Christian churches represented at apride parade inOakland, California, United States
Christian denominations have a variety of beliefs aboutsexual orientation, including beliefs about same-sex sexual practices. Denominations differ in the way they treat lesbian, bisexual, gay, orqueer people; variously, such people may be barred from membership, accepted as laity, or ordained asclergy, depending on the denomination.
Following the lead of Yale scholarJohn Boswell, it has been argued that a number of early Christians (such asSaints Sergius and Bacchus) entered into homosexual relationships,[14] and that certain Biblical figures had homosexual relationships, despite Biblical injunctions against sexual relationships between members of the same sex. Examples cited areRuth and her mother-in-lawNaomi,Daniel and the court official Ashpenaz, and, most famously,David and KingSaul's sonJonathan.[15]
The story ofDavid and Jonathan has been described as "biblical Judeo-Christianity's most influential justification ofhomoerotic love".[16] The relationship between David and Jonathan is mainly covered in theOld Testament FirstBook of Samuel, as part of the story of David's ascent to power. The mainstream view found in modern biblical exegesis argues that the relationship between the two is merely a closeplatonicfriendship.[17][18] However, a few have interpreted the love between David and Jonathan as romantic or sexual.[19][20][21][22] Although David was married (to many women), he articulates a distinction between his relationship with Jonathan and the bonds he shares with women.
Another biblical hero,Noah, best known for his building anark to save animals and worthy people from a divinely causedflood, later became a wine-maker. One day he drank too much wine, and fell asleep naked in his tent. When his sonHam entered the tent, he saw his father naked, and his son,Canaan wascursed with banishment and possibly slavery. In Jewish tradition, it is also suggested that Ham had anal sex with Noah or castrated him.[23]
While highly controversial, attempts have been made to hold up certain Christiansaints as positive examples of homosexuality in Church history:
Saints Sergius and Bacchus: Sergius and Bacchus's close relationship has led some modern commentators to believe they were lovers. The most popular evidence for this view is that the oldest text of their martyrology, in the Greek language, describes them as "erastai", or lovers.[24] HistorianJohn Boswell considered their relationship to be an example of an early Christiansame-sex union, reflecting his contested view oftolerant early Christians attitudes toward homosexuality.[24] The official stance of the Eastern Orthodox Church is that the ancient Eastern tradition ofadelphopoiia, which was done to form a "brotherhood" in the name of God, and is traditionally associated with these two saints, had no sexual implications.
Saint Sebastian has been called the world's firstgay icon.[28] The combination of his strong, shirtless physique, the symbolism of the arrows penetrating his body, and the look on his face of rapturous pain have intrigued artists for centuries, and began the first explicitly gay cult in the 19th century.[28] Richard A. Kaye wrote, "contemporary gay men have seen in Sebastian at once a stunning advertisement for homosexual desire (indeed, a homoerotic ideal), and a prototypical portrait of tortured closet case."[29][30]
The extent and even the existence of religious castration among Christians, with members of the early church castrating themselves for religious purposes,[31] is subject to debate.[32] The early theologianOrigen found scriptural justification for the practice inMatthew 19:12,.[33] whereJesus says, "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 themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can."(NRSV)
In describing Jesus as aspado and Paul of Tarsus as acastratus in his bookDe Monogamia,Tertullian, a 2nd-century Church Father, usedLatin words that denoted eunuchs[34] to refer to virginity and continence.[35][36]
The significance of the selection of the Ethiopian eunuch as being the first gentile convert has been discussed as representative of inclusion of a sexual minority in the context of the time.[37]
Christianity has traditionally regarded male homosexual behavior to be animmoral practice, or sinful, and most major Christian movements continue to hold this view.[38][39]
TheMetropolitan Community Church has been founded specifically to serve the Christian LGBTQ community. Its founder,Troy Perry, was the first minister to conduct a same-sex marriage in public, as well as filing the first lawsuit for legal recognition of same-sex marriages in the United States.[46]
Studies in the US show more LGBTQ individuals identify as Protestant than Catholic.[47][48][49]
Lesbians face different social and cultural preconceptions than gay men. Their experience in Christianity is sometimes dissimilar to that of gay men, although lesbianism has also traditionally been considered a sin within the religion.[50]
In 1982, lesbian members ofDignityUSA founded the Conference for Catholic Lesbians out of concern that DignityUSA was too oriented toward males.[51]
In 1986 theEvangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus (EEWC), then known as the Evangelical Women's Caucus International, passed a resolution stating: "Whereas homosexual people are children of God, and because of the biblical mandate of Jesus Christ that we are all created equal in God's sight, and in recognition of the presence of the lesbian minority in EWCI, EWCI takes a firm stand in favor of civil rights protection for homosexual persons."[52]
A survey of self-identified lesbian women found a "dissonance" between their religious and sexual identities. This dissonance correlated with being an evangelical Christian before coming out.[50]
Very few churches have released statements about bisexuality, and research into the bisexual Christian community has been affected by the fact that bisexual Christians are often considered the same as lesbian and gay Christians.[53] However, in 1972, aQuaker group, the Committee of Friends on Bisexuality, issued the "Ithaca Statement on Bisexuality" supporting bisexuals.[54] The Statement, which may have been "the first public declaration of the bisexual movement" and "was certainly the first statement on bisexuality issued by an American religious assembly," appeared in the QuakerFriends Journal andThe Advocate in 1972.[55][56][57] Today Quakers have varying opinions on LGBTQ people and rights, with some Quaker groups more accepting than others.[58]
As asexuality is relatively new to public discourse, few Christian denominations discuss it and the Bible does not clearly state a view on it.[62][63] However, some Christian publications have recently made statements on the subject. In the Christian magazineVision, David Nantais, S.J. and Scott Opperman, S.J. wrote in 2002, "Asexual people do not exist. Sexuality is a gift from God and thus a fundamental part of our human identity. Those who repress their sexuality are not living as God created them to be: fully alive and well."[63][64] However, Lisa Petriello wrote the article "Why We Christians Should Accept Asexuals", which was published in 2020 inKaty Christian Magazine.[65] In this article, she points out that there is nothing in the Bible condemning asexuality, and posits that bothJesus andSaint Paul were asexual.
^Koenig, Harold G.; Dykman, Jackson (2012).Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 43.ISBN9780521889520.the overwhelming majority of Christian churches have maintained their positions that homosexual behavior is sinful
^Kaye, Richard A. (1996). "Losing His Religion: Saint Sebastian as Contemporary Gay Martyr".Outlooks: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities and Visual Cultures. Peter Horne and Reina Lewis, Eds. Vol. 86. p. 105.doi:10.4324/9780203432433_chapter_five.ISBN978-0-203-29128-3.
^Caner, Daniel (1997). "The Practice and Prohibition of Self-Castration in Early Christianity".Vigiliae Christianae.51 (4):396–415.doi:10.1163/157007297X00291.JSTOR1583869.
^Hester, David (2005). "Eunuchs and the Postgender Jesus: Matthew 19:12 and Transgressive Sexualities".Journal for the Study of the New Testament.28 (1):13–40.doi:10.1177/0142064X05057772.S2CID145724743.
^Frend, W. H. C.,The Rise of Christianity, Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1984, p. 374, which in footnote 45 cites Eusebius,Historia Ecclesiastica VI.8.2
^Moxnes, Halvor (2004).Putting Jesus in his place. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 85.ISBN978-0-664-22310-6.Especially inDe Monogamia it seems clear that Tertullian takesspado to mean a "virgin", but by using the wordspado he employed a term that was in common use to refer to castrated men
^Accordingly, Tertullian's text, "ipso domino spadonibus aperiente regna caelorum ut et ipsospadone, quem spectans et apostolus, propterea et ipsecastratus, continentiam mavult" (De monogamia, 3) has been translated as "seeing that the Lord Himself opens 'the kingdoms of the heavens' to 'eunuchs', as being Himself, withal,a virgin; to whom looking, the apostle also--himself too for this reasonabstinent--gives the preference to continence" (Roberts-Donaldson translation).
^abMahaffy, Kimberly A. (1996). "Cognitive Dissonance and Its Resolution: A Study of Lesbian Christians".Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.35 (4):392–402.doi:10.2307/1386414.JSTOR1386414.
^Hogan, Steve and Lee Hudson (1998).Completely Queer: The Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia,. pg. 478. New York, Henry Holt and Company.ISBN0805036296.
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