A guide to gay friendly churches (merged with) Gay Church

There are a number of Christian denominations that are gay friendly, as well as several gay-friendly groups that are "Christian" in heritage, but don't necessarily subscribe to Biblical dogma. There are also several support groups that deal with homophobia in churches.

GLBT and questioning youth looking for support in general can contact PFLAG www.pflag.org/ This group was started by a Christian mother after her gay son committed suicide. It now has chapters nationwide. In addition to youth support, this group also offers support for parents and other family members coming to terms with their gay kids.

Metropolitan Community Church www.mccchurch.org/ This church was founded expressly BY gays FOR gays. Ecumenical, but a lot of evangelicals have found a happy home there. While open to straights, in practice most congregations are almost entirely gay and lesbian. Rev. Truluck, who is an expert on Scripture, has authored an excellent book, Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse, that encourages acceptance of Jesus while flatly rejecting homophobia. One appendix goes over the so-called "clobber" Scriptures used against gays, and analyzes them to show how they have been TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT.

United Church of Christ www.ucc.org/ A moderately liberal group that believes the message of Jesus was never intended to be hateful. When their ad promoting inclusion was banned by two TV networks, the resulting flap made for a lot of positive publicity! This may become the first "mainstream" Christian church to endorse gay marriage!

Many, though by no means all, archdioceses in the Episcopal Church (the Anglican Church in the USA) are openly gay friendly. Bishop Spong www.BishopSpong.com/ who is a well known speaker in Episcopalian circles, advocates full inclusion for gays.

The Unitarian Universalist Association www.uua.org/ is Christian in tradition, but more Humanist and Pantheistic in practice. Very liberal, and totally open to gays. Many congregations have gay pastors.

Religious Science www.religiousscience.org/ and Unity www.unity.org/ are two groups that believe in the "power of mind". Both are gay friendly, though some individual churches are more friendly than others. I know of one Religious Science congregation that is about half lesbian, including the pastor.

There are a number of gay support groups that advocate against the homophobia of established churches. Dignity www.dignityusa.org/ takes on the attitudes of the Catholic Church, while Affirmation www.affirmation.org/ addresses homophobia in the Mormon Church. Of course, neither group is recognized by the associated church.

Finally, I find II Samuel 1:26 to be VERY interesting. This is a part of a lament by David after the death of Jonathan, and it is one of the most gay-suggestive verses in the Bible.

Hopefully, this will help out anyone who is looking for gay friendly churches. I fully respect the right for everyone to find their own path, whatever that may be, but no one has the right to knock others who aren't hurting anyone. WHEN SOMEONE SAYS THAT GOD IS HOMOPHOBIC, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BELIEVE IT!!!

If anybody knows of anything else along these lines, please post your info in this thread. It isn't limited to Christian traditions, but I felt that this was the best place to start because of the dominance of Christianity in the USA. Also, please include Web links where possible.

Hopefully Skip will make this thread sticky. There is a desperate need to get this kind of information out, especially to GLBT and questioning youth, in order to counter the hateful messages of the Religious Reich and other homophobic churches.

Peace and Love!

 

Great information. Thank you!
ciao

 

I'd also like to add that Plymouth Congregational Church is GLBT friendly... I'm not sure how many chapters the church has, but there's one in my town.

 

Now that I think of it, some of the Methodist churches, by no means all, are pretty open minded. I've also found out that Reform Judaism is very gay friendly, with quite a few gay rabbis.

I'm still hoping to get this thread made into a sticky. I don't think that most straights, or people of non-Christian traditions, understand how it is possible to be gay and still identify as Christian, let alone how lonely and unwanted someone can feel when rejected by their own faith, but needing something they can still relate to. The concern about getting information out is especially acute for GLBT and questioning youth, who desperately need an antidote to the homophobia spewed out by many "Christians" if they are to AVOID SUICIDE !!!

 

I used to go to the MCC when I lived in San Francisco and Hollywood. I found it to be less inclusive than it purported to be. I have found ways of meeting my spiritual needs elsewhere.
Has anyone else had any experienced with a gay or gay-friendly church?

 

I have been in a gay church and too be honest it annoyed the hell out of me, if I hear 'i'm gay and god loves me' one more time, yes we know your gay already!
S

 

Sure! There are lots of gay churches.
http://www.lgcm.org.uk/
http://www.lgcm.org.uk/html/subframe.htm
http://www.whosoever.org/
http://www.eflgc.org.uk/
These are just a few!

 

that wasn't quite what he was asking for, he was asking for peoples experinces in gay churches!
S

 

not applicable...

though people have tried to get me to visit gay friendly chruches.

 

Oh, my bad! Well those ARE Churches that I have had experience with anyway.

 

Church???? *hisses*

 

The antidote to all that viral brain infection called "religion"
http://www.godisimaginary.com
Why imagine you are talking to a being that doesnt exist?

.

 

Please.....we dont promote any hate here in the Gay forums , so using a quote that calls God imaginary is rude to those who believe in God. We also dont promte one religion over another and put down other religions.

 

E I believe your missing the point, if you check that link again, although all the points have the title that god is imaginary it is actually promoting christianity on the links by proving (they feel) that he isn't.

but anyway this thread is about gay churches and people experines of them, not about argueing about actual religion- so lets keep it on track
S