COMMUNITY GROUPS

Group helps reconcile religion with coming out

by Dan Hlad

Cleveland-Spirituality and sexuality. A touchy subject. One of the most basic fears almost all queer people experience in their coming out process is that of how their spiritual beliefs conflict with their sexual orientation or their gender identity.

We at the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center hear it all the time. "I was raised Catholic, my family will never understand," "I belong to a Baptist congregation, what should I do?"

The group is not a worship service; rather it is a safe place where a person can explore the many ways to incorporate being gay or lesbian with whatever beliefs they have.

Facilitated by two people active locally in various organizations, Out of the Dark meets the second and fourth Monday of each month at 7 pm at the Center, 1418 West 29th St. at Detroit Ave. in Ohio City. Come to Out of the Dark and learn for yourself.

The Center

Despite recent progress by many mainstream religions, the fact remains that many traditional faiths do not accept the fact that a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender person can incorporate their spiritual needs into a "lifestyle" that goes against the fundamental beliefs of that faith. For many people, its the one thing that makes their coming-out experience the most difficult.

Luckily, there are many wonderful affirming congregations in this area. Many JudeoChristian-based congregations, and even many Pagan or Earth-centered faiths (and others) can ultimately provide a safe place where people in our community can worship without the fear of rejection or shame.

Often, however, many people want to find a balance between the beliefs of the religion they were raised to believe and a comfort in their own sexuality or gender identity. That is why the Center has developed “Out of the Dark," a non-denominational support group to help people achieve that balance.

We also want to extend a special thanks to Insight, the gay and lesbian networking group. Due to space limitations in our last column and other factors, we weren't able to give them the credit they were due for raising over` $4,500 at this year's Masquerade Ball on October 25.

The Insight folks did a super job. There were terrific auction items, a great meal, wonderful music and they were even Insight-ful enough to provide Indians fans with a television so they could watch the World Series. All this and some really outrageous costumes, good friends, and a great time.

We appreciate the ongoing support of community empowering groups like Insight. Thanks again for your commitment to the Center. It's folks like Insight that consistently take it upon themselves to really improve the quality of the community for everyone's benefit; and we really are grateful they do.

Best wishes for a safe holiday season and a very gay New Year!

Dan Hlad is public relations coordinator for the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center.

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