She Who Is

As I've mentioned in my past couple postings, one of the most powerful experiences of liberation for me in coming to peace with my personal identity and my faith has been the realization that the reasons given for excluding LGBT people from full participation in our churches and places of worship are without foundation. Realizing this, I've come to accept myself as a gay man and a person of faith and have begun a journey of healing and hope for the future that continues to unfold in beautiful, challenging and often amazing ways.

Still, one question that has remained for me is why there's still so much stagnation, persistence and refusal on the part of many intelligent, otherwise-informed people to acknowledge the patently obvious flaws in the 'arguments' against full inclusion of the LGBT community. Sadly, from my reading and my own reflection on this question it seems clear that the primary reason for this ongoing resistance is really nothing other than misogyny--the fear and even hatred of women.

The truth of this situation comes into perspective when we look at the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures. As we know, the Old Testament does appear at times to condemn same-sex relationships but notice that this is only between men--women are nowhere mentioned here. For that reason, if we go from what the Old Testament says, then, basically it would seem that the God of the universe doesn't like gay men but has given lesbians a free pass. Now, of course, this is absurd and makes no sense. What is really behind this is what continues to underlie arguments against LGBT people now--a fear of women and their sexuality. According to this perspective, women are somehow a threat to masculinity, especially when some men 'act like women' (sadly, some of these same attitudes towards women and people of color are also present in the gay community itself--there's still so much work to be done).

Whatever the reasons for this fear of women in the past, it's certainly far past the time for a new perspective on this question. Among many other theologians and other authors, the late Catholic scholar Elizabeth Johnson's book She Who Is is a good place to start for a sense of how people of faith are trying to envision God and human beings as God's creation in ways that are no longer exclusionary and disrespectful of women or other minorities.

May the God of mercy and love--She Who Is--grant us the grace to repent as people of faith of the ways in which we have disrespected women and lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender people and begin to find healing, hope and renewal for all.

Blessings,
P. Chuck