Excellent article, what do you think?
OK you can guess it is from USA but the gut feelings express here are truly encouraging. How would the other members of the family cope? I love the quote from one of the daughters "I was immaculate conception, ’cause God just wanted you to have me,”. To her it is a matter of fact. Nevertheless, the article continues to discuss the typical question of sex but asks why? We wouldn't normally ask someone about their sex life... would you? No, probably not but generally conversation does appear to focus upon the operation. The editors called upon GLAAD, the US equivalent to FFLAG, to reiterate that we need to focus upon the person and allow them to live.
Excellent article, what do you think?
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This describes many parents, who have a faith, and their initial battle with their child coming out. It describes the issues really well. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/freedhearts/2013/06/10/to-the-parents-of-gay-children/
I particularly like the bit where it says 'Now is the key time to embrace your child'. Regardless of your faith this IS the time to embrace your child - to demonstrably show that you love your child totally. We also liked the part where you should not face the guilt. We may have missed the early signs but we did not cause this - it is natural and we now want to help them live. Not deal with it, it's not a complaint or illness. We want to help them live. It may be difficult for us but it is far more difficult for them - so we'll support them. Many times we may well be shocked but at times like that we need to move away from our own plans for them, our aspirations for their career, and reflect that this is their life and we need to be there to help them, to support them and to love them on their journey.
On Saturday 7th February we travelled to Two23's meeting in St Mary Aldemary Church in central London. Here we met up with other parents who have LGBT children, not to commiserate in any way but to grow as parents who wish to truly love their children. We want to gain a deeper understanding of their issues facing them, the pain and anguish they faced when coming out and how to deepen that love in the months and years ahead. Together our friendships have deepened as we have shared how we have seen our love grow. We have heard from LGBT folk of their journey, from their perspective. Diverse Church are looking to broaden the range of hubs so that parents are supported across the land. We want to be part of that as well.
After the parents session we joined the whole congregation, 150 LGBT Christians who vibrantly want to express their faith and joy in their worship. This was a truly amazing experience. The next sessions are on 18th April, 13th July and 19th September. We'd really recommend going.
Following the tragedy of the death of Leelah Alcorn the response has been understandably negative towards parents of transgender children. However, this letter offers advice to Christian parents. It's well worth a read.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beth-leyba/dear-fellow-parents-of-lgbtq-youth_b_6414836.html "Queer" is not a term that is universally recognized and understood in the common vernacular. So in honor of Pride this weekend, I attempted to present the many different sides of what being queer means. "Queer" can be used to describe someone's sexual orientation or stand as a political statement. Its definition has many dimensions, from gender identification to a resistance against structural rigidity to a strange sensation or state of being. "Queer" isn't a word that many people clearly understand when used to describe yourself. Allow me to elaborate what being queer personally means to me, as "queer" means different things to different people.
Being queer is first and foremost a state of mind. It is a worldview characterized by acceptance, through which one embraces and validates all the unique, unconventional ways that individuals express themselves, particularly with respect to gender and sexual orientation. It is about acknowledging the infinite number of complex, fluid identities that exist outside the few limited, dualistic categories considered legitimate by society. Being queer means believing that everyone has the right to be themselves and express themselves without being judged or hated because that doesn't fit in with what's normal. Being queer means challenging everything that's considered normal. Being queer means ceasing to think in binaries like "male" or "female," "gay" or "straight," "monogamous" or "non-monogamous," because there are more than two sides to every person and every context. It means being aware of and OK with the fact that our own identities and sexualities are always in flux, never static. Being queer means recognizing that there are alternate gender identities, such as transgender or genderqueer or androgynous folks, and respecting that these identities are just as legitimate as those that are visible. A queer worldview deconstructs and obliterates all established notions of gender. Gender is a set of socially constructed roles arbitrarily assigned to everyone based on physiological reproductive traits. Being queer means embracing supposedly "masculine" and "feminine" traits as simply universal human traits and ignoring the behavioral expectations that are socially imposed according to our non-consensually assigned gender. Genitals don't tell men that they can't wear dresses and women that they have to wait to be asked out; cultural norms dictate gendered behaviors. Being queer means doing away with gender altogether, because it restricts the ways people can freely and unlimitedly express themselves. Being queer means being attracted to anyone, with no regard to a person's gender or sex. It could mean someone is attracted to more than one gender, or even two genders. Being queer means you like what you like and you accept that your desires are dynamic and you are open to change. Being queer means being sex-positive and recognizing that sex is good and everyone has the right to have as much or as little of it as suits them. It means thinking about sex in different ways other than the heterosexual, male-pleasure-oriented, meant-for-reproduction kind. Being queer means constantly questioning what's considered "normal" and why that norm gets privileged over other ways of being. It means criticizing who sets these norms and recognizing the privilege that comes with being able to identify as "normal." Being queer means confronting all forms of oppression and bringing as many unheard, minority experiences and stories to light. Being queer means addressing and understanding the intersectionality between race, gender, sexuality and class and how it affects each person's experience and identity differently. Being queer means searching for alternate ways of being and living. It means learning to appreciate and celebrate difference and striving for constructive, fair and happy ways to coexist with each other. Being queer means constantly looking for ways to be as inclusive as possible in order to create a world where everyone feels safe and accepted, in which there is true equality for every single person. Being queer means embracing a free and open-ended identity by casting off all other identities that categorize us, and defining ourselves simply as human beings. For a sassier, more explicit version, read this on nadiacho.com. What must it be like for someone, everyday of their life, to be asking "Am I in the wrong body?"
That old American Indian proverb "Never criticise a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins" seems very apt. How can we criticise another person when we don't really understand what they are going through? Here is a story where an Army officer, serving on the front line, identifying as transgender, has amazingly bravely 'come out' and now explained their story. We salute you. The US media are currently reporting that many States are still in favour of 'gay therapy' where those who identify as LGBT can be 'cured' of this malaise by some form of counselling. Now the NHS is instructing its practitioners that this is not to occur. The word 'normal' is occasionally used to describe the hetrosexual majority and hence the remainder can be deemed to be non-normal. How wrong this is. We are all human. Here is an article reporting the change in NHS policy.
A collaboration between a number of organisations has allowed the following tool to be produced which allows for others to receive an education in the various ways we can describe gender. Really valuable.
http://www.nlmscontent.nesc.nhs.uk/sabp/gv/ This article from Scotland explains how someone can wake and feel that they are either a man or a woman. Their dress may change accordingly. Moreover it makes that comment that our possible view of just 2 gender types is manifestly wrong. I wonder how that might feel? Possibly more than emotional roller coaster.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/can-wake-up-male-female-4952770 Vicky Beeching 'came out' last year and received a very mixed reaction. Here she gives her story. It does go on for some time but even the first 15 minutes will give you a greater understanding, depending upon where you start, of the struggles confronting one who identifies themselves as LGBT. A wonderfully illuminating talk about the non-binary nature of gender. We often wish to put people into a box, labelling them conveniently. This often occurs with those who identify as LGBT. But what exactly are we doing when we do this? This video explains about how we often devalue people and make them second class citizens. It was filmed in 2012 but is still relevant today Since the tragic death of Leelah Alcorn there has been an uprising related to preventing such a tragedy again. Reparative Therapy, the process where people can be healed from being gay, is now the focus for a petition so it can be stopped. An article, for Christianity Today, which highlights the feeling is here. Rev Sally Hitchiner was quoted in the article as saying: Rev Sally Hitchiner, founder and director of Diverse Church, a support network for LGBT young people in the Church, said that the use of reparative therapy is also prevalent and among the LGBT Christian community in the UK. |
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May 2016
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