Tag Archives: God

Erotic Pride Before God (Psalm 134)

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Come and bless Adonai,
                                all you who serve Our God,
                                ministering by night in God’s house!
                Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,
                                and bless Adonai!
                May you be blessed from Zion
                                by the One who made heaven and earth!
Psalm 134
 
During Pride month I ponder the place of queer people in the congregation of God worshipers. In the face of traditional and ongoing discrimination by religious bodies I can scarcely believe that this invitation to come and bless and to be blessed is for me. If I come will the door be open? If I bless will hearts be receptive? As one who is among those cast out and silenced, how shall I respond to this invitation?
There is an intrinsic fear among the various spiritual expressions toward queer folk. It is the fear that tans-les-bi-gay-intersex-asexuals transgress the purity of the congregation. We who seek out forbidden pleasure are polluted by our sexual “proclivities.” Our impure presence reflects upon others casting our “shame” beyond ourselves and onto all we associate with. As those in ancient times, we are made to feel that we should shout “Unclean! Unclean!” giving time for the clean to flee unscathed.

People like us are rarely granted entrance to the assembly of the Sacred. Our presence may contaminate and make profane that which is holy. Often we find the door to the divine barred.
-continue reading at The Bible in Drag
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GenderQueer Liberation Theology: An Exploration

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The intersections between race, gender, and sexuality are fraught with luminosity. It is the spaces created by these intersections that offer a prophetic voice of wisdom and new way of existence. Being black or white, male or female, and straight or gay is simply too finite for a world of infinite complexities. God created us to be multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. The human experience is dense. Liberation theology is placing God in dialogue through the vantage point of marginalized oppressed groups. Marginalized voices stemming from race, gender, and other socio-political locations have an opportunity of visibility through liberation theology. This idea of visibility is particularly important to my identity as a GenderQueer[1] person. In an effort to begin to interpret Christianity from the lens of GenderQueer embodiment this particular experience visible. This has been an eight month investigation of what it means for a GenderQueer person to reclaim traditional interpretations of theological insights via praxis; for it is the GenderQueer, multi-cultural, and pansexual[2]embodiments that are closely aligned to a vision of God physically manifested on Earth. This is the ultimate triad of creation and embodiment, and the theological dialogue is vastly rich at these intersections. The depth and scope of this article is the deconstruction of the performance and social construction of the gender binary. I am largely focusing on the theological praxis embodiment of the GenderQueer experience of which sexuality and race are peripheral informants of this work. Through the lens of GenderQueer identification, the acknowledgment of the power of gender in its social construction and performance thereof allows us to move beyond the gender binary, which creates a seat at the table for GenderQueer bodies.

-taken from “Seraphim Delight”

(http://thetomboyeffect.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/gqlt/).

which describes itself in the sidebar as

AN EXPLORATION IN GENDERQUEER LIBERATION THEOLOGY

GenderQueer – A person who identifies as neither male nor female. GQ individuals might identify outside of all trational gender binaries entirely.
Liberation Theology – A mode of interpreting the Divine from within an oppressed group.
Questions? Me too. Stay tuned.
*All genders, sexualities, identities, and people validated here.

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God loves LGBTs says ‬Catholic Filipino author

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New book by Raymond Alikpala says ‘being gay is a special grace from God’

Coming to terms with one’s self is not easy for homosexuals in a society where gender is limited to either male or female.

Raymond Alikpala, 46, a lawyer and formerly a seminarian, knows very well the anguish of living in the shadows having done so in the first 38 years of his life.

“I came out because I was tired of hiding who I really am. I wanted to be able to finally live my life honestly and proudly. I stopped caring about what others would think should they find out I  ambakla (gay),” says Alikpala.

He shares his story of growing up a devout Catholic and harboring the secret of his homosexuality in a book “Of God and Men” to be launched June 16, 2012 at  3  p.m. at  Bestsellers Bookstore,  4th Level, Robinson’s Galleria, Pasig City.

Alikpala said a number of his friends encouraged him to write his story “as catharsis for my years in the closet.” He felt however that “it was much more than that.”

Perhaps because of his years in the seminary, Alikpala’s objective in writing the book is more evangelical. “To spread the good news that God loves bakla, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders and transsexuals as much as She loves all Her other children.”

–Yahoo News, Philippines

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Christians and LGBTQ Equality: There Is No Middle Ground

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In response to my post “‘It’s no sin to be gay.’ See how easy that is, Andrew Marin?” folks have made the point that Andrew’s work is valuable, because he is “building bridges” — because he is, as one reader put it, “creating stepping stones from one end of the spectrum to the other.” They appreciate Marin establishing a neutral, non-judgmental, values-free middle ground where parties on either side of the gay-Christian debate can meet to together discuss and explore the issue.

The problem, though, is that when it comes to the issue of LGBT equality, there is no such thing as a values-free middle ground. There can’t be, because that is a moral issue. And that means it’s about a very definite right and wrong.

And it’s a moral issue of no small consequence. There couldn’t possibly be more at stake. The people on one side of this debate — the majority, which wields all the power — are claiming that, in the eyes of God, those on the other side are less than human.

No matter how strenuously he or she might deny it, the fact is that any Christian who does not forthrightly and unambiguously assert that there is nothing whatsoever inherently immoral about same-sex relationships has chosen a side in this conflict. To a starving man, the person who can’t decide if they want to share their food is no better than the person who refuses to (emphasis added).

– more at John Shore, Huffington Post

 

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Lawmaker: God creates gays, ‘wants them around’

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Minn. State Rep Steve Simon brought the Legislature to a pause this week with these remarks about God and gay life that have gone viral on video.

 

According to the Associated Press, Simon, a Democrat, spoke out against Republican efforts to set up a vote next year to lock a ban on gay marriage into the state constitution.

In the recording of a Capitol hearing on Monday, the St. Louis Park Democrat asked, “How many more gay people does God have to create before we ask ourselves whether or not God actually wants them around?”

That line brings applause and once order is restored, Simon continues to say that, as he sees it, sexuality and sexual orientation are not a choice but an innate “gift from God.”

CAPTIONBy Glen Stubbe, AP

So, if humans are sometimes, as Lady Gaga would say (Simon didn’t) “born this way” — then what? Simon suggests to his colleagues that they go home and think harder on another question:

How many gay people does God have to create before we ask ourselves whether people living their lives as they wish, as long as they don’t harm others, is a Godly and holy and happy and glorious thing…I’m comfortable with a society and a tradition that bends toward justice, fairness, openness and compassion…

Simon concluded that generations in the future will view anti-gay legislation harshly.

– continue reading at  USA Today.

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