Christianity and LGBTQIA+

Many in the culture want Christianity to be compatible with LGBTQIA+, but is compatibility really the goal of either historic Christianity or the historic movement of LGBTQIA+? While the popular answer may be “yes”, the more honest answer is “no.”

The scholars, leaders, and activists who have shaped and guided the LGBTQIA+ movement have been, and have had to be, radically counter cultural in order to advance a sexual and moral vision quite opposite of tradition, including the Christian tradition.

To be “queer” is to be in opposition to what is considered culturally “normal,”1 and “queering” is the deliberate blurring or blending of the culturally “normal.”2 In the West, Christian values, morality, and sexuality have long been the cultural norm.”

In fact as LGBTQIA+ becomes the new “normal,” Christianity becomes the new “queer,” that is, in opposition to cultural normativity. Just think of how “odd” Christian notions of morality, dating, music, speech, child-rearing, etc. often appear to the popular culture.

Christianity and LGBTQIA+ are therefore defined by a relationship of polarity not compatibility.