Spiritual Journey of Gay Men and Lesbian Women

sexual nature). Either of these actions can thrust religiously bonded people into a powerful double bind: on the one hand, the pain of living with denial, frustration, or continual attempts to change their immutable nature or, on the other hand, the anguish of remaining forever in a state of perceived sinfulness or unlovableness.

Thus, traditional organized religion, rather than assisting with integration and wholeness, often fragments individuals by seeming to demand that individuals change or be forgiven for their very nature. If, as it is now becoming apparent, sexual orientation is as biologically inherent as one's gender (Money, 1987, 1988), much of organized religion is demonstrating to gay men and lesbians its philosophical unreasonableness by demanding the impossible. To many people, being asked to repent of their orientation is like asking a man to be forgiven for his maleness or a woman to be forgiven for her femaleness. Morally Helpful

In addition to being perceived as philosophically unreasonable, much of Judeo-Christian moral teaching has not proven helpful to many gay men and lesbian women. The preponderance of "official" moral guidance as it relates specifically to lesbian and gay people is posited in the negative and focuses directly on the prohibition of intimate and sexual relationships between samegender couples. By casting their inclinations in pejorative language (i.e., "unnatural" and "abominable"), traditional organized religion usually leaves gay men or lesbian women with few morally credible ways to express themselves either sexually or in relationships unless their biologically intrinsic sexual orientation were to change. In this regard and in spite of scientific evidence to the contrary (McNeill, 1985, 1988; Money, 1987, 1988), some Christian groups have activated programs expressly designed to support conversion to heterosexuality and/or to encourage repression of homosexual inclinations.

The three moral choices gay men and lesbians perceive as offered to them by traditional Judeo-Christian religions (i.e., conversion/repentance, celibacy, or an often spurious heterosexual marriage) are frequently perceived as deeply offensive and contrary to their desire for wholeness. Thus, many churches are viewed by lesbian women and gay men as neither trustworthy nor particularly creditable and, as such, forfeit their role as exemplars of moral wisdom and teachers of truth. In this regard, they are perceived as undeserving of loyalty and affiliation.

Several Catholic theologians and writers (Curran, 1983; Maguire, 1984; McNaught, 1988; McNeill, 1985, 1988; Woods, 1988) have attempted to offer gay men and lesbians a more positive and life-affirming theology than that promulgated by the Official Church. Although these attempts have often been met by censure, criticism, and, in the case of McNeill, the loss of his priestly community, they are providing a voice of hope, a vision of authentic gay spirituality, and the impetus for lesbian women and gay men to reexamine the path to the Creator from different moral perspectives.

Literature of an encouraging nature has also been issued by Protestants and by the gay/lesbian-affirming Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (Clark, 1987; Edwards, 1984; Fortunato, 1982; Nelson, 1982, 1983; Perry, 1987; Scanzoni & Mollenkott, 1978; Uhrig, 1986), but the effect has sometimes been diminished by proclamations and rhetoric of condemnation and dehumanizing bigotry from the religious Right. Some of these Christian denominations cite seven scriptural passages as the basis for their moral positions, but many

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contemporary writers and theologians (Curran, 1983; Edwards, 1984; Fortunato, 1982; Maguire, 1984; Mollenkott, 1985; Nelson, 1982, 1983; Perry, 1987; Scanzoni & Mollenkott, 1978, 1980) believe that "questions of inspiration, critical interpretation, textual criticism, historical criticism, source criticism, and form criticism" have been neglected (Uhrig, 1986, p. 17).

Spiritually Illuminating

For many gay men and lesbian women, traditional organized religion has simply not inspired them to want to assimilate into the broader community of faith. In their minds, most mainline churches have not provided models of sacred gay lives and same-gender relationships nor identified the gay or lesbian person's central role in a variety of sacred traditions nor presented a mythology broad enough to encompass the life questions of lesbian and gay individuals, and thus have not offered them a pathway to holiness.

Only in the last decade has writing emerged that pointed to the very real possibility of gay and lesbian saints (Boswell, 1980) or of gay and lesbian clergy and theologians (Clark, 1987; McNeill, 1985, 1989; Perry, 1987). Until recently, those who would be able to act as mentors have been reluctant to disclose their orientation for fear of retaliation or the loss of their ministries. Thus, with few models of individuals who could reconcile their orientation with a life of spiritual commitment, lesbians and gay men have had difficulty believing this synthesis was possible. In light of the scarcity of these identifiable models, spiritually committed lesbian and gay people have often been forced either to adopt a spirituality that did not address them on the deepest levels or to become pioneers in discovering a religious, ritual experience suitable to their nature. Some of these alternatives will be discussed later in this article.

To the lesbian or gay person, traditional religion's stories of saints and biblical heroes accentuate either heterosexual values or the values of virginity or sexual repression. Models of samesex love and friendship such as Jesus and John (John 13:23-25, 21:7), Ruth and Naomi (Ruth 1:16-17), or David and Jonathan (I Samuel 18:1-3, 20:41; II Samuel 1:26) are few and rarely highlighted. Never is a sexually intimate relationship between two people of the same sex used as an example of perfect or divine love. Thus, without a spirituality that is authentic to the gay or lesbian experience, there often seems little with which to identify or toward which to aspire.

Lives are formed by "master" or shaping stories (Fowler, 1981). Everyone has a plan or overall idea of his or her future and how this future will unfold. Judeo-Christian tradition provides people with only two types of life plans, heterosexual marriage/family, or celibacy/virginity. As a result, not only is there an absence of mythos that gives support to loving lesbian or gay relationships, characterized by constancy and fidelity, but most stories of traditional religion also distort the picture of the gay man as depraved, debased, sinful, and shamed. (In fact, the pejorative term sodomite has emerged from a biblical misinterpretation that was passed down as fact [McNeill, 1985; Nelson, 1982].) In the absence of positive-forming stories, many gay men and lesbian women have simply not found illumination or inspiration for their faith journeys from traditional religion.

Communally Supportive

Openly gay men and lesbians rarely find much communal support from traditional organized religion. Not only is support

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for the development of a healthy Judeo-Christian ethic for their relationships generally lacking but also churches often actively attempt to dissolve same-gender couples, effecting the heterosexual equivalent of fostering divorce (Mollenkott, 1985). Lack of support is also demonstrated by the refusal of most traditional religions to ordain openly lesbian or gay people, thus leaving the impression that they are not wanted or trusted in leadership or ministerial roles. Furthermore, most mainline churches deny marriage to same-sex couples and offer not a single ritual to celebrate any gay or lesbian life event (such as the passage involved in "coming out"). In fact, almost all church-sponsored events, social and otherwise, seem to assume that everyone is heterosexual.

The ultimate irony for many gay or lesbian individuals is to hear about traditional Christianity's concern for the poor, the oppressed, and the "marginalized." The stories of these denominations often have Christ himself reaching out in a manner of genuine concern to the outcast. The Catholic bishops of the United States elaborated on this theme when they wrote the following in their pastoral on the U.S. economy (1986):

The ultimate injustice is for a person or group to be actively treated or passively abandoned as if they were nonmembers of the human race. To treat people this way is effectively to say that they simply do not count as human beings. This can take many forms, all of which can be described as varieties of marginalization or exclusion from social life. (No. 77)

It is hardly paradoxical then that many lesbian women and gay men feel "abandoned as if they were nonmembers of the human race" by the very organization that attempts to speak so prophetically for the marginalized and oppressed. It seems that what they want from their churches is to be respected as human beings, included in the broader faith community, and recognized for the contribution that is theirs to make, rather than be cast as sinful, sick, or unfortunate.

The best case scenario for a gay or lesbian person in most Judeo-Christian denominations is to be treated as invisible, with one's orientation merely whispered about but never openly mentioned, and the worst case scenario is to be excommunicated or ostracised. These sacred communities that purport to instill and inspire faith for gay men and lesbians often contribute to the shattering of their faith, the further fragmentation of self, and the derailing of their journey toward self-actualization.

THE MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION

The mental health profession, much like organized religion, has within its power both the ability to heal or to harm. Unfortunately in the eyes of many gay men and lesbians, psychologists, psychiatrists, and counselors have too often poured salt on their wounds. A healthier development, however, is that "Mental health practice with gay and lesbian populations has undergone enormous change in the past 20 years" (Gonsiorek, 1982, p. 5). Although more and more clinicians are practicing gay-affirming psychotherapy, there are still a number who believe that homosexuality is a condition requiring a cure (see Coleman, 1982; DeCrescenzo, 1985). This notion relates to the belief that heterosexuality is the mature condition and that homosexuality is indicative of an arrested Oedipal stage. Although there is a preponderance of evidence contradicting this position (Gonsiorek, 1982; Tripp, 1975), well-intentioned clients still come for a "conversion" that is not possible and depart empty-handed, feeling more hopeless than when they began.

Ritter and O'Neill

Although sex-object choice is formed at an early stage in life (Coleman, 1982), the initial reaction of most lesbian and gay people to their same-gender attractions is to vehemently deny that something so reprehensible to society is a part of them. To deal with the horror of being so different, many will naturally seek the services of a mental health professional. Faced with their clients' ostensible request to achieve "normality," many counselors will, in good faith, attempt to help orient them toward heterosexuality. By not knowing that confusion and panic about sexual identity is a common and normal early stage in the establishment of a positive gay or lesbian identity (Cass, 1979; Coleman, 1982), counselors can inadvertently assist in premature foreclosure of the developmental trajectory.

Often, in the name of God or in the cause of faith, counselors can hold out a hope for "alteration" or "modification" of one's homosexual sense (Augsburger, 1984). Employing techniques to strengthen willpower, encourage prayer, devalue homosexuality, and positively portray heterosexuality, such counselors may, sadly, leave clients "with such a degree of self-hatred" that not only will the clients' developmental journeys be terminated but so also may be their lives (Cass, 1979, p. 229).

Aside from strategies of cure and conversion, there are other far more subtle ways that counselors can use to short-circuit the full developmental path of gay men and lesbians. Although accepting the same-gender orientation of their clients, some therapists perceive their role only in terms of helping people navigate through the shoals of prejudice and discrimination that society afflicts upon those labeled as homosexual. Other mental health professionals, also accepting of their clients' orientation, tend to view them the same as they do heterosexuals except for what they do in bed. Rarely, in the counseling process, is the reality of the clients' "gayness" acknowledged almost as if they were talking to a Black individual without mentioning "Blackness." By failing to acknowledge the unique character of the gay or lesbian experience and orientation, the counselor may presume a life path parallel to that of the heterosexual and thus separate clients from their souls.

COUNSELORS AND THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

The discussion thus far has examined directions toward which lesbian women and gay men typically look for spiritual and personal wholeness. By understanding that deep losses may have resulted from their clients' associations with traditional organized religion and mental health professionals, counselors can help in a number of ways. They can further the spiritual journeys of the clients by positively recasting images of gay and lesbian people, by working to reframe their losses into opportunities for growth and transcendence, and by acquainting themselves and their clients with a variety of paths, both ancient and new, by which the spiritual questing of lesbian women and gay men might be facilitated.

Recasting Images

A sense of the mystical, the transcendent, the generative, the creative, and the symbolic are all characteristics of people possessing an evolved or developed faith (Fowler, 1981; O'Neill & Ritter, 1987). These are hardly characteristics that one would identify with the historical imagery of depravity and debasement associated with gay men and lesbian women since at least the latter half of the twelfth century (Boswell, 1980). Recent evidence, however, suggests that these elements have been present in many gay men and lesbians since the origin of the

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