#Religious homophobia

[womenaremypriority]

i truly can’t think of anything more evil than convincing children they’re going to hell and suffer eternal torture because of their natural attraction to other girls or other boys. every time I think of what religion has unleashed on this world I get unforgivably angry

[scarletspider-lily]

i'm telling yall, we really need to make the phrase "love the sinner hate the sin" obsolete by saying "love the believer hate the religion"

make em uncomfortable!! lets do it

[starrysharks]

tried to test the waters by asking my mother what she would do if she had a gay child and she said that she'd have them sent to ghana (home country) to be purified. ok

[nowaytoheaven2]

"it hurts me to believe these things and have friends who are queer, can't you understand?"

"Well... You don't have to tell them outright. Just be an example to turn them to Christ."

"it hurts anyway. I don't want to."

"Hate the sin, love the sinner."

I hate you, that's a sin too. Isnt it?

[edscuntyeyeshadow]

I swear to god, the “hate the sin love the sinner” type of homophobe/transphobe is the most manipulative piece of shit you’ll ever meet.

unfortunately I ended up with parents like this. parents who, despite being estranged, continue to randomly send me texts like “this song reminded me of you as a baby 🥺 we love you and god loves you!”

after I came out they constantly alternated between insisting they just Love™️ me sooo much, then seconds later would openly compare me (teenager at the time) to an alcoholic and a porn addict. treated me like one as well. all it did was confuse and fuck me up emotionally. literally didn’t know what to think sometimes. now I know they’re just extremely manipulative people but it’s still hard to accept it fully.

anyways. end of trauma dump

[ivywritesme]

My family was talking about how a potentially friend of theirs might be gay. I live in a very strict country and my parents are too conservative so I can't show my support publicly, but if I have to stay in the closet for the rest of my life, I hope I can be like him. He's single, living in a big city, making a ton of money from a stable job, has many friends he can invite to eat dinner with every day, and still looks 30 despite pushing 50s.

If I have to stay in the closet, please at least let me stay in a walk-in closet with a bunch of birkin bags and 20 pairs of $5k shoes.

[sapphic-courtship-for-dummies]

ok ok ok so. i'm in a very complicated situation rn. lemme start from the beginning: -so i'm best friends with this girl for years -our friend group talks abt sexualities, me + other girl come to conclusion that we're bisexual, the best friend thinks she *might* be too -realize i'm in love with her -confess to her later -she doesn't like me that way

-i don't think she's straight????? -time passes -we're both in a religion btw -she asks me one day abt our religion's views on homosexuality -i tell her one of the views, that it's alright -she says ok -she's still questioning btw -i think she might be bi/pan leaning towards guys

-i move to a different country -i leave the religion, not out yet to anyone tho -but we still text -she sends me a post one day abt homosexuality -it's that other view, that homosexuality is wrong -she believes in that view and is trying to persuade me to undo my bisexuality in some way or ignore it -getting strong indoctrination and internalized homophobia vibes here -she thinks i'm still in the religion and is trying to convince me on her views on homosexuality -i try to argue back carefully since i can't let her know i've left -anyway we fight -and apologize a few days later -and she suggests we don't talk abt religious stuff because we always fight abt it

-i say ok -i do flood my insta story (that she sees) with lgbt posts out of passive aggressiveness -i know i know, but i couldnt help it because i have very liberal views and i feel very strongly abt religious homophobia and sexuality -i sort of wanted to punish and test her -'this is me, this sexuality is a part of me, not a test by god, and i'm gonna show it and make it obvious, and you have to choose between remaining with me despite it or not.'

-we don't speak for three months.

-our only interaction is viewing each others' stories -she texts me with something random a few days later -we're talking again -i've forgiven her at this point -after all, before i left, i was just like her, i believed the same things she did -i want to believe that just like me, she'll come around and see things for what they truly are. -idk what to do till then

-i'm still in love with her -i still feel elated whenever she texts -i still feel that spark when i hear her name

-i want to get over her, over it -but still remain her best friend -it's hard because a huge part of getting over someone is to cut them off completely -and for those three months i did not think of her, so it worked a little -but when she texted it all came flooding back.

-i'm so, so, so fucked. what do i do?

Hello dear anon. I am so, so sorry about your situation, and even more sorry I wasn't able to respond until now. I know it's been quite some time, but in the case that you are still struggling with this or that anyone else can benefit from hearing your story and my two cents about it, here's my answer.

It can be really complicated navigating relationships with people who do not share the same values or outlooks as you do, and not everyone has the ability or desire to cut ties with those people. My best friend growing up was one of those people who was very indoctrinated in her religious upbringing and beliefs, which led to the two of us having more frequent arguments as we got older, and eventually ended in a painful split and end in our friendship. I don't regret our separation, looking back I think it was for the best because we just valued, believed, and wanted different things in life. I still wish her the best, but if what allows us both to live our happiest lives is being apart, then so be it.

I understand your pain, and your conflict, however I know that I personally cannot tolerate any kind of...well, intolerance, like that in the people I associate with. I just don't have the energy. Ultimately it's up to you whether you believe your lives will be happier together or apart. That also includes whether you decide to move on from her romantically or not. I can attest that--at least in my own experience--it's not impossible to get over being in love with someone while still interacting with them or being friends with them. That's my track record so far anyway, having two exes that are still friends of mine and even speak to regularly. That isn't to say that it isn't still hard sometimes, or that it doesn't take a certain type of strength or maturity to be able to maintain these relationships and let go of the expectations and hopes you once had for what they could have been, but it is certainly possible and even worthwhile if you can stomach it.

I don't have a straight answer for you, as easy as I wish it could be. I see three main potential roads that you could go down, those being: continuing to wait and see if she'll ever come around to your side of things, letting go of your romantic expectations and moving on while trying to maintain the friendship, or just letting go. I don't know how much things may have changed or not since you sent this ask, but if you're still at a crossroads then there's a chance that you had a gut feeling reading those options. Only you know what you really need, and sometimes you don't know until you get it, or you start walking down that path. All I know is that you have to do what's best for you, as painful or difficult as that may be.

Change is possible in all people, you're living proof of that, but sometimes it takes people lifetimes to open their hearts and minds to learn or unlearn what they need to. Whatever you decide, I hope you are able to prioritize your own happiness in this short life that you have now. You deserve to live proudly as your most authentic self, to love freely surrounded by people who accept you for who and what you are--all of you. Time is precious, your time here is precious, so use it wisely. Use it to do right by yourself, your heart, and your values, to live the life that you truly want.

So, my friend, I leave you with a final question to ponder:

In the long run, what do you truly want?

I hope that this can be of some help or comfort, my DMs are still open if you ever need a friend. <3

All my love and best wishes always,

Your friend,

Sappho 💓

[butchbarbieagainstterfs]

I don’t want to get married in a church. I’m a Pagan. That doesn’t make religious homophobia okay lmao. If people think I deserve less rights than my cishet counterparts, then they’re a shitty homophobe and I will call them out for it.

Also: you bringing up Islam is wild considering Christians have a long history of killing and torturing marginalised people, including gay folk. And Muslims for that matter.

And I wouldn’t condone homophobia from a Muslim or an Islamic institution either. No religious homophobia is okay.

Don’t like my opinion? You chose your beliefs. Either cope, or choose to see me as equal to you and call the homophobes in your religion out (many Christians do!)

Bc I did not choose my sexuality 🤷🏻 you chose to view me as lesser for it.

Have the day you deserve.

the church of england was literally started because henry viii, a man who cheated on his wife multiple times and had at least one child with one of the women he cheated on her with, wanted a divorce that the catholic church wouldn’t give him.

you are the last people who should be saying anything about the sanctity of marriage, you absolute clowns 💀💀💀

[womenaremypriority]

It is traumatic to live in a world where major world religions teach that your very existence as a woman was an afterthought to god, and you only exist to serve men. It traumatic to hear that there are people who think your existence as a gay person is sinful and evil. EVEN IF YOU WERE NOT RAISED RELIGIOUS. Knowledge of those belief systems and their prominence is TRAUMATIZING. It is okay to be angry about it. It is okay to feel grief about it. Knowing millions, if not billions of people, think you are inferior and deserve to die is fucking painful.

[cookinguptales]

So I’ve been enjoying the Disney vs. DeSantis memes as much as anyone, but like. I do feel like a lot of people who had normal childhoods are missing some context to all this.

I was raised in the Bible Belt in a fairly fundie environment. My parents were reasonably cool about some things, compared to the rest of my family, but they certainly had their issues. But they did let me watch Disney movies, which turned out to be a point of major contention between them and my other relatives.

See, I think some people think this weird fight between Disney and fundies is new. It is very not new. I know that Disney’s attempts at inclusion in their media have been the source of a lot of mockery, but what a lot of people don’t understand is that as far as actual company policy goes, Disney has actually been an industry leader for queer rights. They’ve had policies assuring equal healthcare and partner benefits for queer employees since the early 90s.

I’m not sure how many people reading this right now remember the early 90s, but that was very much not industry standard. It was a big deal when Disney announced that non-married queer partners would be getting the same benefits as the married heterosexual ones.

Like — it went further than just saying that any unmarried partners would be eligible for spousal benefits. It straight-up said that non-same-sex partners would still need to be married to receive spousal benefits, but because same-sex partners couldn’t do that, proof that they lived together as an established couple would be enough.

In other words, it put long-term same-sex partners on a higher level than opposite-sex partners who just weren’t married yet. It put them on the exact same level as heterosexual married partners.

They weren’t the first company ever to do this, but they were super early. And they were certainly the first mainstream “family-friendly” company to do it.

Conservatives lost their damn minds.

Protests, boycotts, sermons, the whole nine yards. I can’t tell you how many books about the evils of Disney my grandmother tried to get my parents to read when I was a kid.

When we later moved to Florida, I realized just how many queer people work at Disney — because historically speaking, it’s been a company that has guaranteed them safety, non-discrimination, and equal rights. That’s when I became aware of their unofficial “Gay Days” and how Christians would show up from all over the country to protest them every year. Apparently my grandmother had been upset about these days for years, but my parents had just kind of ignored her.

Out of curiosity, I ended up reading one of the books my grandmother kept leaving at our house. And friends — it’s amazing how similar that (terrible, poorly written) rhetoric was to what people are saying these days. Disney hires gay pedophiles who want to abuse your children. Disney is trying to normalize Satanism in our beautiful, Christian America. 

Just tons of conspiracy theories in there that ranged from “a few bad things happened that weren’t actually Disney’s fault, but they did happen” to “Pocahontas is an evil movie, not because it distorts history and misrepresents indigenous life, but because it might teach children respect for nature. Which, as we all know, would cause them all to become Wiccans who believe in climate change.”

Like — please, take it from someone who knows. This weird fight between fundies and Disney is not new. This is not Disney’s first (gay) rodeo. These people have always believed that Disney is full of evil gays who are trying to groom and sexually abuse children.

The main difference now is that these beliefs are becoming mainstream. It’s not just conservative pastors who are talking about this. It’s not just church groups showing up to boycott Gay Day. Disney is starting to (reluctantly) say the quiet part out loud, and so are the Republicans. Disney is publicly supporting queer rights and announcing company-supported queer events and the Republican Party is publicly calling them pedophiles and enacting politically driven revenge.

This is important, because while this fight has always been important in the history of queer rights, it is now being magnified. The precedent that a fight like this could set is staggering. For better or for worse, we live in a corporation-driven country. I don’t like it any more than you do, and I’m not about to defend most of Disney’s business practices. But we do live in a nation where rights are largely tied to corporate approval, and the fact that we might be entering an age where even the most powerful corporations in the country are being banned from speaking out in favor of rights for marginalized people… that’s genuinely scary.

Like… I’ll just ask you this. Where do you think we’d be now, in 2023, if Disney had been prevented from promising its employees equal benefits in 1994? That was almost thirty years ago, and look how far things have come. When I looked up news articles for this post from that era, even then journalists, activists, and fundie church leaders were all talking about how a company of Disney’s prominence throwing their weight behind this movement could lead to the normalization of equal protections in this country.

The idea of it scared and thrilled people in equal parts even then. It still scares and thrills them now.

I keep seeing people say “I need them both to lose!” and I get it, I do. Disney has for sure done a lot of shit over the years. But I am begging you as a queer exvangelical to understand that no. You need Disney to win. You need Disney to wipe the fucking floor with these people.

Right now, this isn’t just a fight between a giant corporation and Ron DeSantis. This is a fight about the right of corporations to support marginalized groups. It’s a fight that ensures that companies like Disney still can offer benefits that a discriminatory government does not provide. It ensures that businesses much smaller than Disney can support activism.

Hell, it ensures that you can support activism.

The fight between weird Christian conspiracy theorists and Disney is not new, because the fight to prevent any tiny victory for marginalized groups is not new. The fight against the normalization of othered groups is not new.

That’s what they’re most afraid of. That each incremental victory will start to make marginalized groups feel safer, that each incremental victory will start to turn the tide of public opinion, that each incremental victory will eventually lead to sweeping law reform.

They’re afraid that they won’t be able to legally discriminate against us anymore.

So guys! Please. This fight, while hilarious, is also so fucking important. I am begging you to understand how old this fight is. These people always play the long game. They did it with Roe and they’re doing it with Disney.

We have! To keep! Pushing back!

[zaphodkilledthespeedforce]

Very excited to deal with all my family asking why I didn't tell them I was gay when I was 11, as though I wouldn't have been completely isolated from my peers at best.

I have no doubt my grandfather and uncle -who already convinced my family I should go to a pilgrim youth camp every summer from 10-16 to tone down my rebellion (I liked science and asked too many questions no one in the church could answer) - would have convinced my family I should go to a camp that'd straighten me right up.

[antiadvil]

i told the braincell coparent that pope francis said the f slur (sorry if this is how you learned that pope francis said the f slur) and they said "what if he's reclaiming it!!! what if he said it in support!!! what if it was karaoke night and he was singing american idiot!!!!" and all i could come up with in response was "well what if he was skydiving with a baby-" but in my defense i could've come up with something way funnier if the custody battle was going my way

HELP I've been out-funnied by my braincell coparent

[oneequalworldblog]

Iraq Bans LGBT Language from Media

Iraq has banned the term ‘homosexuality’ from use in media. They must call it ‘sexual deviance’ instead. The order is not yet official, but was released on Tuesday from Iraq’s official regulator of media, the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC). All media and social media companies operating in Iraq must cease using words like “homosexuality,” “homosexual,” and “gender” in any…

[catihere]

Considering his upbringing as a Greek demigod with a relatively present godly parent and an apparently open-minded mortal mother, with only a brief part of his childhood spent in fascist Italy, Nico is not very likely to have what we call “religious trauma” or “catholic guilt”.

Will, born and raised in the south of the USA in the early 2000s, on the other hand…

[draw-the-squad-like-this]

Draw your OTP like this

[dontyoulistentome]

Everybody be nice to Jayce now; he lost his boyfriend to the church

EDIT: how are you guys still vibing with this version after Act 2?