthians 6:9–10 • 1 Timothy 1:9–11 An important consideration regarding any Biblical text is translation—from ancient languages to modern languages, and from ancient cultures to modern cultures. Many theologians believe that the Leviticus passages on male same-sex behavior refer to the rejection of foreign cults that practiced sacred prostitution during religious rites. The passages are part of what is known today as the “holiness code,” which also called for dietary laws, circumcision and other practices. The holiness code is generally thought to have originally been intended to maintain the distinctiveness of the Jewish culture during the time of the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE).

Similarly, the passage in Romans refers to various examples of idolatry behaviors in first-century society.

The sexual activities that Paul prohibits are most likely male adult/child sexual behavior and male prostitution, and it is uncertain what specific female sexual behavior he denounces as “unnatural.” As Harvard theologian Peter J. Gomes writes, “All Paul knew of homosexuality was the debauched pagan expression of it.”

In the Corinthians and Timothy texts, the Greek word arsenokoitai is usually translated in English as “sodomite.” However, “sodomite” did not appear in an English translation of the Bible until 1611, with the publication of the King James Version. The term reflects the terminology and mores of 17th-century England. Newer translations sometimes use the word “homosexuals,” a term (and a concept) that did not exist until the late 19th century. Scholars disagree whether these texts refer to homosexual behaviors, to sexual promiscuity in general, or to temple prostitution.

In the times when the Bible was written, sexual relationships were based on rigid gender roles and the concept of power and dominance. The authors of these texts had no concept of an equal, loving

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monogamous relationship between two people of the same sex. When the texts are read today, it is important to remember that the original authors are not referring to homosexual relationships as we understand them today nor to our modern understanding of homosexuality as a sexual orientation.

In addition to the five passages listed above, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1–29) is frequently cited as an indictment of homosexuality. However, this interpretation does not reflect the social realities of the ancient Near East or the perspective of Biblical writers. The story tells how the men of Sodom sought to force the two angels visiting Lot’s home outside “so that we may know them.” (Genesis 19:5) The townsmen were threatening Lot’s visitors with gang rape, a means of showing domination that some surrounding cultures used with their enemies. Their act was a flagrant violation of the hospitality codes of the ancient Near East. The fact that Lot offers his two virgin daughters to satisfy the mob testifies both to the sanctity of the hospitality codes and to the cultural distance between ancient and contemporary societies. The Biblical writers do not identify homosexuality as the reason for Sodom’s ultimate punishment.

Certain Hebrew and apocryphal texts specify the sins of Sodom as pride, arrogance, neglect of the poor, and hostility to strangers (Ezekiel 16:49, Sirach 16:8, Wisdom of Solomon 19:13–15). The prophet Ezekiel says, “This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.” (Ezekiel 16:49) Eunuchs Eunuchs are a prominent example of sexually atypical persons in the Scriptures. The Biblical term “eunuch” refers to a castrated man or to a man with damaged or atypical genitals. Because eunuchs often served as courtiers, political or military officials and chamberlains, the term may also refer to an individual’s position in a royal court or household. Today, many LGBT people identify with the eunuchs as representative of all sexual “others” in predominantly heterosexual societies. Because eunuchs held prominent positions in many ancient Near East societies, they appear in Biblical texts. Five passages that address eunuchs in an explicitly theological context are: • Deuteronomy 23:1 • Isaiah 56:4–5 • Wisdom 3:14 • Matthew 19:10–12 • Acts 8:26–40 Only the Deuteronomy passage is proscriptive, specifically excluding from the assembly any male “whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off.” The other texts welcome and bless eunuchs as faithful members of the community. Eunuchs and foreigners are central to the broad message of inclusion in Isaiah 56: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” (Isaiah 56:4–5) In the New Testament, an Ethiopian eunuch is among the first converts welcomed by the early Christian movement in its outreach to all nations (Acts of the Apostles, 8:26–39).

Transgender There are no explicit references to transgender people or behaviors in the Bible, although the Talmud written between the first and seventh centuries C.E., discussed people that would be described today as intersexual. Genesis 1:27 addresses the creation of males and females, but recognizes that all of humankind is created b’tzelem elohim, in God’s image. Deuteronomy 22:5 says that “a woman shall not wear a man’s apparel, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment.” Scholars have offered various explanations for this prohibition—to prevent participation in pagan rites that included cross dressing; to reinforce gender segregation in the society; or to outlaw disguises intended to conceal illicit sexual activity.

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There are several instances, however, in which Biblical rhetoric erases gender boundaries: • Biblical writers employ both male and female metaphors in referring to God (e.g., God as mother, Isaiah 66:13).

• In Genesis 2, before God creates man and woman, the Hebrew word context for the first human being includes both genders, much the same way that “mankind” today includes both men and women.

• In his message of inclusion to the community in Galatia, Paul declares, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) The sexual ambiguity of the eunuchs has a particular resonance with many intersexual and transgender persons. Transgender theologian Justin Tanis writes, “God’s emphasis is not on where our bodies came from or how they have been altered, but rather on the ways in which we practice our faith.”

Loving, Sexual Relationships While the Bible recognizes the marital union of a woman and a man as one model for the expression of sexuality and love, it is not the only model. Several Biblical models are not part of contemporary American culture, such as concubinage and “levirate marriage,” in which a man must procreate with his dead brother’s widow. The Bible also celebrates loving, sexual relationships between unmarried adults, most notably in the Song of Songs. The Christian texts recognize celibacy and singleness as legitimate adult life patterns as well.

Although the concept of marriage between same-sex partners was alien to ancient Near East cultures, the Bible does portray emotional attachments between two women (Naomi and Ruth, in the Book of Ruth) and two men (David and Jonathan, in 1 and 2 Samuel). Although these texts are not about sexual relationships, many LGBT people have drawn inspiration from their depictions of loving relationships between individuals of the same sex. Ruth’s pledge to Naomi (“Where you go, I will go …”, Ruth 1:1–18) often is recited at the weddings of same-sex and other-sex couples alike. In mourning the death of his “beloved” Jonathan, David says, “your love to me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women” (2 Samuel 1:26).

The Call to Love and Justice The passages that prohibit specific kinds of sexual behaviors represent less than .03% of the verses contained in the Hebrew and Christian testaments. In contrast, there are many teachings in the Scriptures to love one another and deliver justice to the oppressed. The instruction to “love your neighbor as yourself ” in the Hebrew Bible (Leviticus 19:18, 33–34) continues in the Christian gospels as one of Jesus’ two great commandments (Mark 12:28–31, Luke 10:27) and is reinforced in the letters of Paul (Romans 13:9–10, Galatians 5:14). This commandment also is a central theme in Jesus’ parable of the Samaritan (Luke 10:30–37). The Bible also calls us to welcome the stranger in our midst (e.g., Exodus 22:21, Exodus 23:9, Isaiah 56:6–7).

The call to justice for the poor and oppressed is one of the most prominent Biblical themes, particularly among the Hebrew prophets. Among the best-known passages are Amos’ plea to “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24) and Micah’s question, “what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). In the Christian gospels, Jesus conspicuously embraces the outcasts of his society, including the impoverished, lepers, Samaritans and tax collectors.

Many LGBT people who have been rejected or marginalized by their faith communities find hope in the Biblical call to love and justice.

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Gender Identity and the Bible: Jewish and Christian Perspectives

By Rev. Chris Glaser, Human Rights Campaign, Gender Identity and Our Faith Communities

Scripture is so often used against a new idea or experience that progressive people often feel forced to take a defensive posture toward it. But the Bible records the reflections of people across millennia applying their faith to a myriad of new ideas and experiences. These faithful people model for us how we may re- spond with justice, compassion, and welcome to transgender people. This brief paper suggests possible ways to begin the conversation in the context of biblical themes.

“No Longer Male and Female” “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27-28).

The writer of this passage, the apostle Paul — himself a Jewish Christian free male — neither denies nor diminishes various identities, but affirms here that unity in spiritual community trumps cultural, ethnic, economic, and gender divisions — for all are one. Those in our own time who do not fit absolutely into the categories of male and female remind their congregations to practice what they proclaim: that our spiritual unity with one another and with God transcends matters of gender identity and expression.

Those who know themselves as transgender reveal that there is a spectrum that stretches between the experiences of male and female, a spectrum of gender identity. Positive ref- erences to “eunuch” in both Hebrew and Christian scriptures may be said to resemble this experience, but, more explicitly, the Mishna and Talmud (the earliest Jewish law and folklore) have terms for differently gendered individuals between male and female.

“Male and Female ... One Flesh” Interpreting the second creation story in Genesis, chapter two, the Bereshit Rabah, a midrashic text, suggests that the first human creature (”adam”) was androgynous, and the reference to taking a rib is more accurately understood as taking a side of the first to cre- ate the second human creature. Thus male and female come from one flesh. Remember- ing that “male and female” are complementary features in the imago dei (the “image of God” in which human beings were created in the first creation story of Genesis, chapter one), may help us accept gender as a spectrum of experience as well as complementary features in an individual human being.

Male and female “become one flesh” in Genesis 2:24, a view of marriage apparently shared by Jesus when questioned about divorce in Matthew 19:3-12. Thus, male and fe- male blend into a single unit in marriage. This suggests that, just as binary distinctions between male and female are transcended in spiritual community, so they are transcended by the spiritual union of marriage. Thus marriage is not dependent on gender. Jesus implies that the distinctions of male, female, and marriage do not exist in heaven. When asked about marriage in the resurrection, Jesus says in Luke 20:35-36, “Those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage...because they are like angels and are chil- dren of God.” Thus, in spiritual union with God, distinctions of male and female are also overcome.

“Be Fruitful and Multiply” Sometimes opposition to transgender people comes from God’s mandate, also in Gene- sis, “to be fruitful and multiply” — procreation. Sex reassignment surgery (not always a part of transitioning) may disable procreation in the sense of bearing children, but not in other ways of creating family. At the same time, the Bible contains positive references to eunuchs, who were castrated and unable to procreate, and thus considered unacceptable spiritually.

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Through the prophet Isaiah, God defends eunuchs and welcomes all such outcasts to the temple: “For thus says the Lord, ‘To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off’” (Isaiah 56:4-5). Jesus quotes this same chapter of Isaiah when he clears the temple, saying, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7; Mark 11:17).

Jesus also defends eunuchs in his teaching on marriage, clarifying it doesn’t apply to everyone: “For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made them- selves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:12). And in the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the account of the early church, Philip bap- tizes an Ethiopian eunuch who is reading Isaiah.

All these references portend a welcome to those who could not procreate and whose bodies were surgically altered in a way that would exclude them from the temple at Jerusalem. Another surgical procedure, circumcision, was even required for males to enter the temple.

“The Lord Looks on the Heart” It is in this context — a broader understanding of gender and of an inclusive and welcoming spiritual community — that two other verses of the Bible about gen- der expectations need to be interpreted.

Deuteronomy 22:5 says, “A woman shall not wear a man’s apparel, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for whoever does such things is abhorrent [against custom] to the Lord your God.” And Deuteronomy 23:1 says, “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.”

These ritual laws appear alongside other applications of a Holiness Code that are no longer followed by even the most religious. The spiritual goals of the Holiness Code were separation (”holy” means “set apart”) as well as wholeness, manifest in personal integrity and social harmony. The latter goal of wholeness may be achieved by transgender persons seeking gender integrity and by a community that supports and protects their rights and dignity to achieve social harmony.

Consider when God charged the prophet Samuel to find a new king. All the sons of Jesse were brought forward, and all appeared to Samuel more like a king than the small ruddy youngster named David. But God declares to Samuel, “The Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). The sex of a person may be culturally determined by externals, but gender is a matter of the heart.

What allowed the early church to become more inclusive was witnessing the Spirit at work in the lives not only of circumcised Jews but also of uncircumcised Gen- tiles. In Acts 10 and 11, Peter, “the rock on which [Christ] would build [his] church,” ex- plains to the first church council that he could not refuse the welcome of baptism to those that God had given “the same gift that God gave us when we believed” (Acts 11:14). For Christian congregations, this may serve as a model for the inclusion of trans- gender people.

In the view of many Jews and Christians alike, what mattered to God was not the ex- ternals such as circumcision, but rather, “real circumcision is a matter of the heart” (Romans 2:29, but a concept also in Lev. 26:41; Deut. 10:16; Jer. 4:4, 9:29; Acts 7:51). This too may guide congregations as they welcome transgender members and work for their equality before the law.

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The Bible and Same-Sex Relationships: Fictions and Facts From the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry

Fiction #1: Homosexuality is a major topic of concern in the Bible.

Fact: The Bible contains only three or four clear references to male same-sex love and only one possible reference to female same-sex love. Moreover, “homosexuality” itself is a modern term, coined in the late 19th century, and represents forms of same-sex love not present in the cultural context of the ancient Mediterranean world from which the Bible comes.

Fiction #2: The Bible’s allusions to same-sex relationships are all negative.

Fact: The Bible depicts several very positive same-sex relationships, including the probably erotic relationship of Jonathan and David and that of the Centurion and his “boy-lover” in the Gospel of Matthew (see below). In addition, the words of Ruth to her mother-in-law Naomi, two women, are so representative of modern understandings of intimate relationships that they are most often found in marriage ceremonies (Ruth 1: 16-17).

Fiction #3: The Bible views homosexuality as a sin and indeed as a greater sin than all others.

Fact: The Bible rarely mentions same-sex love. It is not prohibited in the Ten Commandments, as adultery is, and it is not prohibited by Jesus, as divorce is. There are simply no biblical grounds for arguing that homosexuality is a greater sin than adultery or divorce; indeed, just the opposite is the case.

Fiction #4: Jesus preached against homosexuality.

Fact: In the New Testament gospels, Jesus says absolutely nothing about homosexuality or same-sex relationships. In fact, it is possible that Jesus actually commends a man who is in a same-sex relationship in Matthew 8:5-13 (the Roman centurion and his “boy,” a common pederastic relationship in Roman antiquity).

Fiction #5: The story of Sodom is about homosexuality.

Fact: In the story of Sodom in Genesis 19, all the men of Sodom attempt to gang rape the foreign visitors staying at the house of that other foreigner, Lot. As in rape cases today, this act is not about sexuality but about violence, power, and the hatred of strangers. All the references to this story in the rest of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) confirm that the “sin” of Sodom was hatred of foreigners, pride, and abuse of the poor. No sexual “sin” is mentioned in any of these later references to the story of Sodom’s destruction.

Fiction #6: The Bible supports monogamous heterosexual marriage.

Truth: The primary form of marriage in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is polygamy, with the prize going to King Solomon, who was said to have 700 wives and 300 concubines. In the New Testament, the sexual path of life most strongly recommended by Jesus and Paul was chastity. This is not surprising since Jesus and Paul themselves were both unmarried adult men. In the Bible, marriage between one man and only one woman is explicitly required only for bishops (1 Timothy 3:2)!

Fiction #7: The creation stories in Genesis 1-3 condemn any form of same-sex relationships.

Truth: The creation stories in Genesis 1-3 never mention same-sex relationships of any kind. The purpose of these stories is to show that God is the creator of everything that exists, and in the modern period this would certainly include those people who have a sexual orientation towards others of the same sex. Moreover, in the creation story in Genesis 2, the explicit purpose of creating sexual partners in the man and woman is not procreation but instead the relief of loneliness. Same-sex relationships fulfill that purpose of creation just as well as opposite-sex relationships do.

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Meeting people where they are…

Simple Engagement Strategies for Christians Adapted from “My Mind Was Changed” – New Way to Talk with Conflicted Christians about LGBT People in Church and Society

1. Christ-Inspired Frame ~ Inclusion: I believe that all are welcomed to participate fully in the church and in society because Christ welcomed everyone—even those shunned by society.

2. Christ-Inspired Frame ~ Love: When asked, Jesus told us that the greatest commandment was to love. I believe that God’s love knows no limits. God cares for all of us because God created each and every one o us. Nothing God does is in vain.

3. Christ-Inspired Frame ~ Judge Not: When I’m honest with myself, gay people sometimes make me uncomfortable. I was taught that the bible says homosexuality is wrong. But I’ve come to understand that despite my beliefs and discomfort, it is ultimately not for me to judge others.

How to share an inclusive and queer celebrating message?

• • • •

Use your own story or experience Do not challenge someone’s faith Ending religion-based bigotry: it has a positive impact on us all Engage boldly but with patience

Assess your community…some things to look for From the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Institute for Welcoming Resources, “Building an Inclsuive Church”, by Rebecca Voelkel, Vicki Wunsch, and David Lohman

Leadership • Does your congregation have or has it had an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) pastor?

• Does your congregation have or has it had an openly LGBT music director, director of Christian Education, Youth leader or other paid staff?

• Does your congregation have or has it had openly LGBT moderators, treasurers, council members or other elected lay positions?

Adult Education • Does your congregation offer adult forums on issues relating to LGBT inclusion and welcome?

How often? Are they well attended?

• Does your congregation offer outside speakers or films on LGBT inclusion and welcome? How often? Are they well attended?

Children’s Education • Does your congregation offer curriculum for elementary aged children on LGBT inclusion?

• Does your congregation offer curriculum for junior high aged children on LGBT inclusion?

• Does your congregation include LGBT inclusion as part of your Confirmation curriculum?

• Does your congregation offer curriculum for high school aged people on LGBT inclusion?

• Does your congregation offer Sunday School registration forms that list “parent 1 and parent 2” instead of “Mother and Father?”

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Worship • Does your congregation have LGBT persons serving as liturgists, communion servers, acolytes or other worship leaders?

• Does your congregation offer prayers (pastoral, written, open) that explicitly name LGBT persons and inclusion?

• Does your congregation sing hymns of welcome and inclusion of LGBT persons?

• Does your congregation offer weddings and blessings ceremonies for its same-sex couples?

• Does your congregation offer religious rituals for its LGBT members around coming out, gender transitioning, and other life-cycle events?

Mission Outreach • Does your congregation offer mission trips for its youth group (and adults) that address specific LGBT issues?

• Does your congregation offer letter writing, legislative visits and other forms of public witnessing on behalf of LGBT persons and families?

• Does your congregation work with your denominational LGBT advocacy group on work within your denomination on behalf of LGBT persons?

• Does your congregation work with organizations like the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force or local advocacy groups on LGBT issues?

Facilities • Does your congregation offer gender-neutral bathrooms?

• Does your congregation have a sign on its building that declares it Welcoming?

• Does your congregation makes its space available for use by LGBT groups?

MY for use with Step Three Ways of advocating for trans* people in your faith community Adapted from Human Rights Campaign’s “Gender Identity and our Faith Communities

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Discover my denomination’s stances on transgender inclusion and justice.

Meet with my minister, priest, rabbi or imam, either alone or with a group of others who share my views.

Meet with a congregational board or committee or denominational representatives.

Preach a sermon (clergy or lay) on the topic.

Develop a liturgy for my congregation for Transgender Remembrance Day. Educate congregation/community on importance of using inclusive language when referring to God/Holy and to each other.

Distribute “Gender Identity and the Bible” and “Gender Identity in Jewish Tradition” to members of my congregation.

Write an essay for the newsletter of my congregation, diocese, presbytery, etc.

Teach a class or lead a conversation for my congregation on this concern.

Urge my congregation to officially welcome transgender people.

Write to friends, church boards and elected officials about the concern.

Write a “Letter to the Editor” or post a statement on a blog.

Meet with or write to my local Congressional representative or an aide.

Speak to other groups, classes or congregations.

Organize or join transgender events, carrying my church banner.

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10 Things your Congregation can do to Become More LGBTQ-Welcoming From the Unitarian Universalist Association’s LGBTQ Ministries Office

When people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (LGBTQ) first come to your congregation, they may be uneasy until they know they are welcome.

Many religious denominations and individual churches are actively hostile to and condemning of LGBTQ people, ignore them, and/or claim to treat everyone the same regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, refusing to acknowledge that LGBTQ people face additional issues in society and around matters of faith and religion. Because of this, many people who are marginalized due to sexual orientation and/or gender identity will assume that you and your congregation don’t want them unless you clearly invite them in.

To feel welcome in your congregation, members of oppressed groups need to know that the congregation is aware of their issues and that they are welcome as their full selves. Little things are often the most important. What will really make people feel welcome, and what will make them want to return, is inclusion in all aspects of congregational life. You can make it clear that they are welcome without their having to ask.

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Engage or Reengage with the Welcoming Congregation Program ~ Go through the Welcoming Congregation Program. No matter what your congregation's unique circumstances are, you can become recognized by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) for your work around education, congregational life, and community outreach in regards to LGBTQ issues. If your congregation is already recognized as a Welcoming Congregation, do a refresher program!

LGBTQ Ministries recommends that all congregations go through a Welcoming Congregation Program or refresher program every five years. ****Different traditions have similar programs: Reconciling Church, Open & Affirming, More Light, etc.***

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Proclaim Your Welcome ~ Advertise in local and regional LGBTQ publications and newsletters, including online ones. Also advertise in general venues: local newspapers, bulletin boards in community gathering places, and online publications with a local focus. Place a note in your Orders of Service that states your welcome. You can make a general statement that you welcome all people, or you can use more specific language. If your congregation has a website, add a note there as well and consider how else you can make your website welcoming to LGBTQ visitors.

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Make Information About LGBTQ People and Issues Available ~ In your literature area, bulletin boards, newsletter, and/or website, include literature and information about LGBTQ people and issues and what LGBTQ outreach and public witness your congregation is doing.

LGBTQ Ministries and the UUA Bookstore have printed materials you might want to consider displaying.

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Take Steps Toward Inclusive Language ~ Inclusive language is about more than stating a welcome to all. It's about intentionally understanding and challenging the ways that our language unconsciously assumes certain things and unintentionally makes people with marginalized identities feel unwelcome. Provide written guidelines for inclusive language to all people who participate in your Sunday services (including ministers, lay leaders, guest speakers, and readers of announcements and readings), contribute to your newsletter and/or website, lead your religious education programs for all ages, and lead other programs. Also, give special attention to the role of your greeters—among other options, check out the UUA's Multicultural Welcome resource.

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Acknowledge and Respect Individuals and Families ~ Accord full acknowledgment and respect to each person and family, as defined by the person/family. This includes the definition of pledging units, listings in the directory, family events, and all other aspects of congregational life.

Take time to ask how individuals and families prefer to be acknowledged and referred to, rather than assuming things like family structure, preferred gender pronouns, and labels and other words people use to refer to themselves. If your services include a time for people to participate as a family, invite families of all descriptions to take a turn in that part of the service: single people, single people with children, same and mixed gender couples with and without children, families of choice, etc.

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Avoid Assumptions ~ Avoid making assumptions about the sexual orientation or gender identity of any of your members, visitors, or children, and be open to challenges to assumptions that you do make. Take time to ask, and then always respect, each person’s identity, self-labels, and pronoun preferences.

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Take Intentional Steps Toward Transgender, Bisexual, and Queer Welcome ~ Do education around the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, and take intentional steps toward transgender welcome and inclusion, as well as bisexual and queer welcome and inclusion. For example, avoid dividing people into two genders in practice or in language. Avoid assuming all people are gay or straight, or that you can tell a person's sexual orientation by their partner. Prioritize education about gender diversity and non-binary sexual orientations, whether through Sunday services, film screenings, workshops, small group ministry, religious education programming, or more.

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Make LGBTQ Issues a Part of Your Worship ~ Hold services and sermons that address LGBTQ issues. Ask worship leaders to do supportive sermons or openly LGBTQ members, friends, and/or family members to contribute sermons or other elements. Invite community leaders or interfaith partners to lead or collaborate in worship around LGBTQ issues. Honor LGBTQ events such as Pride, Transgender Day of Remembrance, and National Coming Out Day. Regularly include diversity of families, sexual orientations, and gender identities in stories, readings, and other worship elements.

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Do Outreach and Public Witness Around LGBTQ Issues ~ There are a multitude of ways to take action and show your support for LGBTQ justice, no matter how small your congregation is or where you're located. Build relationships with LGBTQ groups or organizations in your area— ask them what they need and how you can help. If there are openly LGBTQ people in your congregation, respect their guidance and leadership. You can also read stories about LGBTQ welcome and social action from other congregations.

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Deepen Your Welcome Beyond Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity ~ Increasing your welcome of LGBTQ people is just one entry point into the conversation about how to truly be a Welcoming Congregation. LGBTQ people, like all people, have multifaceted identities. They are people of color, they are working class, they have disabilities, they are immigrants, they are children and youth and single parents and elders. Is your congregation a welcoming congregation to all of these people also? Emphasize the fact that all people are multifaceted and that all oppressions are interrelated—weave this into everything that your congregation does. Explore how homophobia and transphobia affect people with multiple oppressed identities differently.

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Queer 101: Identity, Inclusion, and Resources From the Unitarian Universalist Association’s LGBTQ Ministries Office

Over the last 50 years, language around sexuality and gender has shifted and changed in incredible ways. New words have been born; other words have changed meanings and usages. One of the more complex of these words is queer, a word that entered the language of sexuality and gender as a derogatory term but is now worn and embraced with pride by many.

Defining Queer Queer is a multi-faceted word that is used in different ways and means different things to different people. Here are some ways that queer is used today: • Queer (adj.): attracted to people of many genders. Although dominant culture tends to dictate that there are only two genders, gender is actually far more complex. Queer can be a label claimed by a person who is attracted to men, women, genderqueer people, and/or other gender nonconforming people.

• Queer (adj.): not fitting cultural norms around sexuality and/or gender identity/expression.

Similarly to the above, queer can be a label claimed by a person who feels that they personally don’t fit into dominant norms, due to their own gender identity/expression, their sexual practices, their relationship style, etc.

• Queer (adj.): non-heterosexual. Queer is sometimes used as an umbrella term to refer to all people with non-heterosexual sexual orientations or all people who are marginalized on the basis of sexual orientation.

• Queer (adj.): transgressive, revolutionary, anti-assimilation, challenging of the status quo. Many people claim the label queer as a badge of honor that has a radical, political edge. UU seminarian Elizabeth Nguyen has preached: “Queer, for many folks, is about resistance—resisting dominant culture’s ideas of ‘normal,’ rejoicing in transgression, celebrating the margins, reveling in difference, blessing ourselves.”

• Queer (n.): an epithet or slur for someone perceived to be gay or lesbian. Queer is still sometimes used as a derogatory term. Many people who have had the word queer used against them are understandably very uncomfortable with the word.

10 Ways to be More Welcoming and Inclusive of Queer People • Respect queer as a valid sexual orientation and identity label.

• If you personally have negative associations with the word queer, find ways to open yourself to new understandings of the word. Do personal, gentle, deep work in order to honor and respect those who use queer to describe themselves.

• Include the word queer in the language you use to talk about sexual orientation and gender identity: “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer” or “LGBTQ.” • Avoid making assumptions based on your perceptions of a person’s gender or the gender of the people they partner with—open yourself to the possibility that any person, of any age, might identify as queer.

• Learn more about queer identity on your own. You might start by reading at least two articles or books that increase your understanding of queer identity.

• Dominant culture teaches us to depend on dualisms; challenge yourself to eradicate dualisms from your language and your understanding of the world. Gay and straight, masculine and feminine, black and white: all dualisms obscure so many shades of grey, shades of queer, shades of androgyny and fluidity. Open yourself to this infinite variety.

• Use terms that encompass all genders rather than only two (e.g., “children” instead of “boys and girls”; “people” instead of “women and men”; “siblings,” “kindred,” or “brothers and sisters and siblings of all genders” instead of “brothers and sisters”).

• Expand the ways that sexual orientation is understood and discussed in your congregation beyond the idea that sexual orientation is a born-in, static trait. Although many people believe

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themselves to have been born lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or straight, others experience sexuality as fluid and changing throughout their lifetime. Honor this diversity of experience through the ways you talk and teach about sexual orientation.

Do continuing education for your congregation at large on bisexual and queer issues. See below for resource suggestions.

Queerness is often located at the margins. Consider how your congregation’s welcome, advocacy, witness, and/or service around LGBTQ issues can be more grounded in the experiences and needs of those who are most marginalized, such as queer and trans youth, queer and trans people of color, and undocumented queer and trans immigrants.

Inclusive Language Guidance From the Unitarian Universalist Association’s LGBTQ Ministries Office

“Examining and extending our language gives us a chance to broaden our definition of the word we.”

—Rev. Barbara Pescan Being a welcoming and inclusive community means consciously working to find ways to name, honor, and value experiences and identities that are usually minimized or devalued. It means uncovering our unconscious assumptions about what’s “normal” and who is present in our community, and opening ourselves to the possibility of greater diversity. In order for us each to feel welcome and included in faith communities, we need to see ourselves reflected and present in some way.

Using inclusive language does not just mean using affirming and nondiscrimination statements, although that is certainly a good first step. Inclusive language is mindful of the ways that our language often unconsciously makes assumptions about people and unintentionally reinforces dominant norms around gender, sexual orientation, race, class, ability/disability, age, and other identities and experiences. Here are a few things to be mindful around (in terms of checking the assumptions that language often carries): •

Recognizing diverse family formation ~ For example, not all families have a mom and a dad: consider “parent or caregiver” instead of “mom and dad,” get creative with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, etc.

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Using language that reflects what people call themselves ~ For example, taking the time to find out what labels or words a person or group uses for their identities and experiences rather than making assumptions, and always respecting the language a person uses to self-identify.

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Using “person-centered” language as a general rule ~ For example, when talking about groups you aren’t a member of, not using an identity as a stand-in for a person or a group: “people with disabilities” instead of “the disabled”; “transgender people” instead of “transgenders” or “the transgendered”; etc., remembering that any aspect of a person is just that: an aspect of a person.

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Choosing not to use language that assumes all people are heterosexual ~ For example, “partner” instead of husband/wife/spouse.

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Understanding and respecting the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity ~ For example, not saying “LGBT” if you are only talking about sexual orientation; not using “straight” as the opposite of “LGBT” (transgender people can be any sexual orientation, including straight); etc.

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Being intentional about representing diversity in stories and curricula ~ For example, representing a variety of family structures, races/ethnicities, gender identities and expressions, and sexual orientations in stories shared during services and in religious education for all ages.

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Using non-gendered words for the divine

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Using words that encompass all genders rather than only two ~ For example, “people of all genders” instead of “women and men”; “children” instead of “boys and girls”; “siblings” or “kindred” instead of “brothers and sisters.”

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Using language that does not assume a certain level of education ~ For example, not assuming that all people have graduated from high school and/or gone to college (or will go to college after high school); being mindful of the reading level of language used in services; etc.

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Using language that does not assume a certain level of financial means or certain sort of vocation ~ For example, not assuming that everyone present is employed, has a stable living situation, can afford to meet their basic needs, works a first shift job, etc.

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Avoiding negative or demeaning language for people with disabilities ~ For example, “people living with HIV/AIDS” rather than “AIDS victims”; “people who use wheelchairs” rather than “wheelchair-bound” or “someone confined to a wheelchair.”

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Queer Tips to Get Through the Holidays

By Brian Murphy, www.queertheology.com

The Holidays can be a really tough time for queer and trans people, especially for those of us who come from religious families. Whether this season means being alone or whether it means going back to be with your family of origin, putting plans in place to help you cope and get through the holidays is essential. Here are some things that have helped us! Feel free to add your ideas in the comments.

Brian says…

• Figure out friends you can call & text ~ When you’re stressed or scared or your family says or does something messed up and you need advice or just to vent, have a friend or two on standby that you can reach out to •

Set boundaries ~ You are allowed to take care of yourself. You are allowed to take care of yourself. You are allowed to take care of yourself. Too often we get the message that as LGBT it’s our responsibility to always be “on” — to always advocate for the cause, or to behave “properly,” or to keep the peace. We’re told that it’s our job to endure demonizing sermons and degrading misgenderings in the name of “dialogue” or whatever. But we don’t have to. We can set and maintain boundaries that keep us safe, happy, and healthy. You don’t have to go to the Christmas service at your awful childhood anti-gay church. You don’t have to explain how you know you’re a woman on the drive to your aunt’s house. Communicating your boundaries to your family ahead of time might work well for you or you can decide on them yourself and enforce them if folks bump up against them.

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You are allowed to take care of yourself. You are allowed to take care of yourself.

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Make time to be alone ~ These days, my family is wonderfully supportive and still I need some time to sneak away and just be myself. Spending time with lots of people can be exhausting and families that are not supportive can be extra exhausting. Make time to sit in bed and read a book; to get outside and go for a walk, run, or bike ride; or even to take a nap.

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Celebrate the holidays with your chosen family too ~ We’re told that spending time with our families of origin is the only “proper” way to spend the holiday. In some cities, like New York City, where I live, “Orphan Christmas” is a thing… friends who aren’t going home to their families gather together to celebrate. But getting together with close friends to celebrate a holiday shouldn’t need a qualifier… it can just be Christmas, or Thanksgiving, or Chanukah, or Kwanza. I consider many of my close friends to be part of my chosen family. We’re there for each other unconditionally. We’ve gone through periods of living together, sharing our food and belongings, and even sharing our money. We take each other to doctors visits and we help pay for each other’s surgeries. Remember to celebrate holidays with the people in your life who are supportive (even if that means hoping on a Google Hangout because they don’t live nearby).

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Celebrate the holidays with your chosen family too

Fr. Shay says…

• Sign up for a Twitter account ~ It’s been hugely helpful for me to be able to log into twitter and have a whole bunch of people I can reach out to. I use Twitter as a place to vent, to be around likeminded people, to ask for prayer, or to find stuff to make me laugh.

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Journal ~ I love being able to pull out my journal and just write. It’s a place where I don’t have to make sense. I don’t have to worry about being petty or angry or lashing out. I can write whatever I’m feeling and I always feel better afterwards.

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Have music and movies that make you feel good ~ Make a playlist of music you love and that makes you feel awesome. If you need to, step away for a bit and listen to your favorite song.

Bring some dvds to the Christmas party and put them on for distraction. Give yourself some breathing space.

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Celebrating holidays with unaffirming family? Create an exit strategy if you can ~ Have a friend call with an emergency. Say that you have to leave at a certain time. Give yourself permission to leave if things get too intense. You don’t have to stay super late. You can stay in a hotel instead of sleeping on your parents couch. Do what you need to do to give yourself the out you need.

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Best Practices for Religious, Faith and Spiritual Leaders This guideline aims to create a starting place for religious, faith and spiritual community leaders to deepen their own understanding of gender, gender inclusion and gender sensitivity when it comes to the incredibly important role they play in their congregates’ lives.

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Do your own work first. Map your own gender journey by reflecting on the following questions: 1. Can you remember a time when you were reprimanded for behavior that was perceived as “gender inappropriate?” What did the experience feel like?

What was your response? Were there other factors that impacted your experience? Explain.

2. Do you see/express male and female traits or both or neither in yourself?

Explain.

3. Have you become more open to traits of the “opposite” sex in yourself as you have become older? Or were you more open at earlier stages of your life?

4. How open have you become over time understanding someone else’s gender? Explain.

5. What role has your religion, faith or spirituality played in your understanding of gender? Explain.

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Take time to know and understand what gender expansive means. Learn the many ways gender expansive young people define their gender experience.

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Learn how young people define their gender in concert with the other identities they carry – family, race, class, and religion for example.

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Listen to the story of your practitioner and their family. Use the template above as a guide to uncover their story.

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Ask open-ended questions without passing judgment yet raising interest and demonstrating support. Affirm not shame. Listen not dismiss. Suggest not demand. Ask not assume.

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In your own ministry, become aware of how gendered language could be a deterrent for gender expansive young people. Open your congregation to normalizing gender diversity through your teaching and practice.

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Provide gender-inclusive training for all of your staff, including youth ministerial staff, deacons, and ushers, etc.

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www.genderspectrum.org • 510-788-4412 • info@genderspectrum.org

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Coming Out as Sacrament

By Rev. Mona West, Ph.D. A sacrament is an act that mediates the grace and mystery of God. Coming out is a sacrament for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) people of faith because it sets us on a lifelong path of manifesting God’s grace in our lives. Coming out is crucial to our spiritual development because it starts us on a journey of integrating our GLBT identity into our whole life. Or to say it another way: embracing our GLBT identity is an invitation to go deeper in our spiritual journey.

Coming to terms with being part of the GLBT community—acknowledging who we truly are and have been created to be—is one of those “break-in” moments in our spiritual life. Break-in moments are those moments of invitation that happen throughout our life in which we catch glimpses of something more, something bigger in which we participate. In those moments we catch glimpses of our own divine nature: the true authentic self that is the image of God in us.

This true self gets layered over with the ‘stuff’ of life. Our true self in God’s image gets covered up with a false self, made up of our fear, our defense mechanisms, and our survival techniques. For GLBT people, part of that false self is an identity we try to live into based on our conditioning in a heterosexist culture. We grow up with strong messages that are counter to our true self. We accumulate layers of the false self trying to fit into a heterosexist ideal. When we come out, we let go of this false image and we begin the process of making room for our true self to emerge—the true self that God intended. We are engaged in the work of transformation.

A Central Theme Chris Glaser, author of Coming Out as Sacrament, claims that coming out is the central theme in the lives of GLBT people. He indicates that the expression has had its own history in gay and lesbian culture. Before World War II, ‘coming out’ was an initiatory event in which a person was introduced to gay society. It wasn’t until the 1960s that coming out began to be associated with hiding one’s sexual orientation, most commonly referred to as ‘being in the closet.’1 For Glaser, coming out is a ‘unique sacrament—a rite of vulnerability that reveals the sacred’ in the lives of Queer people of faith.2 Glaser also claims that coming out is a central theme in scripture: Coming out is a theme in scripture in a way that homosexuality is not.

The latter has as few as five debatable references. But coming out is

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a recurring if not central theme of the Bible, easily recognizable to those familiar with the experience and process of coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or as family, friend, or advocate of someone who is. This links our own experience with that of our spiritual ancestors as well as opens us up to the universality of the life-giving and life-changing coming-out process for every human being. Just as coming out to God opens up the chosen or called in the Bible to God’s own coming out, so our vulnerability creates a welcome sanctuary for God’s self-disclosure.3 Glaser goes on to apply coming out as a hermeneutic for re-viewing scripture—a revisiting of familiar stories read through the lens of coming out. He identifies coming-out themes in such stories as the Garden of Eden (coming out of innocence and shame), the book of Exodus (coming out of oppression), the book of Esther (coming out of privilege), and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.1-42 (coming out as ourselves).4

A Profound Spiritual Process Lesbian feminist theologian and Episcopal priest Carter Heyward emphasizes that coming out is a process containing dynamic tension that is fruitful ground for both solidarity with others and the manifestation of the divine in the lives of GLBT people. She identifies a ‘profound theological tension’ between revelation and concealment that is at work not only in GLBT lives as we negotiate the closet, but in the nature of divine revelation itself: Because we cannot bear so much reality, G-d’s presence is often concealed from us: We do not realize what is good until we are ready to help generate the conditions for it. Yet the knowledge of G-d can be called forth. It is available to us whenever we are ready. What we do not see now also is important to our knowing and caring for ourselves, one another, and our relationships. Revelation—of divinity and of the fullness of humanity—is a matter of timing, of seasoning our capacities to risk seeing and showing forth our goodness when we are ready to live into what we see.

She continues: And in the hidden places of our lives, preparations can be made even now toward enabling us to respond to those kairotic moments in which the time will be right for us to open ourselves more fully to one another and to the larger world. Like bread, we are being prepared to rise.5 Heyward encourages those of us who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender to recognize that our coming out has a profound impact on ourselves and others.

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She calls us to be accountable and honest about the ways owning our sexuality brings us into ‘right relation’ with the world.

Therapist Kathleen Ritter and Catholic priest Craig O’Neill draw from their years of working with gay and lesbian clients to offer yet another model of coming out as a spiritual process. In their book, Coming Out Within: Stages of Spiritual Awakening for Lesbians and Gay Men, they apply an eight-stage loss model to coming-out stories. Ritter and O’Neill claim that coming out involves letting go or losing a falsely constructed heterosexual life image.6 Their model of loss includes the stages of initial awareness, holding on, letting go, awareness of loss, gaining perspective, integrating loss, reformulating loss, and transforming loss.7 They claim that moving through this loss process provides profound psychological and spiritual healing. Ultimately it is a process that leads from death to life: For centuries, gay men and lesbians have lived with death, both psychic and physical. In earlier cultures, they were accorded the role of “midwives” or companions for those who were dying to a new birth . Today, people of same-gender orientation are still very much the outsiders of the culture, and their alienation once again puts them in a unique position to choose for themselves a qualitatively different life image. In other words, having little to lose in terms of status, respectability, or prestige, they can begin to see themselves as having been released from society’s strictures. Losses can become gains, and deaths can become resurrections.8 Coming out is a process that involves not only acknowledgment of one’s sexual orientation, but also an integration of one’s sexuality into life.

Coming Out, Coming In There is another layer of coming out implied but not named in these various multi-stage models: coming out spiritually. As Ritter and O’Neill mention, Queer people have a rich heritage as spiritual people. For many, part of the coming-out process includes claiming that heritage. Christian de la Huerta describes the spiritual history of GLBT people as shamans, priests, healers, gobetweens, two-spirited people, and keepers of beauty.9 De la Huerta claims that coming out also involves coming in—GLBT people discovering their true spiritual selves.

Coming out spiritually is not only reclaiming GLBT spiritual history for ourselves, but for many it is risking being identified as a spiritual person within the gay and lesbian community. There is an irony here: GLBT people of faith risk ridicule and rejection by the heterosexual community and our traditional religious communities when we claim our sexual orientation, and we risk ridicule and rejection by our own community when we claim our spiritual identities. De la www.mccchurch.org

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Huerta quotes a lesbian minister who experienced this irony: It is still not ‘fashionable’ to be a queer person of faith . [I] feared being considered a traitor by the very community I loved the most.

For many of us, it’s still our secret that we believe in something. It’s still our secret that we practice and that we go to church. We’re apologetic about it. We’re just as afraid to come out as spiritual people among queer folk as we are to come out as queer among straight folk.10

A Biblical Coming Out Story One of the most powerful coming out stories in all of scripture is the story of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt, found in the second book of the Bible: Exodus. This story demonstrates how a diverse group of people called Hebrews came out of their bondage and slavery by saying yes to God’s offer of liberation. Their saying yes to God and risking an unknown future set them on a path of transformation. When they came out of Egypt they were literally transformed into the people of God. (Exodus 19:3-6) This new identity did not happen overnight for the Hebrews, nor did it happen the minute they crossed the Red Sea. This new identity was the product of gradual transformation as the Hebrews learned through the ups and downs of the wilderness what it meant to live fully into this new way of being.

When the Hebrews came out of Egypt, they shed an old identity and began embracing a new identity in relation to the God who had delivered them and called them out. There were times they became afraid in the wilderness— the unknown territory of their new identity. Often they were so afraid that they wanted to go back to their familiar old closets of slavery. (Exodus 16:1-3) Eventually they make it to the land God had promised them and they are charged

by God to continue to tell their coming out story. (Exodus 12:24-27) The Hebrews (now called Israelites) kept the story of the Exodus (coming out) alive through its telling and retelling so that future generations could participate in its power and reality.

This story has important spiritual lessons for GLBT people of faith who embrace their coming out as sacrament. God calls us out; to live authentic lives as GLBT people and when we say yes to God we are set on a life-long path of transformation. We leave the old identity of the closet behind, and when we are afraid of the sometimes unknown territory of our new identity, we are invited just like the Hebrews, to trust God’s leading on this journey.

Coming out is a sacrament and the most powerful aspect of sacrament is the ability for many to participate in that power. So, as GLBT people of faith, let us continue to tell our coming out stories so that present and future generations can participate in their power and reality.

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LGBT Activism as Ministry

By Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel, Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry

During the 2009 Earl Lectures and Leadership Conference at Pacific School of Religion, CLGS was pleased to host a luncheon and welcomed the Rev. Rebecca Voelkel as the speaker. Rev. Voelkel, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, serves as the Director of the Institute for Welcoming Resources at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

It seems somehow appropriate that as the Earl Lectures this year examine emerging models of church, I begin by telling you how my life was changed by television. So much of what I am going to share with you today, began with Little House on the Prairie. Do you remember that show from the 1970’s? It was set in Minnesota and South Dakota and chronicled the life of a young woman, Laura Ingalls Wilder who was played by Melissa Gilbert. Well, one of the early telltale signs of my orientation was a huge crush on Laura Ingalls Wilder. (I watched faithfully every week to see my shero tackle yet another daunting task of life on the prairie.)

In 1983, Melissa Gilbert starred in a made-for-TV movie entitled “Choices of the Heart.” “Choices of the Heart” told the story of Jean Donovan, one of the four US Churchwomen who was raped and murdered in El Salvador in 19801 by US-backed Salvadoran death squads. That movie changed the course of my life. All the admiration and love I felt for Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls Wilder, I transferred to Jean Donovan. And it led me to read every book I could find on her-- biographies, books on Archbishop Oscar Romero—whose assassination nine months before Jean’s had greatly impacted her ministry, and liberation theology from the Latin American context.

Jean’s life story and the subsequent consciousness I gained from the passion I felt for her, led me to sign the “Pledge of Resistance,” a document whose signatories promised to resist if the US ever invaded El Salvador. It led me to start a chapter of Amnesty International at my high school, host a conference on “Children of War” and participate in the “Sanctuary Movement.” And, in 1987, as a first year student in college, it led me to participate in an “accompaniment” trip to El Salvador. As I have reflected on this, I am aware that, in my own life at least, my passions have an expansive quality to them. That is to say, that my love of another person is connected to my love of their life circumstances and that these are connected to my deep desire to make this kind of love and justice in the world. For me, desire and passion are deeply personal, but they have led me, over and over again, to desire and passion and love and justice out in the world.

One of my most profound experiences of this expansive quality of desire and passion was that trip I made to El Salvador in 1987 as part of the “Accompaniment Movement.” The accompaniment movement grew out of the desire, on the part of North Americans, to support the efforts of Salvadoran refugees returning home from Mesa Grande and other refugee camps outside of El Salvador. The refugees had fled in 1983 in the wake of “Operation Phoenix” the US-supported offensive of the Salvadoran National Guard whose motto was, “the guerillas are like the fish, the people like the sea. If we dry up the sea, we can find the fish.” The strategy was to drop thousands of tons of bombs on the Salvadoran countryside and then have soldiers move in and wreak havoc, terror and death.

In the early 1980’s, Santa Marta had been a village of about 4000. Operation Phoenix killed about 3000 of these folks and the remaining 1000 fled into Honduras and lived there, in a refugee camp, for four years. In October of 1987, the survivors took diapers, towels and anything else that was white and could be held up as a flag of peace and walked back into El Salvador to the place that had been their village.

There they were joined by North Americans whose presence was meant to keep the Salvadoran army from killing the villagers because the army didn’t want the US population to be made aware of what was happening in El Salvador. (They’d learned their lesson in 1980 when Jean Donovan and her three colleagues were killed. The US had cut off aid for a few months.)

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I was part of the delegation that spent a week in Santa Marta over Christmas, 1987. During that trip, I asked one of the women how it was that she was able to come back to El Salvador and protest the government and not be terrified. In response, she said to me. “I have lost five of my children to this civil war. One of them, my oldest son, I witnessed being tortured to death. I have been able to survive because I know that in Jesus Christ, God knows in His body what it means to be tortured to death. So my son did not die alone, but being held in God’s arms. And in the resurrection, God has said, once and for all, that life and love are stronger than death. So, it doesn’t matter what they try to do to me. Even if they kill me, I know that God will resurrect me. And that makes me powerful.”

Now, I am a double—PK (both of my folks are pastors), and I have heard a lot of sermons over the course of my life. Many of them have been brilliant. But no one has spoken more powerfully about the meaning of what God has done in Jesus Christ than that fearless, powerful Salvadoran woman. And to her, I owe the debt of my faith. Her words taught me that faith is not something that is practiced once or twice a week as an optional activity, but is, instead, literally necessary for survival. Furthermore, faith is that which compels us to act to make the world more like God would have it to be: just and abundant and joyous. When I returned home from El Salvador, I continued to do a lot of work with the Central American solidarity movement. I learned Spanish; I went to Nicaragua and Mexico and lived in Christian Base communities; and I began a formal study of liberation theologies. All of it remains etched in my person and continues to shape my ministry.

One of the ways my Central American experience continues to inform and inspire me is that it was the context that emboldened me to come out as a lesbian. Because I was interacting with women and men who were fearless, I was called to face my own fears. And, at the time, my deepest fear was my own internalized homo and trans-phobia. Although I grew up in a UCC context with parents who were very support of lgbtqqi people, I knew that there were many, many barriers that would stand in my way if I were to name both my growing awareness of my sexual orientation and my desire to pursue ordained ministry. But the words kept echoing in my heat and mind—faith isn’t a convenience, it is necessary for survival…If that were true, I was going to have to accept both of the calls God had placed on my heart— that of ministry and that of loving women.

I share all of this with you because, for me, given my own life experiences and the debt I owe to those who have embodied God for me, it is impossible to separate my call to ministry, my coming out as lesbian and my understanding of God’s desire to have us participate in making the world more like God would have it to be. And the fact is, that in such a world, justice is about non-violence AND it is about an abundance of food AND it is about universal access to health care AND it is about creating a space so that the gifts of all are shared—including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. So, this is the beginning place for me as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ who finds her vocation as an lgbt activist: 1. Passion and desire are deeply important. They are not uncomplicated and we must always be aware of their capacity for destruction. But when our passion and desire for creation, for connection, for love and justice are embodied, we are called into powerful relationships and ministries. And there exists a dialectic between the passions and desires between two people for love and justice and the passions and desires for all peoples for love and justice. I can say more about this, but I think this is one of the charisms of the lgbt community—that we have named and called out this dialectic between love and justice between two people, and love and justice amongst all people. (I can also say more about the fact that, because one of our charisms has to do with sexuality and embodiment—which are VERY powerful spiritual forces that can be used for both destructive and creative purposes, we also, as an lgbtqqi community, need to be very careful about creating spaces to name the power of destruction, face into it and transform it.)

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2. Our faith in God, when it is deep enough, can embolden us to face into our deepest fears. When we claim the power of the solidarity of God—in the worst oppression and violence—and the power of God— to transform even degradation into new life—we can literally participate in hearkening the Realm of God. 3. Because God calls us to participate in making the world as God would envision it—abundant, joyous and just—we cannot pretend that our movements are separate from one another. Thus, my work as an activist for lgbtqqi justice is indebted to and has wisdom to offer, every other manifestation of gospel work. So that’s my starting point. Those are my assertions and the place out of which I operate. These, in and of themselves, offer some ideas about the ways in which I understand lgbt activism as ministry.

But let me offer a few more, which I hope will spur some good conversation and dialogue.

4. The very topic we are reflecting on together, assumes that lgbt activism and ministry might be different things. And, indeed, I am a bit of an odd duck—working for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force as an ordained minister. I get a lot of ponderous looks from all sides when I share this information. From my Association of the United Church of Christ, I have to submit paperwork every year to keep my “Four-Way Covenant” current and explain how it is that what I’m doing is an “ordainable” call. How am I a minister of Word and Sacrament? What is my ministry? How does it all go together? From my secular colleagues— who, by the way, call me “Rev.”—I get a range of responses. One of my colleagues has, with a tremendous amount of respect, said that she views what I do in much the same way as her colleagues who are Log Cabin Republicans (lgbt folks working within the Republican party). We are both working in institutions that are, in her estimation, irredeemable. Several of my colleagues talk about the work that I do as important, but name the reality that the vast majority of folks within the lgbt community have been literally scarred by the Church. (At a recent Gay Christian Network conference, a colleague met with a young man who has castrated himself because his minister had told him to do so.) They question if any good can come from this institution. And some of my colleagues talk with me on the side, coming out as religious but not wanting other of our colleagues to know. Each of these positions represents part of the truth about lgbt activism as ministry. My United Church of Christ Association colleagues are right— ministry is often defined as within a parish. And those of us who minister outside the parish—and who often seek to speak prophetically TO the parish—need to be articulate and clear as to how our work is ministry. And my secular colleagues are right. As one who comes bearing the sign and symbols of the Church, I must always be mindful of the death-dealing, the oppression, the brutality and the torture that has been done in the name of Christianity. If I forget this (and I only need look at the Prop 8 campaign ads inferring pedophilia, the treatment of those at Guantanamo Bay and the abuse of women by husbands who hold their Bibles high), if I forget this, I act as a perpetrator myself. So lgbtqqi activism as ministry calls me to stand in a liminal space—holding seemingly contradictory things in tension. But, I understand that one’s definition of ministry is related to one’s understanding of ecclesiology. As a former parish pastor, I take very seriously that form of ministry. It is truly an honor and a sacred responsibility. Gathering as the Body of Christ to worship and praise, to re-member our vocation and to break bread together on a weekly basis are absolutely central to my understanding of Church and ministry. As I read Scripture, there is very little about individual spirituality, instead, there is a large focus on the People of God and the Body of Christ. Matthew 25 clearly addresses nations, not individuals. So, gathering as communities of faith is, in my opinion, critical. And parish ministry is sacred work. But it is not the only form and role of being Church or being pastor. Jesus spent very little time inside the Temple.

His was a ministry in the streets and in peoples’ homes. His was a vocation of speaking to the powers of his day. And, as I’ve shared, my own life of faith and ministry has been profoundly shaped by those who minister beyond the walls of the Church.

5. The lgbtqqi community is still a much denigrated community—one small example is this past Transgender Day of Remembrance in which we honored the three transgender women who were executed in Iraq last year and many of the trans folks murdered here at home. Because of this denigration, we have had to find ways to survive and thrive. One of these has been through “chosen family.” Like the understanding of passion and desire as both personal and communal, I think “chosen family” is a charism of the lgbtqqi community and that we have much to remind the Christian community

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about because of it. When lgbtqqi folks are rejected by biological or adoptive families, or when we are needing to find deep connection, we often form “chosen family.” These sacred friendships form the space in which we raise our children, share meals, nurse our partners through breast cancer and HIV/AIDS and generally embody God’s love for one another. As I read the gospels and even the epistles, it is community and chosen family that I see lifted up as the way in which we are called to live. The lgbtqqi community has much to remind the larger community with this charism. (Parenthetically, it is because of this, that I struggle sometimes with the marriage equality movement. Practically, I understand that marriage has always been the carrier for the oppressions of the day and that the attempt to limit marriage to one man and one woman is the manifestation of misogyny, heterosexism and homo- and transphobia. I also know that marriage is an economic justice issue—especially for immigrant and working class lgbtqqi folks. And so I have been very active in the marriage equality movement. But I have been torn in my heart of hearts—first as a feminist and one who’s worked in the anti-domestic violence movement and second as one who sees the particular charism of the lgbtqqi community as reminding us of community and chosen family as sacred models of human love.)

6. Another charism of the lgbtqqi community that is deeply related to the desire and passion piece has to do with sabbath practice. One of the main criticisms I get from my Christian colleagues is that lgbtqqi work is not as important as other justice issues. It is secondary at best and indulgent at worst. But as part of my work, I have been doing quite a bit of reflection on the Ten Commandments. And I keep returning to some related themes. If you notice in the Ten Commandments, the ability to not kill, to honor one’s mother and father, to not covet one’s neighbor’s ass—all of these flow out of keeping Sabbath. In Scripture, Sabbath—which is practiced every seven days, is connected to sabbatical—which is practiced every seven years, is connected to Jubilee which is practiced every seven times seven years. Sabbath practice is deeply connected to Jubilee—which is the re-instatement of economic justice and abundance for all. But Sabbath practice isn’t just about gathering the community for worship and prayer—both of which are deeply important. It is also about mind-body-spirit connection. It is about enough rest, it is about eating good food. And it is about healthy sexuality. In most Jewish communities, sex on the Sabbath is seen as a blessing. Of course, we can hardly conceive of this kind of understanding, given all that has been built around sexuality within Christian communities. But as a community whose charism it is to lift up sexuality and gender and embodiment, the lgbtqqi community can help remind the Church about our spiritual roots. We can remind our weary, over-caffeinated, exhausted to the point of violence Christian community and world about healthy sabbath practice, including healthy sexuality. And we can remind us all that it is healthy sabbath practice, including healthy sexuality, that allows us to move in the world as ones who honor mother and father, who share extravagantly of our gifts and as ones who witness for non-violence and justice. Two final observation as one whose ministerial vocation is as an lgbt activist.

7. The Book of Acts is a somewhat fantasy view of what the early Church at least should have been, if not what it was like. In it, there are many stories, but three are worth lifting up. They are the Pentecost story, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch, and the story of Peter and Cornelius. The Pentecost story deals with the question of who’s in and who’s out in the early Church. Is it just Jews from Jerusalem? In answer to the question, the Holy Spirit is poured out as Jews from all over the Mediterranean are gathered—Jews of all different races and cultures and languages. All of those gathered, though speaking in a myriad of languages, understand each other. In a reversal of the story of Babel, all Jews, no matter their country of origin, are welcome. All are understood and understand.

And then a bit later, when Philip encounters a eunuch from Northern Africa, he is convicted by the obvious presence of the Holy Spirit in the man. Now, as you know, eunuchs were sexual minorities in their day. And this man was also a gentile, a non-Jew. Philip is faced with a dilemma—even as he feels and knows the Holy Spirit in this person, he is conflicted because he is not a Jew. Can someone join the Church who is not a Jew? Again—who’s allowed in, who’s not? And again, the answer is—we cannot deny the presence of the Spirit and we must allow him in. Finally, in the encounter between Peter and Cornelius, the question of who is in, who is out. Peter’s dream teaches him that it is not what goes into a person, but what emanates from her or him that makes a person clean. Cornelius is in. The fact that

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these stories form part of the core of the story of the early Church tells us much about how we are called to act. Each of these stories illustrates the Church’s opportunity to either be faithful—and extravagantly welcoming—or to turn away from their mission. I believe—especially as I work with many, many congregations who grapple with the question of being welcoming and affirming of lgbtqqi folks—that we are facing a modern day illustration of the same question. And the stakes are no less high. Will the church be the church? Will the church live up to its mission of extravagant welcome? It is this question, this opportunity, this challenge that the Church faces today. And the reality is that congregations that say yes to extravagant welcome learn the same lessons that the early Church did. That radical hospitality invites a kind of new life that wasn’t present before it. Welcoming and affirming congregations do better financially, on average, then their counterparts who aren’t welcoming and affirming. Congregations that are welcoming and affirming are more likely to be involved in other social justice movements. And the welcoming and affirming process allows a kind of speaking truth—about each of our individual lives, about our faith, about our fears, about our desires—that does, indeed, set us free.

8. As an lgbtqqi activist, I learn from and draw strength from other great social justice movements. They are not the same, but their spiritual wisdom has much to teach us. In particular, they have much to teach about the unique, and deeply Christian work of non-violent transformation. In the book Gandhi and Jesus: The Saving Power of Non-violence, Terrence J. Rynne lifts up the fact that there are four major movements that have radically transformed their societies through the use of Gandhian non-violence.

They are the Civil Rights movement in this country, the Solidarity movement in Poland, the movement that deposed Marcos in the Philippines and the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. In each of these, people of faith were at the core and the ministry and methodology of Jesus were woven throughout the movements. The key to this Gandhian/Jesus approach is that of recognizing the humanity of all involved in any given situation. Both the oppressor AND the oppressed have their humanity devastated. To transform the situation of oppression is to liberate all involved. This recognition of the humanity of all means that that which is created beyond the dismantling of the oppression has the possibility to be life-giving, not just a change in who is oppressor and who is oppressed. For the lgbtqqi movement—particularly the religious lgbtqqi community—this Gandhian/Jesus wisdom can be a guiding light.

Our daughter, Shannon, just turned two a week ago. These past two years, plus the nine months of pregnancy, have taught me incredible lessons about the God I love and the ministry to which I am called.

Perhaps one of the most important lessons comes every night as we are going to bed. Either my partner, Maggie, or I sit in a chair in Shannon’s room and read and talk about Shannon’s day with her. And then, gradually, she will begin to relax. When she’s ready to sleep, she’ll turn around, take my face in her little hands and give me a squeeze or say “I ove you.” Then she’ll wrap her arms around by my neck and put her head on my shoulder to sleep. She knows in her body about love. And I want to help make a world in which she never has to forget that.

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AN OPEN LETTER TO RELIGIOUS LEADERS ON SEXUAL AND GENDER DIVERSITY This Open Letter provides a theological framework in and transgender people (LGBT), along with a support of sexual and gender diversity.

It was developed at a colloquium of theologians sponsored by the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing. Participants included Rev. Steve Clapp, Christian Community; Ann Thompson Cook, God Loves Each One Ministry; Rev. Marvin M. Ellison, Ph.D., Bangor Theological Seminary; Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, Union for Reform Judaism; Rev. Horace L. Griffin, Ph.D., The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church; Rev. Debra W. Haffner, Director, Religious Institute; Mary E. Hunt, Ph.D., WATER; Rev. Dr. Jay Emerson Johnson, Pacific School of Religion Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry; Rev. Barbara K. Lundblad, Union Theological Seminary; Dr. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, William Paterson University; Rev. Irene Monroe, Harvard Divinity School; Timothy Palmer, Religious Institute; Dr. Judith Plaskow, Manhattan College; Rev. Michael D. Schuenemeyer, United Church of Christ Wider Church Ministries; and Rev. Dr. William G. Sinkford, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

As religious leaders, we affirm sexual and gender diversity as gifts people offer to their congregations and communities. We urgently call for faith-based approaches that embrace this diversity and advocate justice.

Living in a time of rapid social change challenges us all to create loving, respectful relationships and to honor the many ways that people live and love. While most of us may be accustomed to categorizing people as male or female, heterosexual or homosexual, binary thinking fails to reflect the full diversity of human experience and the richness of creation.

The courageous witness of lesbian, gay, bisexual 34

growing body of social and scientific research, inspire us to affirm sexual and gender diversity as a blessed part of life.

Lamentation Too many religious institutions have failed to embrace sexual and gender diversity. Some have mistakenly called homosexuality sinful when the real issue is heterosexism or the unjust privileging of heterosexuality. Heterosexism devalues gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, just as sexism and male privilege devalue women.

Silence, misinformation, and condemnation of differing sexual and gender identities have created despair, destroyed relationships, and led to violence, suicide, and even murder. Sexual and gender oppression can no longer be portrayed as virtuous and morally defensible.

Scripture and Tradition At the center of our traditions is the Biblical mandate to love, do justice, seek equality, and act with compassion. The richness of our sacred texts allows for a variety of interpretations, and there is room for legitimate and respectful disagreement about the meaning of specific passages. However, using the Bible to exclude or attack people violates the very spirit of our traditions and is morally unconscionable.

Sacred texts provide moral wisdom and challenge, but some passages may also conflict with contemporary ethical insights. As we move toward a more just society, we approach our texts and traditions with fresh questions and new

AN OPEN LETTER TO RELIGIOUS LEADERS ON SEXUAL AND GENDER DIVERSITY

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understandings. For example, biblical texts that condone slavery, regard women as property, forbid divorce, or equate disease with divine retribution can no longer be regarded as authoritative. We honor instead those texts and traditions that invite us to welcome the stranger, love our neighbor as ourselves, and view all people as created in God’s image. Even so, we cannot rely exclusively on scripture or tradition for understanding sexual and gender diversity today. We must also pay attention to the wisdom of excluded, often silenced people, as well as to findings from the biological and social sciences.

• Encourage their congregations to engage the formal welcoming program of their denomination.

A Call to Religious Leaders

• Develop partnerships with community and national organizations that promote justice and health for LGBT persons.

As religious leaders, we have an obligation to create a world that embraces the diversity of God’s creation.

We urge religious leaders to: • Educate themselves and their faith communities on the diversity of human sexualities and gender identities through age-appropriate sexuality education.

• Work within their denominations and multi-faith organizations for sexual justice and the full inclusion of LGBT persons, including ordination, family recognition and rites of passage.

• Publicly advocate for the civil rights of LGBT persons, including antidiscrimination laws, marriage equality, and access to health care.

• Acknowledge and support religious leaders, individuals, and communities who have, at great cost, embraced the diversity of sexualities and gender identities.

In Closing There can be no turning back from the goal of the full participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in our faith traditions and communities. We recognize that this work may challenge beliefs and unsettle relationships, but it goes to the heart of our mission as faith communities: to create the conditions so that each person can flourish. Loving, just communities embrace everyone; they are strengthened when all people are able to live fully and express their gender and sexuality with holiness and integrity. We celebrate sexual and gender diversity as a blessing that enriches all.

• Obtain training and support to address the pastoral needs of congregants on issues related to sexual and gender diversity, such as the birth of an intersexed child, the coming-out process of a youth or adult, or an individual who is transitioning genders.

• Use the pulpit and public podium to acknowledge the complex realities of personal experience, including family and relational diversity, and to condemn discrimination and violence.

AN OPEN LETTER TO RELIGIOUS LEADERS ON SEXUAL AND GENDER DIVERSITY

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***from the Religious Institute’s A Time to Seek: Study Guide on Sexual and Gender Diversity***

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Religious Resources Roundup Below are some LGBTQ faith resources in the Athens Area • LGBT Center … www.ohio.edu/lgbt • United Campus Ministry … www.ucmathens.org • Hillel at Ohio University … http://ohiohillel.publishpath.com • Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Athens … http://uuathensoh.org • Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church … www.clcathens.org • First Presbyterian Church of Athens … http://athensfpc.org • First United Methodist Church … www.firstumcathens.org • Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd … www.chogs.org/index.html

National Resource Roundup The listing below is far from being an exhaustive list, however, it provides a good starting point for individuals interested in the dynamics of faith, religion, gender, identity, expression, and sexuality.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Affirmations (Mormon) Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists Believe Out Loud Call To Action (Catholic) Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry Coalition of LGBT Concerns (UCC) Dignity USA (Catholic) Emergence International (Christian Science) Equally Blessed (Catholic) Faith and Equality Fellowship of the Spiral Path (Pagan/Neo-pagan) Fortunate Families (Catholic) Friends for LGBTQ Concerns (Quaker) Gay and Lesbian Vaishnava Association (Vaishnava and Hindu) GLAAD – Religion, Faith, and Values GLAD Alliance (Disciples of Christ) Human Rights Campaign - Religion and Faith Imaan: LGBTQI Muslim Support Group Institute of Welcoming Resources Integrity (Episcopalian) Interfaith Alliance Jewish Community Federation – LGBT Coalition

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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Jewish Mosaic – National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity Kinship International (Seventh Day Adventist) LGBT Humanist Council LGBT Religious Archives Network Metropolitan Community Churches More Light Presbyterians Muslims for Progressive Values National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality New Ways Ministry (Catholic) Other Sheep: Multicultural Ministries with Sexual Minorities Queer Muslim Working Group Reconciling Ministries Network (United Methodist) Reconciling Works (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) Religious Institute Ritual Well Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Soulforce Standing on the Side of Love The Evangelical Network The Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity TransFaith Online / TransFaith Institute