Getting Free From Homophobia

In the wake of the Club Q shooting, I’ve been reflecting on my long process of getting free from homophobia. I was raised in the Colorado Springs brand of Evangelical Christianity. I was taught that LGTBQIA people were living in sin. I never owned a gun, but I used the bible like a sword. I cut others with gay slurs. I cut myself resisting male touch and tenderness. My pastors told me that the bible is perfect without any mixture of error – and that the bible says that anything “gay” is an abomination. Make no mistake. My religion was not Christianity. It was Supremacy. It said that LGBTQIA folks are sinners and that women must be quiet and submissive - and that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Because the bible says so. 

I started getting free from homophobia and other supremacy stories when I scrutinized the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. I took the text seriously. I studied it critically. The truth is that the bible is not inerrant. It is a collection of ancient disagreements about what is sacred. Some bible stories show us the way forward. Others wave a warning flag of what not to do! The bible documents many theologies – expired theologies - that are no longer palatable. The litmus test of every reading is love and liberation. These family values compel us to take our cues from queer people. Spirit speaks through their stories. Their perspectives have the power to transform how we understand gender and sex – and so much more. Including the bible itself.