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Trigger Warning: This article contains statistics around harm done to LGBT youth.
Welcome back to A History of Incompatibility. We’re exploring the historical origins of the controversial language over homosexuality in The United Methodist Book of Discipline. This is Part 5, so if you’d like to start from the beginning, go to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Previously, we explored the events of the 1972 General Conference, where The United Methodist Church introduced the Incompatibility Clause, stating: “We do not condone the practice of homosexuality, and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.”
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Today, our story takes a new direction: what are the ongoing effects of a Gospel that targets certain people as incompatible? I want to remind you that my goal is not to change anyone’s mind or heart, only the Holy Spirit can accomplish that. I do not intend to present a Gay Christian apologetic to combat anti-affirming apologetics. I do not intend to point-for-point argue the few verses in Scripture that are used to exclude LGBT Christians from the life of the Church. There are PLENTY of resources out there if that’s what you’re looking for.
This week is a segue between the 1972 General Conference and a storyline of the development of anti-gay rhetoric in the evangelical church over the next few decades. But before we jump into more history, I wanted to ground my audience in a fictional narrative based on the lived experience of countless LGBT Christians.
A key claim of Christianity is that the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof that God loved us while we were yet sinners. For Christians in the Arminian tradition, this unleashes God’s free grace to all people. At our baptism and confirmation, we receive the Holy Spirit in a powerful new way, and we claim boldly, “I too am a beloved child of God.” For Christians throughout space and time, this Good News sets us free to experience abundant life in Christ here and now.
But when a Christian starts to realize that they’re not attracted to the opposite sex the way everyone else is, they’re faced with a choice: keep it to yourself, or let someone you trust in to help you process. If you grow up in a faith tradition that openly opposes and speaks out against homosexuality, these feelings can be terrifying to admit. Given present statistics, an LGBT person has a 50/50 chance of being affirmed or rejected by their family should they choose to come out. Rejection by family, friends, and church can range from a “don’t ask don’t tell” mentality to ongoing conversion attempts to excommunication. In America, 1.6 million youth are homeless, and 40% of that number are LGBT teenagers. More than one in four youths is forced to leave their home on the day they come out to their parents (read more).
Add to this, LGBT students are three and a half times more likely to consider suicide than their straight peers, and LGBT students who claim religion was “very important” to them were 38% more likely to attempt suicide (read more). Youth undergoing conversion “therapy” are 2 times more likely to attempt suicide, and 2.5 times more likely to make multiple attempts.
However, a 2018 study revealed that having JUST ONE accepting adult in their life reduced an LGBT teen’s likelihood to attempt suicide by 40% (read more).
Just one accepting adult.
That could be you. You could save a life.
I realize that experience and statistics will not change the hearts of someone who would choose dogma over human life. I painfully recall an Annual Conference session where a mother desperately pleaded for the church to change their position on homosexuality, because it was driving her son to constant suicidal ideation. A man stood up after her and quoted the Bible and said her son’s experience was irrelevant. The evangelical church has by and large produced huge swaths of cold and callous, fearful Christians who demonize gay people, not because they engage in gay sex practices, but because they are gay. Even gay Christians committed to lifelong celibacy are barred from church leadership simply because they identify as gay. Gay Christians pursuing holy matrimony in order to commit to lifelong monogamous partnership are categorically rejected. The argument is regularly made, “There’s no such thing as a ‘gay’ Christian” (with gay always in quotation marks).
Join us next week as we dive back into history and watch the evangelical Christian Right band together as a political force larger than any denomination. We’ll look into moments across the last five decades that shaped present polarities and theologies. You might be surprised to learn that some “traditions” have really only come into existence in reaction to the discovery of sexual orientation.