Safe Space for Queer Christians

Spiritual abuse is extremely subtle and powerful and it’s something that churches, faith based organizations and religious circles need to address and become aware of and we need to learn how to care and help for people without using the Bible or Christianese as a lame excuse for a crutch, because those can be very intense triggers for people and its very insensitive to their pain.

this youtuber’s channel is specifically dedicated to examining spiritual abuse: https://www.youtube.com/user/truthinmotionstudios

also the beginning of this series from a teacher and counselor who is very learned and experience in the area of Complex Trauma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PU8c-fzNwo

and his series on the basics of Complex Trauma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IxEwPMqB-c

there are books such as The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by Johnson Van Vonderan; You Are Your Own by Jamie Lee Finch; The Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson. So You Don’t Want to go to Church Anymore by Dave Coleman and Wayne Jacobsen

tons of podcasts and channels like God is Grey she focuses more on the aspects of the abuse of purity culture and the sexual abuse that it’s given the church and so many of it’s people

Head to Heart  podcast by Christa Black Gifford, she is also more focused on trauma and the healing and recovery from it

Dirty Rotten Church Kids podcast, where they’ve reached out to their followers and listeners and get their stories and perspectives as they deconstruct the destructive aspects of the church, and in a way have developed a support group for the deconstructing Christian.

There are other people such as William Paul Young and his incredible journey and testimony of healing and recovery.

Pastors and Theologians like C. Baxter Kruger and Bradley Jersak, who delve into and take on the corrupted views and translations of the Bible and Christian belief systems and how twisted and abusive they have become through skewed human perspectives and pain over time. Bradley Jersak is also an author and has books on the theology of Hell called: Her Gates Will Never Be Shut and one on the theology of God called A more Christ-like God

those are just the beginning of some of the materials that came to my mind.

Dear Friends,

You may have noticed this account has been inactive lately, especially when it comes to answering asks. The reality is the mods and I have been very busy dealing with irl situations, school, work, and mental health and have not been able to give this account the attention it used to receive.

To focus more on school and my mental health, I (mod sarah, the original and primarily active mod) will be leaving Tumblr until further notice. This account will remain here and run out the queue, but from there be inactive. 

Please don’t be discouraged! This is a really active community full of amazing leaders with inspiring faiths and great ideas. Below, I have linked plenty of queer christian accounts, and please feel free to link accounts you love in the comments of this post as well! If you feel called, consider this an opportunity to start an account lifting up our community yourself! 

The ‘Love Is’ Anthology is still on, and we’re planning on publishing sometime this year. If you have questions about that or anything else related to the community we’ve built here, you can email us at [email protected]

I love you all so much and cannot express enough what a positive influence you have been in my life. I am endlessly grateful for the ways you all have poured into me, taught me, and loved me these past three years. May God bless every one of you. Go in peace. 

• You are loved

• You are enough

• The world is better with you in it

• You are made in the image of God

• We are sorry for how the church has treated you

• Freedom is your divine right

Many of my queer acquaintances don't understand my faith and many of my Christian acquaintances think I need saving.

There are very few people (it's three. Three people) I can be around and feel (close to) 100% myself with. I know that's a normal human experience, to have some reservations around most people.... But this is extreme. My queerness and my spirituality are not separable from each other or from my personhood, and having that rejected in any capacity is fucking exhausting.

Sometimes I even find myself defending myself to me. The things people say get to me and I have to go back to the beginning, to where I found affirmation and reconciliation. I have to remind myself that I know that place exists. I've been there before and I'll get there again. It's my home.

And maybe that's the beautiful story of being a queer Christian. Discovering that place over and over again, arriving from different angles, making it sacred, and slowly building a map for how to get back. Maybe it's sitting in that space, comfortable yet alone, and looking up to see a friend has joined you. Maybe is learning how to let people in to that space. And making them leave if they will not respect its holiness.

—

James Cone in God of the Oppressed 1975 (via companion-to-owls)

Sadly always relevant.

heya anon! this is a really good question! idk your exact situation but here is a list of things i have done/ considered doing in the many pride months i’ve spent closeted. followers feel free to add on!

make queer art! whatever you do, edits, stories, visual art, music, make it queer and share it in spaces it’s safe to do so (online or otherwise)!

have queer friends irl? celebrate! have a party with a secret motive, go out for dinner, or coffee, or whatever y’all do.

consume queer media! read queer books, watch queer movies and tv shows! if you give it a routine, it will feel more like an official way to celebrate and observe the month. ex: make a list of all the queer movies you’ve wanted to see and marathon them with yourself and/or your queer friends (if you have online friends you can use rabbit to watch together) in one night OR watch one every sunday of the month. just like you’d watch your favorite christmas movies.

learn about our history!!! please!! if you don’t know the history of the stonewall riots, what started pride, and the many other facets of queer history, please use this month to educate yourself!! if you like podcasts, i personally enjoy one called ‘making gay history’. make sure you know who Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson are by the end of the month. you know how at christmas time you read the christmas story? read queer history in the same way.

find ways to celebrate in the way you present. to make yet another christmas comparison, just like people sometimes wear red and green around christmas time, or pastels around easter, wear your pride colors. push the boundaries and present more how you would like to present and less how the world wants you to.

transcript beneath cut

TRANSCRIPT: When I was 11 so, I talk about, so Philly’s my home, hands down, all that kinda stuff. When I was 11 though, I was living in a rural town in south jersey, I didn’t know what the word gay was what trans was, what queer was, but I knew that whatever I was dealing with, I knew I was going to hell, so I learned that pretty quickly. So this is a poem that I wrote recently based on just some really brave people in my life that I’ve gotten to know over the years, and this is called Josephine.