One important aspect of feeling part of a community is feeling respected.  So often, care and respect have seemed to be thrown out the window after someone has laid their bleeding heart in the hands of others in the community.  Being very committed to Christ, I have found it difficult to simply abandon His community of people for the sake of feeling disrespected by His people.  I say this because Christian LGBT persons, like myself, desire to share the realities of their lives with the hope for encouragement in Christ, the one which is our center.  Prescriptive advice to LGBT people can be met by them with either adversity or open, welcoming arms.  What’s of more concern to me is the seeming unconcern for the realities resulting from following such prescriptions.  This can be anything from strongly encouraging people to come out before they are ready to, pressuring those who feel uncertain of themselves into a marital context, or even encouraging turning from social constructs associated with LGBT people.

In the end, someone is losing…..

By Greg Gough