Did you see Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard running around town showing it off to the cameras and saying they owned it? Hypocrites! They want the image, the look, the glamour; they wear it with pearls, cheap $2 dollar shop pearls. Tony said he would sell his arse for it! But you can only do so much to ugly ducklings. Or what about Jim Wallace and his crazy clowns, did you see him wearing it at the circus, looked like a cheap copy to me, I think he could not tell the real coat from the fake. But this is the same bloke who gets hissy creating dark out of the darkness- It’s not our fault his performances are not selling well, who wants to see that stupidity?

So next time you see a politician showing off that coat, or someone who throffs yelling it’s all theirs cursing you, remember they are insulting not just you or me, but some bloody good Christians who are gay and others who are straight.

I believe that in this country everyone is entitled to have all sorts of opinion, whether be your atheism or my Christianity. However, if we the LGBTIQ are to convince people that we are people fighting for our equality, then we ought to practice it ourselves. Its very hard to convince the general public that we are an inclusive and diverse community when we are isolating and rejecting our own brothers and sister within our community.

As to the question of religion, there is a difference between faith and religion, faith is the relationship between you and God, while religion is the product of man, seeking. While religion seek to impose their will on man, faith enables us to have a close relationship with God, and through that relationship, giving us hope, strength and love, and in turn gives those to people who needs it. Thats why Jesus condemns the religious Pharisees while He helps those who are weakest in society.

A recent SSO article dated 17th of August mentioned that 60% of Christians supports gay marriage, those 60% represents Christians of true faith, while Rev Fred Nile represents those of religious Christians, you can clearly see that mainstream Christians no longer accepts the religiousity that condemns and rejects like Rev Fred Nile does, but their faith have led them to see LGBTIQ community are people that deserved to be loved and accepted just like everyone else.

I am not trying to impose any moral superiority nor convert you here, and I don’t intend to do so. My only aim is to get people to understand us, just as you are getting the mainstream community to understand our brothers and sisters in the LGBTIQ community. At the end of the day, I am just a guy who loves Jesus, and proud to be 100% gay =)

Here are some resources which I highly recommend you to have a look:

Freedom 2 b[e]

Freedom 2 b[e] is established by Anthony Venn-Brown, and is an organisation for LGBTIQ people with a Christian faith background to come together to share their experience with faith, and how they reconcile their faith with their sexuality. The website contains amazing stories of their journey with their faith and sexuality, and it also contains numerous resources as well.

Metropolitan Community Church



Metropolitan Community Church (MCC)started in the US in 1967 and its an inclusive church that welcomes people from all walks of live, including people of LGBTIQ community. It has churches over 23 countries with 40,000 members, making it one of the largest LGBTIQ organisations in the world. We have three MCC churches here in Sydney, one in Petersham, Paddington and Granville, and their websites are above.

Books:
Life of Unlearning – Anthony Venn Brown

Opinion is a individual’s choice.

What ever your values and worship is for the choice of the person.

Religion is a choice. Sexuality is not.

This is what these statements are out lining.

Please understand and respect others (including Jesse’s) comments.

Why bother many ask? I guess i can answer personally for me……i bother to create change and save lives. I have lost count of the number of people now who came from faith backgrounds troubled by the perceived conflict between their sexuality and faith. Some of those were seriously considering suicide at the time. A tragic situation for sure. Had the message been to reject your faith many would not have made it through. Talking about those who have integrated faith and sexuality is much more healthy for them at that stage. Changes have happened in many churches and denominations but not all. I found that I have been more effective having conversations inside the city walls than protesting outside.

I liked the way you closed off the article.

“You believe in Jesus, I believe in Gaga. My rite is the dance, yours is a prayer. You clap for a choir, I clap to the beat. You drink wine, I drink anything containing alcohol.

Within our differences, we have our similarities. Wow, I think I just managed to purge myself of any prejudices — it’s a miracle!”

I created this model some years ago now ( )……and found it to be very effective. its an invitation to both camps. I recognise though that for a variety of reasons…..some will not engage…..that is their right. We do live in a relatively democratic country thank god (whoever she may be…hehe).

Congratulations on reading the Bible cover-to-cover. I have yet to get through the whole thing. But since you’re pretty familiar with the Bible, you must be aware that it’s gone through a lot of changes over the millennia. Written and re-written, sections thrown out completely, translated and translated again… hey, here’s a fun exercise: go to Babelfish and translate a sentence from English to Spanish to French to German and back to English again, and see if it’s the same as what you started with. Because that’s pretty much what’s happened with the Bible and other ancient holy writings.

It’s interesting that you assume I’m a Christian. I don’t think I said that I was one. Again, Christians are not the only “religious” people out there.

Alex Pittaway (in the previous comment) explained the logical fallacy behind the concept of ‘cherry picking’ even better than I could. Religion is a whole lot more than a list of dos & don’ts in a giant old book. That sort of thinking is missing the point.

That’s why it doesn’t really bother me a whole lot when people say they don’t believe in God or whatever. Quite frankly it’s none of my business.

But if you are under the impression that religious synagogue-church-mosque-temple-going people (ALLLL of them) are defacto supporters of hatred and bigotry, then I’m here to tell you that’s… just totally wrong. It’s like saying all gays are paedophiles out to convert kids and destroy traditional families. Oh, wait.

I think your alluding to division where none need exist. People at the end of the day are still people and we as a community should value them as such and instead of looking at them through prejudged labels.

When a religious person stands up and vilifies gays, it is Ok because it is their belief and God-given right.

Anyone else smell the hypocrisy?

For those screaming loudest about this opinion piece I suggest you re-read without your rose coloured glasses and then do a little navel gazing ..

The underlying message was that we have our differences but in a way we are the same. We are divided and to say we are anything but different would be ignorant and I’m pretty sure thats what makes our community so diverse.

That’s strange. Because I can’t recal their last sermon against gays, or them encouraging us to sign a petition, or them attacking us with pickets.

But I do remember more and more of my Christian friends becoming supportive as they got to understand my life better.

This article is worse than anything I’ve heard in church.

That’s an incredibly over simplistic way of looking at a very complex document. Your assuming its black and white when there many shades of grey.

The Bible isnt a simple of list of do’s and don’t’s, which religious gays ‘cherry pick’. Far from a list, it’s an evolving, dynamic story if you will. Now just because events in the story change and develop, ie the focus moves from following laws to following Jesus, does not mean that the previous laws are ignored. It just means the stories changed.

Those few passages that briefly mention homosexuality in the Bible arent ignored by Gay Christians, they’re just taken into context as parts of an older history. That history changed, and gay Christians, like most mainstream tolerant Christians see the bigger the picture instead of getting caught up in the window dressing. That doesnt mean they’re cherry picking.

i’m with jesse matheson in saying that you are supporting a machine that, for the most part even if you personally are not, is against your very sexuality. something that we both know is definitely real.

She stepped away from Catholicism recently because she could no longer be part of a construct that was sexist and homophobic.

She still dedicates herself to Jesus and to god and to being a good person. But it seems to me she cant seem to call her self Catholic when she supports gay rights and womens rights.

She still practices the faith she was brought up with and believes in the good things believes in but simply does not give energy or support to that institution.

So I think same sex attracted people who identify has christian or any other religion do so… in a new way. They are a ‘new breed’ so to speak of people who connect with denominational faith in a way different to the close minded people who practice hate and intolerance. When the same label is being used by different groups such as these it can be hard to make a distinction and difficult for people to understand the difference.

If a religious person said these things about gay people, it would be hate speech. Surely a community that has experienced so much hate speech should think twice before publishing that kind of material, which only validates the homophobia that some religious people give in return. Well frankly, I expect much better from the editors of SSO.

Pastor Karl Hand, CRAVE Metropolitan Community Church

I guess I’m one of the ‘bad kids’ in the gay Christian community- I’m poly, love leather and heels, I am also a sex worker and drink like it’s going out of fashion. But please, don’t label me as ‘part of the machine’ when I’m one of the people actively working in anti-gay religious groups to stem the oppression.