How has being G, L, B or T affected your perception of Religion and/or Spirituality?

Answer 1

I have lost trust of religion, since I have faced discrimination from religious institutions and have been preached to by religious people who condemn homosexuality. It drove me to the point of insanity in 1995/96. So then I became a Satanist, until I found out that not all christians are anti-gay. So then I became an agnostic because I didn't really know where I stood on religion.

But let me tell you, you get a real eye-opener when you become openly LGBT, especially openly T. You find that not everything is the be-all, end-all of things.

Our world is more malleable and flexible than what our parents taught us. We're all raised to think that many institutions are Godlike, but as an LGBT person I have found that every institution, including the U.S. government, has its flaws. So I guess our world is what you make it. Everything is based on opinion - laws, commandments, etc. That's why we have lawyers and politicians.

Answer 2

My individual spirituality has never been affected in the least, because i realized as a young teen that a religion the shoves its creeds upon other people, while instigating some of the worst wars in the history of mankind, cant really be that much of a good thing. I believe in a supreme being who believes in love and kindness. If you live by those thoughts, and respect life anywhere you find it, then you will find true happiness.

Answer 3

Being transsexual has resulted in my moving away from the Protestant Christian churches my family attended during my childhood.

It's a weird thing in a way, in that the experience of being transsexual is somewhat similar to being Christian. There is this powerful force inside you that others cannot see, that you cannot prove is there, and yet you know it is there and the only way for others to know this is for them to accept you at your word.

Unfortunately, our society is much less accepting of the claim of having God in you than a person of the opposite sex.

On the other hand, when I die, they can cut up my brain and find physical evidence of my condition, while there's no way to do this yet with God.

Being in a body that's the wrong sex is extraordinarily distressing. It was this, that I had a female mind in a male body, that ultimately let me away from Christianity. Why would a kind a loving god put a woman into a male body? I've never been able to answer that, so I ended up moving to a form of spirituality that is life affirming rather than destructuve.

Answer 4

Being an outsider of any kind 'rocks' one's world, and is an opportunity to think outside the usual mindset of the mob.

Consequently, many straight folks can't see why gays need to challenge the status quo of religion. For straight folks, very little ever challenges their worldview, so they just trudge along the same old way.

But gays have to examine their very existence, which is demonized and castigated by the majority. As a result, many gays have a moral crisis at a young age: if they don't commit suicide, they find some spiritual strength within themselves to face the angry world.

They might not call it spiritual, but if a gay guy loves cinema or music, that becomes his 'religion' and 'faith.'

Answer 5

How?? It was one of, if not the most, heavily weighted factors in my deciding to become an atheist/agnostic...How could I ever believe in a supreme deity that supposedly created me as a gay man and now thinks that I am an abomination? If you think I am being overly dramatic...just go to the religious sector and read the questions and answers...I've been listening to them for 58 years...well, actually I stopped listening some time ago :)

Answer 6

I'm atheistic now, however I would say my sexuality has not affected that decision so much as my education. The more I learn the less I can believe that we're more than this, or somehow seperate from animals.

I would say it drove a bigger wedge between myself and the Christian church though, as I find their policies outdated.

Answer 7

It's caused me wonder why many Christians don't get the message. I've heard bible beaters through quotes and some sciency studies, hell even historical **** (Leviticus, AIDS, Sodom), But you know I can do the same.

Their Quote:
Leviticus : I man shall not lay with a man as he lays with a woman.

Mine:
Jesus: Do onto others as you would have them do onto you.
The Big Guy: Love Thy Neighbor
The Big Guy, again: I am Love.
Me: Love is never wrong.

Sciencey Junk:

Theirs is usually AIDS
Mine is Condoms!

History:

Theirs: Sodom and Gomorrah
Mine: Salem, The Crusades, and Greece

Answer 8

im very spiritual now but growing up as a christian kid, i was told that masterbation was a sin! wtf? unless of course you are a man in jail who w@nks off to keep straight.

so a lil bit of tugowar is wrong but not evil like homersexuality

i think back and feel revolted, as if a religious leader can go sprouting this kind of stuff to young people

i hate religion, there is no time for it in my life... religion seems to only cos problems both inside and outside the gay community

Answer 9

Really good question...I almost became a Roman Catholic nun until I stopped repressing my gay sexuality. I love the theology of the Catholic Church, but I am having problems with their teachings on morality...For example, how fair is it to deny marriage to gay folk & yet say that gay sex (outside of denied marriage) is a sin?!? How would heteros feel about this? I am a spiritual person & I try to live by this Credo: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". This one is found in all true, loving faiths regardless of details...Pax!

Answer 10

Love: Number one priority. It's what makes me human. Faith: I currently have faith in myself and a little in the goodness left in mankind. Religion and/ or Spirituality: Not significant, but I do sometimes ask philosophical questions and try to answer them between me and myself. ~ Love and Peace to You Too