Same-Sex Marriage: Contrasting Perspectives among Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Christians

Abstract

In the past two decades, same-sex relationship has been a contentious issue within the Christian community. Officially, almost all Christian denominations have now taken the significant, though insufficient, step in calling for the toleration of individual believers with homosexual orientation. Nevertheless, conservative quarters of the Christian community still contest that a same-sex relationship (by implication involving the ‘practice’ of one’s sexual orientation) is unequivocally unacceptable because it is against Biblical strictures, church tradition and the law of nature. On this issue, there are inter-denominational differences and potential discrepancy between local church climate and official church teachings (space does not allow a detailed discussion here, but see, for instance, Yip, 1998, 2002a). Nevertheless, lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians continue to face the reality that their intimate relationships are a topic of incessant theological, religious and social debates and censure. In this respect, the specific issue of same-sex marriage has generated much contention. Not surprisingly, conservative Christians consider this not only a challenge to ‘family values’, but also a blatant disregard for the sanctity and religious symbolism of marriage. To them, samesex marriage is a step too far for the recognition of this sexual minority in the name of political correctness. Liberal Christians, on the other hand, argue that this is a positive step towards recognizing the right of lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians to partake in this religious and social institution. Here, I focus on lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians themselves, by highlighting their contrasting views on same-sex marriage. This paper presents both quantitative and qualitative data, drawn from a project involving a UK sample of 565 participants (389 gay men, 131 lesbians, 24 bisexual women and 21 bisexual men). The project, conducted in 1997–98, examined various themes pertaining to the participants’ lived experiences and life circumstances. The primary themes