Building a FAQ section

[Jamie McDaniel]

This thread is for submitting questions to be included in a Frequently Asked Questions section. Think about those questions that pop up here often from those who are wrestling with their understanding of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. We'll pick the best ones and then create threads for those questions where members can post well written answers. The answer voted best will become the featured answer for that question, with the other responses following it.

At least that is the initial plan. So please use this thread to submit potential questions for a FAQ section.

[Jennifer5]

What's considered to be anti-gay(is that the right word?) wording and what about those things is so hurtful?

(if my wording made any sense...)

[Dash]

Well, my current favorite question is:

"God obviously designed male and female to go together! How can you say homosexuality is natural?!!!??"

(emphasis theirs)

Another good one is:

"How come there aren't any positive examples of gay people in the bible?"

[NathanATX]

Help! My child says "I'm gay!"
What if I like boys AND girls?
Are people born gay?
Is it a choice?
Does God love homosexuals?
Can you be gay AND Christian?

These questions are being used to promote an "ex-gay" conference in Carrollton, TX this Saturday.

[Daniel]

The question posed by Venari comes to mind:

How does one go from believing being gay is a sin to being ok with it?

[marutidas]

Is it frequenly ask questions about homosexuality in the biblical sense or is it more about glbti info in general?:confused:

[awediot]

Definitely the infamous, numero uno: Gay & Christian??? And the "born that way/choice- nature/nurture" dilemma. ...these seem the crux of almost every disagreement. (only Christianity seems to have an issue with it, and is at least open for debate. The other monotheistic religions are not even willing to acknowledge homosexuality exists among them and repress the need to discuss it... The "typical" Jewish view of it I am not certain... Eastern and more pantheistic beliefs tend to either have no problem with it, or think it a private, inconsequential matter.) ...a big issue to be addressed is homosexuality AFTER repentence; since fundamentalists never seem to get we Christians DID repent, and remain just as gay.

Dash's suggestion as to specific Biblical reference would be interesting; as well as the question why Jesus never directly mentions it.

A "Heads Up" portion, cautioning of 'loaded words', as Jennifer mentioned, would also be a great idea, explaining that we actually have real life Lives, not just "life styles", that we know the the difference between love and lust, etc...

The "homosexual agenda" supposedly motivating all of our actions (ie. recruiting kids, desensitizing, destroying marriage, destroying Christianity etc.) also should be addressed.)
Nate's idea to discuss the parents situation and reference PFLAG is a great idea.

...one of the most refreshing opportunities I have encountered was when a person who was trying to be supportive of their Christian, gay friend, asked me, "what can we do to help? What should we NOT say that might drive you away?" ...It was the perfect thing to ask, a golden, open minded opportunity, and incredibly difficult to answer... especially from a Christian perspective.


...also, a gentle caution that they may be asked why they have an interest in such an obtuse topic, that the vast majority basically don't care about... This in itself may inspire some soul searching, as well as a filter, prior to to a nervous newbie venturing out to post.

[Mia14]

- How can you be sure that you're gay if you've never been with someone of the opposite sex?

- How do I tell my family?

[Emproph]

Bumping this one too to go with the "safe place to battle on the forums" thread since we're discussing some of this again here:

Why we need disagreement on this board (http://www.soulforce.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1698)

[BronzDragon]

"God obviously designed male and female to go together! How can you say homosexuality is natural?!!!??"

» Thom says: ☛ From the Torah (Translation mine)

[Elohym] said, “Humanity is to be made in our image and our form: so they can manage from among the fish, and the birds that sing in the skies, and among the animals through all the Earth, even among the reptiles and teeming vermin upon the Earth.”

So! Elohym began humanity in Her image and likeness: Elohym began them as masculine and feminine. She blessed them, saying to them, “Be successful and multiply, bring order upon the Earth, manage from among the fish of the sea, and the birds that sing in the skies, and among the animals through all the Earth, even among the reptiles and teeming vermin upon the Earth, and rule among all life, even the vermin upon the earth.”

... Elohym highly regarded all that came to be. And see! This is exceedingly good.

» Thom says: ☛ So, my answer is, “is everything so obvious?” If the Eternal One is male and female, and made us in Her image and likeness, then why can’t we recognize that we are male and female?

I wonder what this argument, “God obviously designed male and female to go together!” works when faced with intersexual humans? Children who are born as somewhere between the genders because of genotype or congenitally induced phenotypes. Either we say “God made a mistake” or we say “These things happen, and we can make something divine with it.” Then again, given God’s sense of humor, she might simply be putting intersexuals in our midst because of our overemphasis on the macho man’s syndrome. [PS: It looks like intersexuals are a regular diet in human history, so nothing new there, just in how we treat them.]

[BruceChris]

I have a number of suggestions. In no particular order,

(1) The difference between Natural and Normal. Normal pretty much refers to that which is found at the mean, or the median. It has been used for either. It is not Normal to have blue eyes, be left handed, or to be gay. These are Minority conditions. But it IS Natural. It occurs within nature, always has, always will. We could not get rid of blue eyes, or left handed, or gay if we tried.

(2) The questions that complicate the misunderstandings, which are not even asked. We don't know what causes homosexuality, well we don't know what causes heterosexuality, either.

Kinsey gave us the 1-6 scale for heterosexuality vs homosexuality? So let's also set up 1-6 scales for masculinity/femininity, butch/fem/ (are those exactly the same thing?), male identified vs female identified, width of shoulders vs width of hips, self focused vs other focused, genital configuration even. Chromosomes, even. I'm sure that there are lots of others out there.

And we could even hint at the understanding that if there is no such thing as absolute male or female, terms like homo and hetro rapidly lose their meaning.

Thanks, Zerbie

Peace and Love, Bruce Chris

[Zerbie]

.

Freud gave us the 1-6 scale for heterosexuality vs homosexuality?

Actually I'm pretty sure that scale comes from Kinsey.

All other points duly taken. ;)