Intersection of Organized Christianity, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Identity and the Impact on GLBT-Identified Youth and Adults Stacy McCaskill – RVC Associate Professor Executive Director of Reconciling Journey Ministries

In many contemporary Evangelical churches, gays and lesbians are the premier outcast group. They are the maltreated, the powerless, depressed, and the reviled. They have suffered at the hands of the church, especially it's preachers and pastors;... many Christians believe that the rejection and exclusion of gays to be and appropriate application of the Christian faith.

USA Religious Landscape

4.1% 2.3% 76.5% 1.1% Unaffiliated 8%

76.5% belong to RELIGIONS that DO NOT SUPPORT Gay Marriage Yet only 47% Do Not Support Gay Marriage

What is the impact of these mixed messages?

Youth Perspective

According to … between million youth runaway each year in the United States

40% of all homeless youth are LGBT Williams Institute UCLA 2012 Study – See page for full study download.

Job 10:18 (NIV) “Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

Every LGBT Youth’s Nightmare

Isaiah 49:15 (KJV) Can a woman forget her child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

Family NON-Acceptance

92%

Youth often have little choice over the religious traditions in which they are raised, exposing most GLBT youth to disaffirming and often hurtful messages about their self worth and value within community, church, and family. The average age kids know when they are GLBTQ is years old

Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV) “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Isaiah 44:2 (NIV) This is what the Lord says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid,

Ecclesiastes 11:5 (NIV) As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Speak of God’s Love for all creation Support does not equal agreement Learn new things from new sources Your call to action is to…

Speak of God’s Love for all creation Support does not equal agreement Learn new things from new sources Your call to action is to… Revelation 4:11 (NIV)Revelation 4:11 (NIV) …you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. Psalm 139:14Psalm 139:14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made… John 1:12John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,…

Speak of God’s Love for all creation Support does not equal agreement Learn new things from new sources Your call to action is to… Roman 8: Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?...nothing (and no one) will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

... many Christians believe that the rejection & exclusion of gays to be an appropriate application of the Christian faith.

Speak of God’s Love for all creation Support does not equal agreement Learn new things from new sources Your call to action is to… Proverbs 3:13 (NIV) Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. Matthew 7:1-2 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Organizations working to reverse this hurtful impact

The Gay Christian Network An interdenominational organization supporting LGBT Christians and those who love them. GCN offers an online community with over 20,000 members and hosts an annual conference. January 8-11, 2015 Portland, Oregon 2015 Gay Christian Network Conference

Engages conservative Christians in rigorous study of the scripture that has been used to condemn homosexuality and its expression, and to equip those whose minds have been changed with the tools to engage others. Started by Matthew Vines, student at Harvard and author of God and the Gay Christian

The Naming Project Summer Camp is for year olds who are interested in discussing and understanding sexuality and gender in terms of their own spiritual journey and are excited to spend time with other teen campers and staff while canoeing, swimming, hiking, singing, doing arts and crafts. *Camp locations Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Austin.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5 For Christ’s Love Compels us…