I’ve never really been close to my parents or family and they haven’t contacted me in 15 years unless they want something from me. They also refuse to acknowledge my partner, so their reaction wasn’t a shock. Their nutty religious views nearly caused me to commit suicide prior to coming out 15 years ago, but since then I’ve come to reject organized religion for what it is.

At this point, I could care less if I ever see or hear from my parents again. Unless they contact me (they know the due date), I have no plans to even send them a birth announcement. After spending a lot of my money and vacation time in the past two years helping them out, I’m done. I in no way feel any love from these people and I’d never stand for them trying to brainwash my children. I wouldn’t even trust them to babysit for an hour! I’ve cut my losses and I’m moving on.

To many want to rewrite and use Bible verses to justify themselves,
Jesus never made religion ,man did , yes you can say many things to make yourself justified in your relationship but deep down inside it bothers what you . Not so much your sis.
Like one said we all will stand before God and judged accordingly and yes God does loves us , but do not read His word part to suit your needs read the whole chapter .
I was there once , just like you .

One of the biggest problems with organized religion is the fact that most churches teach that homosexuality is a sin. They do not want to believe otherwise because it is just easier for them not to. There are some gay affirming churches out there though. They have taken the time to really read the bible and see that the ‘homosexuality’ spoken about in the bible were not monogamous relationships, they were adulterous and or criminal sex acts.

I’m not sure if I am allowed to share website addresses here, but there is one in particular that, I believe, is a necessity to Christian gays and Christian family members and friends of gays. http://www.godmademegay.com It is a letter written by a formerly homophobic Baptist pastor. A man who really took the time to study the Bible and find out what it really says regarding homosexuality. As a Christian lesbian, it was very comforting for me to read. The fact that I came out to myself about 2 years after having been a born-again Christian makes the statement ‘God hates gays’ very mythical.

Sincerely,
a born-again lesbian

He should also remember that religious people often have a difficult time expressing their views about such issues to family members and are taught that sharing their beliefs is the loving thing to do. Most people are not very good at communicating their beliefs in a non-judgmental way. He should not feel that his sister has stopped loving him because they have a difference of opinion about religious beliefs.

Being tolerant of the intolerant is quite a challenge, isn’t it?

At first, I myself was spewing out all the Bible verses, with some added fire and brimstone of my own, at my wife and her new love, and then I finally found the resolve to just let it go. It became obvious that nothing I could say or do was going to change the reality. I later looked at the behaviors in my family- the silence, the gossip- and I decided that even if God does “hate” homosexuality, he does still love me. I agree that one has to deal with what “religious” persons think and say, but what it really boils down to for me is “what do I believe about what God thinks about it (and me).” Will God bar my sister-in-law from heaven for being an inflammatory gossip? I doubt it, and gossip is one of the sins mentioned in the same breath in the Bible as my sleeping with another man. I still believe that God is forgiving, and loving, and will guide me on the path I am taking, even if it is a different one than the one others are taking.

The Bible says that we will all stand alone before God. Those who call themselves Christians need to be reminded that they too will be called to give an account for their actions- their words and deeds. If their lives do not mirror what Jesus showed in the Bible, then one could say they have planks in their eyes. And as the Bible says- remove first the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.

as long as you teach your kids what’s right, and show them that you are not a bad person, they will listen to you before they listen to someone who tells them that their parents are ‘wrong’.