doin’ my thing:
Gay Christians who are celibate for religious reasons are having a small coming-out party of sorts. We’ve seen recent articles exploring my exotic new sub-sub-sub-subculture in Slate, Religion News Service, and even The Advocate. I’m thrilled to see these pieces and I deeply appreciate the respect the authors showed despite, in some cases, intense and personal theological differences.
But there’s always going to be some dissonance when a community is represented by outsiders. The aspects of our lives which are most salient to an introductory, glimpse-behind-the-curtain piece at Slate aren’t necessarily the aspects most important to actual gay Christians who accept the historic Christian understanding in which sex is reserved for marriage between a man and a woman. (I apologize for the clunky phrasing. Nobody’s figured out a cute nickname yet.) So here are a few thoughts on one aspect of gay, celibate Christian lives which these three generous pieces left out.