Reading the Bible the
gay-friendly way
A forum offers rare
affirmation
By Will Kilburn,
boston.com from the Web, November 26, 2006
In the battle over gay rights and
same-sex marriage, those who oppose both often cite Biblical passages which,
they believe, clearly state that homosexuality is wrong.
Trying to rebut this view is a movement led by people who are both gay and
Christian who say that the Bible is on their side.
"Most people think that the attitude of gay Christians is, 'Who cares what the
Bible says?' when in reality, we care deeply what the Bible says," said the Rev.
Jeff Miner , pastor of the Jesus Metropolitan Community Church , a gay-friendly
congregation in Indianapolis. He led a forum on the topic last weekend at
Arlington Street Church. "We think there are a lot of powerful, affirming
things that are in the Bible that have been ignored."
Those affirming messages were detailed by Miner and forum co-leader John Tyler
Connoley in their 2002 book, "The Children are Free: Reexamining the
Biblical Evidence on Same-sex Relationships." The book served as the text
for the forum, sponsored by an array of gay-friendly local church groups, which
drew about 200 people.
Most of the forum was devoted to passages that the authors say treat homosexuals
and heterosexuals equally. In the Old Testament, claim the authors, Ruth's
covenant with Naomi, which includes the memorable phrase, "Wherever you go, I
will go; wherever you live, I will live," actually refers to a committed
same-sex relationship. They also offered a different interpretation of a
story that appears in both Matthew and Luke, in which a centurion asks Jesus to
heal a man who is typically identified -- misidentified, says Miner -- as the
centurion's servant.
"That story's often preached about in straight churches," said Miner, but
"nobody bothers to mention that the Greek word used to describe the sick man is
the word used in the ancient world to describe your same-sex partner."
Both Miner and Connoley said they had to leave the relatively conservative
churches of their childhoods when they came out as gay, Connoley spending two
years in so-called "ex-gay therapy," in which homosexuality is treated as a
mental disorder. Similar conflicts, both internal and external, were
recounted by some of the organizers of the forum.
"My primary goal was to provide an opportunity for people who are gay, bisexual,
transgender, to come and be affirmed and to be loved," said Sam Gloyd, 60, an
Arlington Street Church congregant who came out as gay when he came to Boston
for graduate school 20 years ago.
Gloyd says he got the idea for the forum partly in response to a conference held
in Boston last year by the Colorado Springs-based group Focus on the Family.
Called "Love One Out," the event, held at nearby Tremont Temple Baptist Church,
offered instruction to families on how to convert a gay relative back to
heterosexuality. While some protested on the street, Gloyd chose to go
inside and hear what the group had to say, a move that turned painful a few
hours later. "I wasn't just traumatized, I was re-traumatized, because for
40 years of my life I lived this trauma of feeling like I was unacceptable to
God," he recalled. "So it was inspiration from that conference that sort
of spurred me on to say we need to offer some alternative voice to this hateful
message that's masked in love."
That alternative voice doesn't sway the Rev. Ray Pendleton, pastor of Tremont
Temple Baptist Church, where the "Love One Out" event was held.
"The Biblical view of sexuality is pretty clear," he said. "It says that
genital sexuality is to be expressed between a man and woman in the context of
marriage, period." Pendleton was careful to make a distinction between
homosexual orientation and the practice itself. "When you look at what the
Bible teaches, the Bible doesn't talk about orientation; the Bible talks about
behavior."
Pam Garramone , executive director of Greater Boston Parents, Families and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays, a sponsor of the recent event, said some parents
accept and support their children's homosexuality, but others struggle to
reconcile religious beliefs with their love for their children. One
mother, she said, called her in tears after her husband kicked their daughter
out of the house when she came out as gay.
"She said, 'My instinct is to love and accept her, but I can't because my church
won't let me,' " said Garramone. "That's the kind of parent who needs to
hear this message -- you don't have to choose your child over your religion."
Another forum, which would include leaders of other faiths, is planned for the
Arlington Street Church next year.
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