Other Sites for LGBT Folks?

[Lydia]

So, I'm a moderator at a site for emergent, postmodern christians.

I like the site overall. Unfortunately it's not a very friendly place for Christians struggling with issues related to their sexual orientation. The conversation often begins, middles, and ends with "It's a sin" or "You're going to hell." :disagree:

I have begun to refer people at this site to the Soulforce boards in the hope that they'll find someone not named Lydia to tell them a different story.

And I'm grateful to have this site as a reference, but it wouldn't hurt to have a few more sites tucked into my favorites list for next time. Any suggestions are welcomed, of course, but I'd prefer to hear about sites that don't offer celibacy as the only option for non-heterosexuals.

Thanks.

[NathanATX]

www.theshepherdsarms.com

A message board for glbt christians & their family & friends...

[suzer1013]

Also try www.whosoever.org. I have personally found that site very helpful. There is a Yahoo group prayer group -- Whosoever Prays. They have also recently started some regional Yahoo groups. Feel welcome to send folks over to Whosoever -- it's a very affirming place.

Susan

[awediot]

I am a member of ChristianGays.com. They are extremely friendly, supportive and have an all hours chatroom (usually empty, but they schedule two night a week that can be alot of fun and inspiring, but intense...'DING'- too much info. dept: this poor 17 yo. kid from Canada came in last week with only two of us chatting, shy, scared, first time and abused by his father who he had just come out to. It was a heart breaking story. He felt it was deserved discipline but was scared, no doubt typing quietly at 3am, trying not to wake dad... We found out he had gone to a counseler at his highschool who was unsympathetic and immediately called his dad, making it much worse...That betrayal killed him. The two of us were the only people he had at that moment. It was extremely difficult and we were in way over our heads. We helplessly encouraged him to seek professional help, or get the law involved (my last resort) and he logged off too soon. I got no further information from him and can only hope he is well and maybe shows up online again.) --It is a small, simple site but has many professionals and a global reach. The owners are a little old school, prayer groupie for my tastes but the group itself doesn't reflect that... That chat story is not the norm, but it is also not the only. Be prepared as you can be put on the spot, want to crawl through the screen and sometimes cannot simply log off... Hope to see ya there.

[Jamie McDaniel]

There is also www.GayChristian.net (http://www.GayChristian.net). While I feel the community has a strong conservative bent over there with a number of members having negative views of activists, I acknowledge the good they have done in helping gay Christians from conservative backgrounds realize they are not alone. The site has a forum with lots of members, a weekly radio program, and articles of interest.

[Lydia]

Everyone - Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate it.

Jamie - What did you mean when you said that the gaychristian.net group has a "strong conservative bent"?

[NathanATX]

Lydia...

I know several people who have experienced gaychristian.net to be stifling and unwelcoming to people who have more liberal/progressive Christian views.

That is my personal experience.

However, like Jaime said... they do a great job at reaching conservative glbt people. I think for those people, there is a lot of safety in a community that has beliefs similar to the ones they had growing up (and their families have) as they go through the coming out process.

Basically... there are MANY wonderful people on GCN. If you are personally a more progressive Christian, I would advise avoiding conversations about theology and faith... and just stick to other topics & creating relationships.

[Jamie McDaniel]

The forums at GayChristian.net are what inspired me to push for Soulforce to start their own. It is a good place and I continue to recommend it.

Yet it seems to me that alot of the things that brought about our exclusion from the church are still prevelant in the beliefs of many gay Christians who strongly identify as conservative. And I just felt that there was alot of that over there among many members.

It should be noted, though, that they have some really, really great folks there as well.

With me, when I'm with conservative gays I feel like the most liberal person around and when I'm with some liberals, I feel like I'm somewhat conservative. :confused:

[revtj]

Yeah, those activists can really annoy a gay christian, can't they? :D

[Lydia]

While lurking at one of the sites mentioned on this thread, I found this:

http://www.christianlesbians.com/

I haven't had a chance to do much more than peek at it yet, but I thought I'd post it for any lurkers who may be floating around. :)

[Lydia]

The forums at GayChristian.net are what inspired me to push for Soulforce to start their own. It is a good place and I continue to recommend it.

Y'all are still at the top of my recommendation list. ;)

[trulyme212]

I took the opportunity to look at some of those other websites that you guys recommended-Thanks for posting them. Some of them were very interesting!:)

[awediot]

There's not alot out there is there? Rare and oddly satisfying to still be such a conundrum... i ran across this odd, too silly and maybe overly irreverent site a couple nights ago, but they are definately in the spirit... and OMG:eek: HUMOUR! and even a little crudeness. How refreshing. it is not gay oriented but definately gay friendly.

Blind Chihuaua (http://www.dogchurch.org/)

[Emproph]

So, I'm a moderator at a site for emergent, postmodern christians.
Could you elaborate on that emergent, postmodern part, just a tad? :)

I stole from somewhere, don't tell anyone..
There's some excellent resources and information here on biblical interpretation especially in regard to homosexuality, avoiding the whole potentially inflamatory questioning of Biblical authority/inerrancy issue that I'm famous for. :)
http://www.ecwr.org/resources/homosexuality.html

[Lydia]

Could you elaborate on that emergent, postmodern part, just a tad? :)

It's mission statement (Couldn't think of a better phrase for that. My apologies if it sounds too "churchy") can be found at http://www.theooze.com/about/theneed.cfm.

I guess the best way to describe theooze would be to say that it's pretty theologically diverse - we have members who are Agnostic, Orthodox, Baptist, Universalist, and almost every denomination inbetween.

If I had to describe the "average" member, I'd say that he (our active membership on the message boards is 2/3 male) is about 30 years old, has been at theooze for less than a year, and is very interested in the writings of theologins like Brian McClaren. He knows that the way "church" is often done with the emphasis on numerical growth, outward appearance, and a lack of real community isn't working for Gen X-ers and below. He wants to reach out to people who don't like church, but isn't quite sure how. So he comes to theooze.

Of course, all of that is a pretty broad generalization. I, for example, fit none of those categories. ;)

I'd assume that you know that "postmodern" and "emergent" are pretty wide nets in christian circles and labeling oneself either of those doesn't really tell other people much about what you believe about, say, biblical innerancy or the inherent sinfulness (or lack of inherent anything) in the "gay lifestyle."

There are straight oozers who believe that it's a sinful "lifestyle" and those who don't. There are non-straight oozers who believe that the urges that come with their sexual orientations are sinful, and there are those who don't.

Did that help? Feel free to ask any more questions, I really wasn't sure what sort of answer you were looking for.

[Liberal Crozier]

Lydia,

Same-sex marriage began and was fostered in Canada by a man who brought twelve persons together in Los Angeles, California in 1968. In 2001, a pastor from that UFMCC eventually presided over the first legal marriage in Canada, and the world ( the licence was dated in 2001 and the date preceded the Dutch wedding. editor).

It is important to remember that the first same-sex marriage was performed in a religious and specifically Christian ceremony, and not a secular one. In fact, the majority of Canadian weddings for same-sex couples are religious in nature and not secular. Interesting fact, eh? It also includes our own in 2003. A friend of ours in the United Church of Canada presided over our vows.

We Canadians, Lydia, have a great gift to give our southern neighbours. It is information and awareness about how to live after equal justice under God and Caesar.

Stephen Harper and his minority government are realities. We know what happens when the right wing is united under one banner and one theo-conservative agenda, and our left wing is divided and centrist/pragmatist.

Americans are unaware about Canadian government mechanics - and what is meant by a monarchical constitutional (as opposed to a strict parliamentary) democracy. Harper does NOT have the votes to either use the Notwithstanding Clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms or to win an open vote to overturn the federal law and return it to the Supreme Court. It is clear that the BQ, NDP and the majority of Liberals would, if invoked, declare a constitutional crisis, and vote of confidence. The minority government would fall. Minority governments usually last months to a year or so. We must be vigilant, and I know that we have powerful enemies. However, we have every confidence that the worst is hopefully a nightmare that we will and can awaken from.

[Liberal Crozier]

The name of the website begun by the first married couple is


http://www.samesexmarriage.ca

[Lydia]

Liberal Crozier,

I've been mulling over your post for a few days now. I understand what you're saying, but why did you post it in this thread? Am I missing something?

[Liberal Crozier]

Lydia.....

I am learning to navigate this site. :confused:

This guy is an old dog who can learn new tricks....:lol:

[Dash]

Just wanted to share the following:

Catholic Action Network (http://www.catholicactionnetwork.org/HF/HolyFamilies-PRAY.html)

This is a specific page on the site that is particularly uplifting to me. The prayer is profoundly beautiful to me, and the movie at the bottom of the page is very moving. Not a forum, but there are resources.

[Lydia]

Dash, thank you. :)

Liberal Crozier, no problem. Just wanted to make sure that there wasn't something in this thread that I'd missed.

[Emproph]

It's mission statement (Couldn't think of a better phrase for that. My apologies if it sounds too "churchy") can be found at http://www.theooze.com/about/theneed.cfm.

I guess the best way to describe theooze would be to say that it's pretty theologically diverse - we have members who are Agnostic, Orthodox, Baptist, Universalist, and almost every denomination inbetween.

Did that help? Feel free to ask any more questions, I really wasn't sure what sort of answer you were looking for.

Yes, very much so. I glanced at your thorough response and I've been meaning to get back here, sorry it's taken so long. :o If it helps I've felt guilty about it ever since. :D

{A New Movement
Yet, there is a new movement throughout the world to reach postmodern, emerging generations with the story of Jesus Christ in a way they can touch, taste, see, smell, and hear.}

I just gave it a cursory look over from your link, and the above statement is right up my alley, so I'm looking foreward to looking through it more thoroughly.

Just wanted to stop in and let you know I got your reply and Thank You. :)

{Too many "TH" words in this post I think....Yeth? No? Maybe tho? :lol:}

[Emproph]

Maybe you’re familiar with this place, but I think it’s an excellent resource for subjects relating to religion and religions themselves, lots on the ‘gay’ issue too.

Easy to read, Easy to navigate, and plenty of footnotes. They try and give both sides of the issue, and as far as everything else I read and hear, their version of things seems pretty accurate and objective.

It’s one of those sites that once I’m there, I just keep going from link to link to link. It comes up in searches so often I’ve been starting to go there first. Definitely at least place to start when looking for info on religious topics.

www.religioustolerance.org

-I think they're from Canada too. Do you know them? :D

[Lydia]

Yes, very much so. I glanced at your thorough response and I've been meaning to get back here, sorry it's taken so long. :o If it helps I've felt guilty about it ever since. :D

It's all good. Glad I could be of service. :)

[Lydia]

www.religioustolerance.org

-I think they're from Canada too. Do you know them? :D

I've heard of them, but haven't visited their site in detail. Thanks. :)