Gay sex in the church

I’ve noticed curiosity recently about the idea of “chaste, gay couples”—couples who accept the Church’s historic teaching on sexuality, yet survive together in an exclusive, committed partnership.

Celibate, LGBT, Christian couple Lindsey and Sarah have been blogging for just over a year now at A Lgbtq+ Calling—an excellent resource that is accepted with many people I know (including myself). Eve Tushnet devotes space to talking about “vowed friendships” in her new book Gay and Catholic (I think Tushnet is talking about something slightly different from couplehood—but this aim has been defeated on some of her critics). And, late last year, the Anchoress hosted a discussion at Patheos entitled, “Homosexuality, Celibacy and Partnership: An Awkward Question,” in which Ben Conroy asks:

If we accept some of the distinctions these writers [at Spiritual Friendship] have made—that to be queer is not reducible to what the catechism calls “deep-seated homosexual tendencies”, that being gay can be a phone to particular, singular kinds of virtue, that the latest , Western notion of sexual and lovey-dovey partnership has appropriated kinds of treasure that historically were

LGBT Issues and the Church: Problems With a ‘Gay Christian’ Identity

This is part one of an carried on series on problematic trends in the church regarding LGBT issues.

There’s a movement in Christian circles where those struggling with lgbtq+ attractions identify themselves with terms like “gay Christian” or “gay celibate Christian.”

Others use terms like “sexual minority Christians,” “queer Christian” or even “trans Christian.”

Many who describe themselves this way – but by no means all – say they are embracing chastity or celibacy and pursuing a relationship with Christ. That is, they believe the historic, biblical Christian sexual ethic, that God created humans male and female, and sexual expression is reserved for the marriage relationship of a husband and wife.

A number of Christian writers and ministries have adopted this nomenclature, with some of them training churches and other ministries to follow their lead.

Focus on the Family does not believe these terms are biblical or helpful for same-sex-attracted strugglers. Although these groups and individuals carry to biblical teaching that transgender and homosexual lust and behavior are untrue, they fail to exercise

Pope Francis has spoken openly about homosexuality. In a recent interview, the pope said that lgbtq+ tendencies “are not a sin.” And a few years ago, in comments made during an in-flight interview, he said,

“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”

However, the pope has also discouraged lgbtq+ men from entering the priesthood. He categorically stated in another interview that for one with homosexual tendencies, the “ministry or the consecrated life is not his place.”

Many gay priests, when interviewed by The New York Times, characterized themselves as being in a “cage” as a result of the church’s policies on homosexuality.

As a scholar specializing in the history of the Catholic Church and gender studies, I can attest that 1,000 years ago, gay priests were not so restricted. In earlier centuries, the Catholic Church paid little attention to homosexual action among priests or laypeople.

Open admission of same-sex desires

While the church’s official stance prohibiting sexual relations between people of the matching sex has remained constant, the importance the church ascribes to the “sin” has varied. Additionally, o

Factsheet: Sexuality timeline in the Church of England

The Church of England is locked in increasingly bitter internal debate over LGBTQ+ issues and same-sex marriage. This is the culmination of decades of wrangling and discussion, which began more than half a century ago, with no unmistakable resolution yet in sight

Introduction

In 2021, the Church of England published a describe on sexuality, marriage and LGBTQ+ issues. Living in Love and Faith is the fruit of three years’ work by committees of bishops, clergy, scientists, historians, theologians and others, including representatives from the LGBTQ+ community.

It did not propose any adjust in the church’s official doctrines, but instead offered resources summarising the latest thinking on how the Bible, church tradition, and society understands flashpoints such as gay marriage or transgender rights. Living in Love and Faith marks the latest in a decades-long struggle within the CofE to decide how to respond to the rapidly changing social climate around sexuality.

1950s and 1960s

During the prolonged public debates about homosexuality, the church and its senior bishops, including Michael Ramsay, then Archbishop of Canterbury,

Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ+ Issues: Roman Catholic Church

BACKGROUND

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the world, with approximately 1.2 billion members across the globe. With its origins in the earliest days of Christianity, the Church traces its leadership––in the person of the Pope––to St. Peter, identified by Jesus as “the rock” on which the Church would be built.

The Catholic Church in the Together States numbers over 70 million members, and is organized in 33 Provinces, each led by an archbishop. Each bishop answers directly to the Pope, not to an archbishop. Those Provinces are further divided into 195 dioceses, each led by a bishop. At the ground of the organizational structure are local parishes, headed by a pastor, appointed by the local bishop. The Conference of Catholic Bishops in the Merged States meets semi-annually.

As part of a global nonprofit with its institutional center at the Vatican, the Catholic Church in America is shaped by worldwide societal and cultural trends. It is further shaped by leadership that is entirely male, with women excluded from the priesthood and thus from key leadership roles.

LGBTQ+ EQUALITY

ON S