Reconciling Evangelical Christianity with Our Sexual Minorities: Reframing the Biblical Discussion

Most evangelical Christians have understood their faith, rooted in a high view of biblical authority, to be irreconcilable with “homosexuality.” This has meant that devoted LGBT people raised as evangelical Christians must choose between their sexuality and their faith/religious community. This creates enormous psychic distress, turns LGBT Christians and their allies away from (evangelical) Christianity, and contributes to intense alienation between the gay community and evangelicals all over the world. But traditional evangelical attitudes on LGBT people and their relationships are beginning to change. This paper offers a description of the state of the conversation in the North American evangelical community on this issue, and summarizes my own normative proposal.