Spirituality
By Mary Khon
My queeridos!
I want to talk to you about something that I have not thought about for a long time yet recent events have triggered such thoughts I once left behind.
If I sound mysterious and vague to you, it is because as I write this article I’m still trying to figure out how to deal with these thoughts, and also because I’m drunk off my ass, and my body is still trying to, um, detox itself from the use of… what was I talking about?
Oh, yes. About a week ago someone asked me if I believe in a divine entity. The question was direct and the answer needed to be as direct as the query. My answer prompted a series of other questions, all, which were very interesting. And while the questions lead to a very interesting conversation, there was one part of the conversation that kept me thinking for hours after the members of our group had gone their own ways.
What was I thinking so much about? Homosexuality and the Divine, of course. And I say “the Divine” because believing in a higher entity can be done in many different ways or through different religious beliefs. So whether people practice Christianity, Islamism, Judaism, Hinduism, Daoism, Buddhism, or any other type of religion, the issue is the same. Regardless of your religious beliefs and practices, if you happen to be gay, you can still believe in a divine entity.
Of course it is easier said than done, especially if your religion told you over and over again what a deviant, an imperfection, and an abomination in the eyes of “god” you are.
We all know that some religions make it very hard to accept anyone who is gay. Think of the Mormon Church, for example, or the Catholic Church, or Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Pentecostals, or Adventists, or the Baptist Church. On the other hand, there are other religious organizations such as the Unitarian Universalist, Buddhist, Modern Jewish, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and some modern Catholic sectors that accept homosexuality. But regardless whether your religion accepts you as a gay person or not, the issue of your gayness in connection with your spirituality is something that should be between you and the Divine.
“Can a gay person still believe in God?” was one of the questions discussed with my small group of friends. “Of course,” some of us said. “Just because you are gay doesn’t mean you stop believing in a higher power. Some gay people stop believing because they decide that their gayness is a sin against the Divine. Other people stop believing in the Divine because, after years of thinking, studying, and researching, come to the conclusion that perhaps the Divine is simply a man-made myth to keep control over others, and others simply blamed god for their gayness.” As you can imagine, the discussions became exciting and colorful to say the least.
Once on my own, as I stated before, I thought about this subject for a long time. To the point that I almost became obsessed thinking that if some religious organizations believe so much in a Divine entity, and their entire goal and practices are to serve such entity, why would these organizations actually reject or shunt away their own people just because they feel an attraction for other men or other women. Yes, I understand this is nothing knew to anyone, and this is a subject that probably doesn’t need to be brought up in an article that is supposed to be about gossip. But think about it. This subject matters, as serious as it seems, it is also important to discuss it, mainly because, as diverse as we are in the LGBTQ+ community some of us are spiritual and some of us are not. And within that spirituality, some of us believe in a higher power and some of us do not believe in a Divine entity at all. And for those who believe in a higher power, some practice a communication with such Divine entity on a regular basis while others do it once in a while or not at all.
The point I’m trying to make here is that believing in the Divine is something very personal, something that should matter to no one else but the person interested in believing or not in the Divine. And if you are a gay person who believes in the Divine, that is your choice; it is your belief, and it is your journey to experience. Can a gay person believe in God? Of course. And that is their crown to wear or their cross to carry, depending on where they stand in relation to caring whether it is important to be accepted by others, by their love ones, and/or by their church.
Wow! I need a drink!