LGBT Parenting
Book Recomendation
Do any of you ladies know of any recs for books. My good friend from PDX has recently found herself interested in women, however she is pretty religious and struggling with balancing the two. I was curious if anyone knew of any books about people who have found a successful balance with religion and their sexuality, also can any of you suggest any films she could watch? I was trying to avoid 'But I'm a Cheerleader' sort.
She has asked me for a bunch of advice, and books and movies was something she asked for. I am not a reader, so maybe you guys can help out.
thanks!
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Re: Book Recomendation
I haven't read the book "Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survivor Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians" but it has some great reviews on amazon from people who have read it. I would also suggest Chely.Wright's book "Like Me" which is very much about her story of struggling with being Christian (and a country music singer) and coming out. I also like the book "And Then I Met This Woman" which is a compilation of stories of women who were married to men and came out later in life. This may not be your friend's story, but she may identify with some of the feelings expressed by the women in the book.
Sure thing:)
The movie "For the Bible Tells Me So" is available on Netflix and is, imo, probably the best full length film resource.
The documentary, Camp Out, is about a Christian camp for LGBT teens, so it is not geared towards adults coming out, but it is certainly inspirational and shows a positive Christian/GLBT story. The last time I checked, it was available on Netflix. My wife was a counselor at the camp and worked on the filming:)
There are also very short vignettes produced by Lutherans Concerned, the LGBT Lutheran advocacy group, on YouTube. Their YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/user/LutheransConcerned#p/u and primarily is short videos from LGBT Lutherans telling their coming out and acceptance stories.
As for books, I read Walter Wink's "Homosexuality and Christian Faith: Questions of Conscience for the Churches" when I was coming out and it was extremely helpful to me. Each chapter can tell it's own story, so one doesn't have to read the whole book.
I also liked "A Time to Embrace" by William Stacy Johnson, which details the various perspectives that Christians have on homosexuality.
Note: I'm a minister...so I might be slightly geekier and into these books than others would be:) But, I do think in small amounts they can be extremely powerful.
Although it is not exclusively about homosexuality, I know that The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart helped Jen when she was struggling with reconciling her faith and sexuality. It's by Peter Gomes.
(I couldn't remember the name of the book so I went to Amazon and typed in "Bible homosexuality," and let me just say that the results were barf-worthy. Ugh.)
I loved the book "Like Me" as mentioned above...it was great!
This. Love this film.
Also encourage her to check out "open and affirming" churches -- many UCC and some United Methodist churches, among others, have this distinction. Often if a congregation has adopted an "open and affirming" policy, they post it prominently on their website. That's how my wife and I found the church we got married in (UCC) as well as the church we attend during the summers in Houston (United Methodist).