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Throughout history, it is proven that many people in the LGBTQ community have had to hide their identity about who they truly are. Religious practice makes it harder for members of the LGBTQ community to come out. According to In Sacred Shame: Integrating Spirituality and Sexuality Alyssa J. Haggerty expresses the trauma with discovering religion that members from the LGBTQ community have faced. LGBTQ members have gone through adolescence wanting to commit suicide because of their fear of committing a sin by being with the same sex gender.[NO CITATION]
When the LGBTQ member identifies as religious they tend to feel more guilt and fear while going through adolescence. Especially during adolescence, the best way to hide their “same-sex identity” by “alienating” themselves, meaning they would most likely stay in their rooms or be out of the house until everyone in the family went to bed any excuse to keep as far as they can away from the discovery of whom they felt attracted to. According to a National report, youth in the LGBTQ community in the grades 7-11 who identified secretly as a lesbian, gay, or bisexual attempted suicide twice as more than the average heterosexual peers. As young members of the LGBTQ community grow and expand their minds they discover a new way to have a relationship with God, they shift God from “one who damns same-sex attraction to a God that loves and accepts them.” [NO CITATION]
On October 6, 1968, the first-ever LGBTQ church was established in Los Angeles by a homosexual man Troy Perry. In 1978 Rev. Perry was given the Humanitarian Award by the American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian and Gay Rights Chapter. He also had a seat on the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. He was invited to the white house during Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were president. In 1977 by President Jimmy Carter to discuss the whole spectrum of g/l/b/t rights. In 1993 by President Bill Clinton as a participant in the first White House Conference on AIDS. In 1997 invited by President Clinton as a participant in the White House Conference on Hate Crimes. In 1997 again as a guest of President Clinton as an "honoree" at a White House breakfast with President honoring 100 national spiritual leaders in the USA. In 2009, along with his partner Phillip, by President Barack Obama on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Stonewall. For his long commitment with the church he received the status of Official Observer to the 7th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches. [NO CITATION]
The LGBTQ community has progressed in efforts to exhibit that is normal to pursue or live a religious life. The LGBTQ residents changed norms and helped create a stronger and more religious identity. During 1996, in Monterey County’s gay newspaper The Paper, there was various articles on churches and more important gay marriage decisions on laws and progression toward gay rights from the late 1900s.[1] There was an article on the California senators that was from 1996 Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer who had both voted against the anti-gay marriage Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the Senate vote September 11th of 1996. The article claimed that both senators voted for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). [2] Gay activists considered the most important bill in terms of ensuring gay civil rights protection. Including, that DOMA which would deny federal recognition of the same-sex marriage is and would let states refuse to sanction the unions licensed in other states. There was this quote from Michael Petrella’s from the San Francisco Rice Tossing Rally Organizer “ We will show the world that gay and lesbian marriage is about one thing – love.” [3] DOMA was a law that among other things it prohibited marriage of the same sex from collecting any federal benefits, but it was overturned on June 26, 2015, by the US Supreme Court in the decision of Obergefell v. Hodges. The ruling cited the 14th amendment equal protection clause, concluding that a denial of marriage rights to the same-sex couples was unconstitutional.
[NEEDS REWRITING]The newspaper, the paper from 1994 from the Monterey County‘s Gay paper, the September/October edition, volume three issues two there was an interesting page I found, and it discussed the Methodist Bishop’s protest anti-gay church doctrine. It talks about four California statements that were released to the public, one reading “we believe it is time to break the silence and state where we are on this issue that is hurting and silencing countless faithful Christians,” this shows how Monterey County churches were incompatible with Christian teachings then. [6] Information from “The Washington Post” who posted a video on February 26 that explains how the United Methodist Church voting to strengthen the ban on the same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. [7] The move would likely to split America’s second largest protestant denomination and alienate its followers who had pushed for reform. Claims that the vote came after three days of debate at the church are a general conference in St. Louis Missouri. Delegates from around the world voted to maintain the churches existing policy stating that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, the new policy includes penalties for breaking its rules and ask those who refuse to obey to find another church. Delegates were even considering an alternative policy which would have allowed individual churches to decide whether to perform same-sex marriages and welcome gay and lesbian clergy members.
The majority of people in the LGBTQ community have had a rough time when it comes to their relationship with the church. Most religions do not allow homosexuals to join their church. Homosexuals believed that “Relationship between their social circumstances and their belief that God is loving and accepting of people of all sexualities.” [8] [NO CITATION] “Majorities describe the Muslim religion, the Mormon Church, the Catholic Church and evangelical churches as unfriendly toward people who are LGBT.” [9] [NO CITATION] When the church denies LGBTQ people of their religion, they are forced to turn somewhere else. Many people just lost their faith in religion altogether. “The survey finds that LGBT adults are less religious than the general public. Roughly half say they have no religious affiliation, compared with one fifth of the public at large.” [10] [NO CITATION] Throughout history, it is proven that many people in the LGBTQ community have had to hide their identity about who they truly are.
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References
Missing several citations before [1]
[1] Wes Kashiwagi, [TITLE?] The Paper DATE
[2] Wes Kashiwagi, [TITLE?] The Paper DATE
[3] Wes Kashiwagi, [TITLE?] The Paper DATE
[4] [AUTHOR?], “DOMA and the Call for a Constitutional Amendment” (2019) [SOURCE?]
[5] Wes Kashiwagi, [TITLE?] The Paper DATE
[6] Wes Kashiwagi, [TITLE?] The Paper DATE
[7] Julie Zauzmer and Sarah Pulliam Bailey, “United Methodist Church Votes to Maintain Its Opposition to Same-sex Marriage, Gay Clergy,” The Washington Post, DATE 2019.
NO 8, 9 or 10 included in text submitted