Evan J. Corbin's Blog, page 2
September 8, 2020
August 30, 2020
Religious Hypocrisy
Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes explores the relationship many LGBTQ community members have with faith, specifically Christianity. Every faith tradition suffers from the dissonance between what the faith teaches and how it’s practiced by a select few who contort a faith’s teachings to advance a conflicting agenda. Many LGBTQ community members still struggle to reconcile their belief in God with their distrust for too many of the faith’s messengers.
I went from being an ardent Catholic to a lapse-Catholic to what I now call an “optimist agnostic.” Before I came out of the closet, it was easy to embrace Catholicism. It gave me license and an excuse to avoid dating women. I didn’t want to date women to begin with, but once that decision was cloaked in a faithful desire to avoid sex before marriage, it became a way to justify my decision without having to confront my sexuality. How many of us made the same decision?
Now that I’ve accepted my sexuality, I find it hard to consider returning to a faith that tells me aspects of homosexuality should be shameful and sinful. Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes opens with the discovery of a lost, ancient copy of a Gospel where Jesus is said to have ministered to homosexuals and found no sin in the love they had for one another. No such testament exists in our reality, but is it truly that outlandish to consider?
Jesus told a crowd prepared to stone a prostitute to death that the one without sin should cast the first stone. Realizing they all sinned, no one cast a stone. We may forget, Jesus himself was the only one in the crowd without sin, but he didn’t cast a stone either. Why would that same person reserve condemnation for homosexuals when it was not inflicted on that woman? Christian faith traditions could learn from that example and focus on celebrating love and practicing forgiveness, not condemning LGBTQ individuals with admonishments Jesus himself never practiced.
Readers may cringe to read the hateful, anti-LGBTQ sermon given by the story’s protagonist, Pastor Rick. But, Christianity celebrates redemption and readers will profit by seeing his growth over the course of the story as he embraces his sexuality. My lived experience in the faith reminds me that his story is plausible. Perhaps not unlike myself, he used his own faith as a way to avoid confronting his sexuality. I hope that readers will drop their stones and follow his journey with the same compassion and forgiveness the Christian faith teaches us to embrace. Are we not so different?
Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes
I went from being an ardent Catholic to a lapse-Catholic to what I now call an “optimist agnostic.” Before I came out of the closet, it was easy to embrace Catholicism. It gave me license and an excuse to avoid dating women. I didn’t want to date women to begin with, but once that decision was cloaked in a faithful desire to avoid sex before marriage, it became a way to justify my decision without having to confront my sexuality. How many of us made the same decision?
Now that I’ve accepted my sexuality, I find it hard to consider returning to a faith that tells me aspects of homosexuality should be shameful and sinful. Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes opens with the discovery of a lost, ancient copy of a Gospel where Jesus is said to have ministered to homosexuals and found no sin in the love they had for one another. No such testament exists in our reality, but is it truly that outlandish to consider?
Jesus told a crowd prepared to stone a prostitute to death that the one without sin should cast the first stone. Realizing they all sinned, no one cast a stone. We may forget, Jesus himself was the only one in the crowd without sin, but he didn’t cast a stone either. Why would that same person reserve condemnation for homosexuals when it was not inflicted on that woman? Christian faith traditions could learn from that example and focus on celebrating love and practicing forgiveness, not condemning LGBTQ individuals with admonishments Jesus himself never practiced.
Readers may cringe to read the hateful, anti-LGBTQ sermon given by the story’s protagonist, Pastor Rick. But, Christianity celebrates redemption and readers will profit by seeing his growth over the course of the story as he embraces his sexuality. My lived experience in the faith reminds me that his story is plausible. Perhaps not unlike myself, he used his own faith as a way to avoid confronting his sexuality. I hope that readers will drop their stones and follow his journey with the same compassion and forgiveness the Christian faith teaches us to embrace. Are we not so different?
Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes
Cultural Identity
A friend pulled me aside at a gay bar in Philadelphia. “Why is it that there’s another bachelorette party here every weekend? Don’t they know they don’t belong here?” he asked.
In some sense, I can understand the question. Gay bars have long been a safe refuge for gay and lesbian individuals—a safe place where we can strike up a conversation with someone and have some reasonable assurance that the person is at least gay and won’t take offence to our overtures.
In Philadelphia, like many large cities in the United States, it was once illegal to serve alcohol to anyone suspected of being gay or lesbian. Our bars were relegated to dark alleys and were often operated by organized crime whose intentions were not always aligned with their patrons'. Still, that gave gays and lesbians a place to build their culture. Drag balls, dance, music. As draconian laws were repealed and as society began to embrace tolerance, if not acceptance, those gay spaces are often shared by straight allies. This is just the trade-off for having the right to marry our partner and have workplace protections, no?
But, how far would my friend and those like him go to restore our exclusive culture? Would we trade away any of the benefits we have in society to reclaim our safe spaces?
Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes explores this question and many others in the context of a future society where gay men and lesbian women are lionized by straight people who believe their very salvation hinges on their ability to ingratiate themselves with our community. In that world, all hope of cultural exclusivity is lost. Readers will confront this challenge for the LGBTQ community and wrestle with the same question.
Check out my website and subscribe to my newsletter!
Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes
In some sense, I can understand the question. Gay bars have long been a safe refuge for gay and lesbian individuals—a safe place where we can strike up a conversation with someone and have some reasonable assurance that the person is at least gay and won’t take offence to our overtures.
In Philadelphia, like many large cities in the United States, it was once illegal to serve alcohol to anyone suspected of being gay or lesbian. Our bars were relegated to dark alleys and were often operated by organized crime whose intentions were not always aligned with their patrons'. Still, that gave gays and lesbians a place to build their culture. Drag balls, dance, music. As draconian laws were repealed and as society began to embrace tolerance, if not acceptance, those gay spaces are often shared by straight allies. This is just the trade-off for having the right to marry our partner and have workplace protections, no?
But, how far would my friend and those like him go to restore our exclusive culture? Would we trade away any of the benefits we have in society to reclaim our safe spaces?
Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes explores this question and many others in the context of a future society where gay men and lesbian women are lionized by straight people who believe their very salvation hinges on their ability to ingratiate themselves with our community. In that world, all hope of cultural exclusivity is lost. Readers will confront this challenge for the LGBTQ community and wrestle with the same question.
Check out my website and subscribe to my newsletter!
Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes
