Seeking Queer Theology And Perfect Love That Casts Out Fear

“God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” she sneered in the way only a 9-year-old can sneer.

“Judge not lest you be judged,” I piped back.

In the woods at Girl Scout camp, I claimed a version of my faith that might have space for queer people. Even back then, I found no connection between a Gospel of saving love and the hatred for LGBT people I read about in the news, the rejection I heard from my peers and the exclusion I saw from the mainstream church. As I was working on coming out to myself in college, I stepped away from the Presbyterian student group I loved and turned to the Bible, trying to figure out how to be my whole self — a lifelong Christian, newly queer, constantly working to give and receive every form of love. First, I drank in the six verses that speak directly (if esoterically) to homosexual behavior. They slid down my throat and burned up my intestines while I cried.

Then I ate a Tums and moved on.

In its 1,000-plus pages, the Bible says very little about same-sex sexual acts and nothing about same-sex relationships. Theologians and queer Christians have explained over and over and over again why these six or seven passages have multiple interpretations and should not be fuel for condemning LGBT people or our relationships. But a theology that promotes a marriage between one man and one woman as the only truly blessed union remains engrained in much of Christian culture. And this exclusive theology extends to other areas — it has been used as justification for employment and housing discrimination, has caused homelessness, and has led to calls for sequestration and even death of LGBT people.

In her suicide note, transgender teen Leelah Alcorn identified Christianity and God as sources of her oppression five times. Her Christian parents, her Christian church and her Christian therapists led her to believe that she could never be happy being trans — meaning she could never be happy at all. Leelah’s story, and so many like hers, demonstrates that we as a church are failing to demonstrate Christ’s love. A theology that kills is bad theology, full stop.

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