“Closetedness,” or being “in the closet,” is when persons of LGBTQIA identity live without disclosing their sexual orientation or gender identity. When a person is born with a penis or vagina, society designates them as male and female respectively along with gender specified roles. However, the gender or sex assigned at birth may not accord with one’s gender preference or sexual orientation.
Society assumes a perverted understanding of the LGBTQIA community based on how they perform physical and sexual activities. Thus, fails to see their ever-present inner turmoil. Even genuine love-based relationships that the LGBTQIA community encompasses are blatantly ignored and disregarded by society due to cultural and religious beliefs, ignorance, or homo/transphobic attitudes. Such discrimination through public and religious institutions, result in the oppression of LGBTQIA persons’, pushing them to remain closeted and ostracized everyone around. Some LGBTQIA persons choose celibacy to escape overt and covert discrimination; some hide their relationships, some go through forced marriages, while some others give-up living.
During my B.D days, I had several discussions with colleagues and friends on homosexuality, mostly because of assignments. I observed that students would write and talk about being in solidarity with the LGBTQIA community in their papers. Nevertheless, outside the class or paper, being LGBTQIA was still treated as a sin. For many it is all about, “Love the sinner, and hate the sin.”
Society, and seminarians, in particular, ought to move beyond solidarity talk and accept friends identifying themselves as LGBTQIA persons. By accepting, I mean affirming them wholly, seeing them as ordinary people, ordaining them, allowing same-sex marriage, giving them equal opportunities, jobs and leadership positions in Church and in the society and quintessentially affirming the non-binary LGBTQIA as a normal discerning process identity.
To reiterate, being gay/lesbian/queer is not a sin. If we still think that the Bible is condemning homosexuality/Queerness, we are reading the Bible wrong. Due to misinterpretation of the Bible, the church that is supposed to be a welcoming community has become toxic, judgmental, and non-Christ-like. When we believe that Christ came to challenge us, we should also believe that Christ overturned everything we knew of our binary understanding of the world. A baby should be conceived because of sex. But Christ overturned that notion and was conceived by the Holy Spirit. It was always birth and death, but Christ was resurrected; radically flipping our understanding of life and death. A person can either be fully divine or fully human, but Christ was fully divine and fully human. If Christ challenged the binaries, who are we to live in a world of our binary understanding of sexual identity?
The problem is not the persons from the LGBTQIA community being in the closet but rather the homo/transphobic attitude that coerces people of LGBTQIA identities to remain closeted. Society might condemn, judge, and ostracize the LGBTQIA community, but God is present in the closets that is perceived as dirty. However, the question remains, if we believe in such a God, then why not accept the LGBTQIA persons? Come, let us make our space a welcoming space for all.
Prayer
Loving God enable us to be more Christ-like and walk with the so-called “other” in this broken world. Help us each put to those who remain hidden for fear of being condemned so that they too might live wholly. Grant us the courage to resist all forms of injustice and become one in you. Amen.
Author: Gloria Venuh
About the Author: Gloria completed her B.D from United Theological College and is currently doing Master of Arts in Theological Studies, Columbia Theological Seminary, Georgia Atlanta.
I strongly condemn this article. The Bible says in multiple occassions that homosexuality is a sin. And it can't be a wrong translation at so many places. I request you to stop spreading a false message. God has always condemned homosexuality be it short-term or long-term. Once again I request you to trust Bible as authority more than any other theological material. We are going to stand in judgement one day and we will be accountable to Him for how we have twisted His word. Let us all be aware of that. I pray for you to see the truth & stop this false agenda.
ReplyDeleteWe can be loving to such people. I mean let's not make them outcasts. Because Jesus came for the sick. So we need to reach them. But the fact remains that they are sick spiritually. We need to reach out to them, but we cannot accept them as they are. We need to show them love, but we cannot accept their ways. We need to tell them the gospel, not change the Bible to please them.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible never condemns homosexuality. The word Homosexual wasn’t even used until 19th century. It’s some English translations that uses the word homosexual. The original text in Hebrew and Greek does not. It does condemn same sex sexual activity that is related to idolatry, religious rites and rituals, abuse of young boys by men, temple prostitution but not same sex per se.
ReplyDeleteNow adultery is condemned in heterosexual relationships too but that doesn’t mean that heterosexual relationship is condemned. Likewise, same sex sexual act related to abuse and ritual is condemned but that doesn’t mean that same sex relationship is condemned.
As always, this is a sensitive topic where people strongly support or oppose LGBTQIA based on their belief system or their level of understanding ethics. Discrimination and condemnation is not only targeted towards the LGBTQIA community but even within religious sects or between different faiths. While Christians claim that their God is the only true God, the Muslims claim the same and so does the Buddhists and Hindus who believe in the path laid before them as the only way to attain salvation or eternal bliss and become one with the creator. My point is that nobody has the authority to say that someone else is going to burn in hell just because they don't agree with your belief system. As humans, we are all equal and that is the ultimate truth. Just as a Christian would never convert to Islam or Hinduism because of believing strongly in Christ, you cannot expect a Muslim or Hindu to simply convert to Christianity while they still belief and accept the teachings of Hinduism or Islam as the truth. In the same way, we cannot condemn LGBTQIA folks out there while we sit on our high horse and forget that God is the only judge. Difficult times are coming and we have to be compassionate rather than judging others based on our knowledge of things alone.
ReplyDeleteVery bold article and I just loved it..Don't worry about others keep up ur good work..
ReplyDeleteI loved this article mainly because of how straightforward it is. Thank you for your good work!
ReplyDelete