Gay People of Faith Come Out of the Closet
Gay Christians, lesbian Muslims, queer Jews and bisexual Buddhists have always been here. But now, gay people of faith are finally stepping out of the shadows and into the media spotlight.
?It was that right moment in time,? evangelical minister and gay activist Mel White says, ?when finally someone could lift up the fact that God created and loved us just as we are, and the church should be damned for saying otherwise.?
White is talking about his autobiography, the harrowing Stranger at the Gate: Being Gay and Christian in America, published in 1994, and the press coverage surrounding his coming-out story. But he could just as easily be talking about the recent explosion of media images of gay people of faith.
These new images of religious gays ? in film, TV, books, press coverage and on the Web ? give a more nuanced depiction of GLBT people as well as faith. Many demonstrate, like Strangers at the Gate, the destructive conflict between religious doctrine and sexual desire. But more and more, these images are becoming unshackled from past bigotries, showing gay people how to accept love and faith, and find their own spiritual journey.
White, an award-winning Christian author, filmmaker and former ghost writer for Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Billy Graham, came out publicly as a gay man in 1993 when he was installed as the Deacon of the Cathedral of Hope, the largest predominantly gay and lesbian Christian congregation in the world.
The storm of media attention that followed ? including features in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and on Larry King Live ? culminated in a 1994 segment on 60 Minutes and the release of Stranger at the Gate which detailed White's painful struggle to reconcile his sexuality with the teachings of his church.
In both Stranger at the Gate and his 60 Minutes interview, White unmasked the misreadings of the Bible that are often used to denounce gay sexual relationships. And both White's 60 Minutes appearance and Stranger were powerful watershed moments for many LGBT people.
?Stranger released an avalanche of response that continues to this day,? White says. ?Every place I speak on this last tour, people have come up to me crying, without exception. Everyone says, ?Your book saved my life.'?
White points to the independent film Latter Days (2003) as an example of media that authentically portrays the conflict between gay sensuality and a homophobic religious tradition. In the film, Aaron, a young Idaho Mormon in Los Angeles on mission, falls for gay party boy Christian, who lives in a nearby apartment. When Aaron gives in to his attraction, he is sent home in disgrace, thrown out of his religious community, and endures a nightmare psychiatric hospital complete with ice baths and electro-shock treatments.
The film was written and directed by C. Jay Cox (Sweet Home Alabama) and draws on Cox's own experiences as a gay man and a Mormon. Ultimately, Latter Days is redemptive, as Aaron finds new ways to create family and express his faith.
The most eloquent expressions of conflict between gay sexual desire and religious traditions may come from recent documentaries. One of the most beautifully rendered of these is Trembling Before G-d (2001), which tells the stories of gay and lesbian Orthodox and Hasidic Jews committed to their faith, but ostracized from the religious communities and study so central to it.
In the documentary, a young lesbian couple makes the traditional braided bread, challah, and prepares for the Sabbath. Jewish gay men talk about the meaning they find in religious study of the Torah and the yeshiva community created by that study. But the lesbian couple are estranged from their families and are too fearful to allow their faces to be filmed. The spiritual fulfillment that yeshiva study brought the men is no longer available, because they were thrown out when their sexuality became known.
by James Hillis, November 27, 2006
posted by iamgay @ 9:17 AM
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