Christianity and sexual orientation

{{Main|Christianity and homosexuality|Christianity and transgender people}}

{{Further|History of Christianity and homosexuality}}

The history of Christianity and homosexuality has been much debated.{{cite book |author-last=Frontain |author-first=Raymond-Jean |year=2003 |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7nVq0BLfVT4C&pg=PA1 |editor-last=Frontain |editor-first=Raymond-Jean |title=Reclaiming the Sacred: The Bible in Gay and Lesbian Culture |location=New York and London |publisher=Harrington Park Press |edition=2nd |pages=1–24 |isbn=9781560233558 |lccn=2002068889}} The Hebrew Bible and its traditional interpretations in Judaism and Christianity have historically affirmed and endorsed a patriarchal and heteronormative approach towards human sexuality,{{cite book |author-last=Mbuwayesango |author-first=Dora R. |year=2016 |orig-date=2015 |chapter=Part III: The Bible and Bodies – Sex and Sexuality in Biblical Narrative |editor-last=Fewell |editor-first=Danna N. |editor-link=Danna Nolan Fewell |title=The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=456–465 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199967728.013.39 |isbn=9780199967728 |lccn=2015033360 |s2cid=146505567}}{{cite journal |author-last=Leeming |author-first=David A. |author-link=David Adams Leeming |date=June 2003 |title=Religion and Sexuality: The Perversion of a Natural Marriage |editor-last=Carey |editor-first=Lindsay B. |journal=Journal of Religion and Health |publisher=Springer Verlag |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=101–109 |doi=10.1023/A:1023621612061 |issn=1573-6571 |jstor=27511667 |s2cid=38974409}} favouring exclusively penetrative vaginal intercourse between men and women within the boundaries of marriage over all other forms of human sexual activity, including autoeroticism, masturbation, oral sex, non-penetrative and non-heterosexual sexual intercourse (all of which have been labeled as "sodomy" at various times),{{cite book |last=Sauer |first=Michelle M. |year=2015 |chapter=The Unexpected Actuality: "Deviance" and Transgression |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U8mBCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |title=Gender in Medieval Culture |location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |pages=74–78 |doi=10.5040/9781474210683.ch-003 |isbn=978-1-4411-2160-8}} believing and teaching that such behaviors are forbidden because they're considered sinful, and further compared to or derived from the behavior of the alleged residents of Sodom and Gomorrah.{{cite journal |last=Gnuse |first=Robert K. |date=May 2015 |title=Seven Gay Texts: Biblical Passages Used to Condemn Homosexuality |journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin |publisher=SAGE Publications on behalf of Biblical Theology Bulletin Inc. |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=68–87 |doi=10.1177/0146107915577097 |issn=1945-7596 |s2cid=170127256}}{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=29699 |title=Bishop Soto tells NACDLGM: 'Homosexuality is Sinful' |last=Gilbert |first=Kathleen |date=September 29, 2008 |website=Catholic Online |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930122028/http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=29699 |archive-date=30 September 2008}}{{cite web |url=https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/religion/news/2010/12/08/8822/what-are-religious-texts-really-saying-about-gay-and-transgender-rights/ |title=What are Religious Texts Really Saying about Gay and Transgender Rights? |last1=Robinson |first1=Gene |last2=Krehely |first2=Jeff |last3=Steenland |first3=Sally |date=December 8, 2010 |website=Center for American Progress |access-date=March 30, 2021}}{{cite web |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/xarchive/voices/the-story-of-sodom-and-gomorrah-was-not-about-homosexuality-20180719 |title=The Story of Sodom and Gomorrah was NOT About Homosexuality |last=Modisane |first=Cameron |date=November 15, 2014 |website=News24 |access-date=March 30, 2021}} However, the status of LGBT people in early Christianity is debated.{{cite book |author-last=Doerfler |author-first=Maria E. |year=2016 |orig-date=2014 |chapter=Coming Apart at the Seams: Cross-dressing, Masculinity, and the Social Body in Late Antiquity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7fsoDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |editor1-last=Upson-Saia |editor1-first=Kristi |editor2-last=Daniel-Hughes |editor2-first=Carly |editor3-last=Batten |editor3-first=Alicia J. |title=Dressing Judeans and Christians in Antiquity |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |edition=1st |pages=37–51 |doi=10.4324/9781315578125-9 |isbn=9780367879334 |lccn=2014000554 |oclc=921583924 |s2cid=165559811}}{{cite book |author-last=Hunter |author-first=David G. |year=2015 |chapter=Celibacy Was "Queer": Rethinking Early Christianity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VgDSBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |editor1-last=Talvacchia |editor1-first=Kathleen T. |editor2-last=Pettinger |editor2-first=Michael F. |editor3-last=Larrimore |editor3-first=Mark |title=Queer Christianities: Lived Religion in Transgressive Forms |location=New York and London |publisher=NYU Press |pages=13–24 |isbn=9781479851812 |jstor=j.ctt13x0q0q.6 |lccn=2014025201 |s2cid=152944605}}{{Cite web|last=Frost|first=Natasha|date=2018-03-02|title=A Modern Controversy Over Ancient Homosexuality|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/john-boswell-homosexuality-catholicism-history|access-date=2021-04-24|website=Atlas Obscura|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=McClain|first=Lisa|title=A thousand years ago, the Catholic Church paid little attention to homosexuality|url=http://theconversation.com/a-thousand-years-ago-the-catholic-church-paid-little-attention-to-homosexuality-112830|access-date=2021-04-24|website=The Conversation|date=10 April 2019 |language=en}} Throughout the majority of Christian history, most Christian theologians and denominations have considered homosexual behavior as immoral or sinful.{{cite journal |last=Gnuse |first=Robert K. |date=May 2015 |title=Seven Gay Texts: Biblical Passages Used to Condemn Homosexuality |journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin |publisher=SAGE Publications on behalf of Biblical Theology Bulletin Inc. |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=68–87 |doi=10.1177/0146107915577097 |issn=1945-7596 |s2cid=170127256}}{{cite book|last1=Koenig|first1=Harold G.|last2=Dykman|first2=Jackson|title=Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780521889520|pages=43|quote=the overwhelming majority of Christian churches have maintained their positions that homosexual behavior is sinful}}

{{Main|The Bible and homosexuality}}

File:Munster Sodom.jpg (1564)]]

Following the lead of Yale scholar John Boswell, it has been argued that a number of early Christians (such as Saints Sergius and Bacchus) entered into homosexual relationships,{{Cite book |last=Boswell |first=John |title=The Marriage of Likeness: Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe |publisher=Fontana |year=1996 |isbn=9780006863267 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3MiAQAAMAAJ |access-date=April 20, 2021}} and that certain Biblical figures had homosexual relationships, despite Biblical injunctions against sexual relationships between members of the same sex. Examples cited are Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi, Daniel and the court official Ashpenaz, and, most famously, David and King Saul's son Jonathan.{{Cite web|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bmar.htm|title=Same-Sex Relationships in the Bible: Conservative and Liberal Viewpoints|website=www.religioustolerance.org}}

The story of David and Jonathan has been described as "biblical Judeo-Christianity's most influential justification of homoerotic love".Haggerty, p.380 The relationship between David and Jonathan is mainly covered in the Old Testament First Book of Samuel, as part of the story of David's ascent to power. The mainstream view found in modern biblical exegesis argues that the relationship between the two is merely a close platonic friendship.DeYoung, p. 290Martti Nissinen, Kirsi Stjerna, Homoeroticism in the Biblical World, p. 56 However, a few have interpreted the love between David and Jonathan as romantic or sexual.Boswell, John. Same-sex Unions in Premodern Europe. New York: Vintage, 1994. (pp. 135-137)Halperin, David M. One Hundred Years of Homosexuality. New York: Routledge, 1990. (p. 83)When Heroes Love:. The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David (New York & Chichester, Columbia University Press, 2005), pp. 165-231Homosexuality and Liminality in the Gilgamesh and Samuel (Amsterdam, Hakkert, 2007), pp. 28-63 Although David was married (to many women), he articulates a distinction between his relationship with Jonathan and the bonds he shares with women.

Another biblical hero, Noah, best known for his building an ark to save animals and worthy people from a divinely caused flood, later became a wine-maker. One day he drank too much wine, and fell asleep naked in his tent. When his son Ham entered the tent, he saw his father naked, and his son, Canaan was cursed with banishment and possibly slavery. In Jewish tradition, it is also suggested that Ham had anal sex with Noah or castrated him.Conner & Sparks p. 250, "Noah"

Image:Sodoma 003.jpg, considered by some to be the world's first LGBTQ icon]]

While highly controversial, attempts have been made to hold up certain Christian saints as positive examples of homosexuality in Church history:

• Saints Sergius and Bacchus: Sergius and Bacchus's close relationship has led some modern commentators to believe they were lovers. The most popular evidence for this view is that the oldest text of their martyrology, in the Greek language, describes them as "erastai", or lovers.Boswell, p. 154 Historian John Boswell considered their relationship to be an example of an early Christian same-sex union, reflecting his contested view of tolerant early Christians attitudes toward homosexuality. The official stance of the Eastern Orthodox Church is that the ancient Eastern tradition of adelphopoiia, which was done to form a "brotherhood" in the name of God, and is traditionally associated with these two saints, had no sexual implications.
• Saints Cosmas and Damian:{{cite book |author=Jordan, Mark D. |title=The silence of Sodom: homosexuality in modern Catholicism |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-226-41041-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/silenceofsodomho00jord }} on the nature of "brotherly love", p.174 A difficulty with this assertion is that most hagiographies list these saints as natural brothers or twins.[http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=101859 Holy Wonderworking Unmercenary Physicians Cosmas and Damian at Rome], synaxarion, Orthodox Church in America{{Cite web|url=https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2020/12/15/103548-hieromartyr-eleutherius-bishop-of-illyria-and-his-mother-martyr|title=Lives of the Saints|first1=All|last1=troparia|first2=kontakia · All lives of|last2=saints|website=www.oca.org}}
• Saint Sebastian has been called the world's first gay icon.{{cite web |url=http://www.glbtq.com/arts/subjects_st_sebastian.html |title=Subjects of the Visual Arts: St. Sebastian |work=glbtq.com |access-date=2007-08-01 |year=2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070901002221/http://www.glbtq.com/arts/subjects_st_sebastian.html |archive-date=2007-09-01 }} The combination of his strong, shirtless physique, the symbolism of the arrows penetrating his body, and the look on his face of rapturous pain have intrigued artists for centuries, and began the first explicitly gay cult in the 19th century. Richard A. Kaye wrote, "contemporary gay men have seen in Sebastian at once a stunning advertisement for homosexual desire (indeed, a homoerotic ideal), and a prototypical portrait of tortured closet case."{{cite book |last=Kaye |first=Richard A. |chapter=Losing His Religion: Saint Sebastian as Contemporary Gay Martyr |title=Outlooks: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities and Visual Cultures. Peter Horne and Reina Lewis, Eds. |year=1996 |volume=86|page=105 |doi=10.4324/9780203432433_chapter_five|isbn=978-0-203-29128-3 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/arrows-of-desire-how-did-st-sebastian-become-an-enduring-homoerotic-icon-779388.html |title=Arrows of desire: How did St Sebastian become an enduring, homo-erotic icon? - Features, Art |newspaper=The Independent |date=2008-02-10 |access-date=2009-07-16}}

The extent and even the existence of religious castration among Christians, with members of the early church castrating themselves for religious purposes,{{Cite journal | doi= 10.1163/157007297X00291 | last= Caner | first= Daniel | title= The Practice and Prohibition of Self-Castration in Early Christianity | journal= Vigiliae Christianae | volume= 51 | issue= 4 | year= 1997 | jstor= 1583869 | pages= 396–415 }} is subject to debate.{{Cite journal | doi= 10.1177/0142064X05057772 | last= Hester | first= David | title= Eunuchs and the Postgender Jesus: Matthew 19:12 and Transgressive Sexualities | journal= Journal for the Study of the New Testament | volume= 28 | issue= 1 | pages= 13–40 | year= 2005 | s2cid= 145724743 }} The early theologian Origen found scriptural justification for the practice in {{bibleverse||Matthew|19:12|NRSV}},.Frend, W. H. C., The Rise of Christianity, Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1984, p. 374, which in footnote 45 cites Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica VI.8.2 where Jesus says, "For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can." (NRSV)

In describing Jesus as a spado and Paul of Tarsus as a castratus in his book De Monogamia, Tertullian, a 2nd-century Church Father, used Latin words that denoted eunuchs{{cite web|url=http://www.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wordes.exe?eunuch |title=Words |publisher=Archives.nd.edu |access-date=2014-04-24}} to refer to virginity and continence.{{cite book | last= Moxnes | first= Halvor | title= Putting Jesus in his place | publisher= Westminster John Knox Press | year= 2004 | page= 85 | isbn= 978-0-664-22310-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zV0jVQK0K14C&q=%22takes+spado%22&pg=PA85 |quote=Especially in De Monogamia it seems clear that Tertullian takes spado to mean a "virgin", but by using the word spado he employed a term that was in common use to refer to castrated men}}Accordingly, Tertullian's text, "ipso domino spadonibus aperiente regna caelorum ut et ipso spadone, quem spectans et apostolus, propterea et ipse castratus, continentiam mavult" ([http://www.tertullian.org/latin/de_monogamia_app.htm De monogamia, 3]) has been translated as "seeing that the Lord Himself opens 'the kingdoms of the heavens' to 'eunuchs', as being Himself, withal, a virgin; to whom looking, the apostle also--himself too for this reason abstinent--gives the preference to continence" ([http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/tertullian31.html Roberts-Donaldson translation]).

The significance of the selection of the Ethiopian eunuch as being the first gentile convert has been discussed as representative of inclusion of a sexual minority in the context of the time.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUAL7iZHVN4C&q=homosexuality%20and%20the%20Ethiopian%20Eunuch&pg=PA132|title=Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality, Revised and Expanded Edition: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church|first=Jack|last=Rogers|date=14 April 2009|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9781611640502}}

{{Main|Christianity and homosexuality}}

File:Gay Cross.jpg and LGBTQ people, combining the Christian cross and LGBTQ rainbow flag]]

Christianity has traditionally regarded male homosexual behavior to be an immoral practice, or sinful, and most major Christian movements continue to hold this view.John C. Dwyer, Human Sexuality: A Christian View, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 1987, p. 62David Jeffers, Understanding Evangelicals, Xulon Press, USA, 2006, p. 54

Some Christian movements have only denominations that have a conservative view, like the Catholic Church,[http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a6.htm#2357 Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2357] and [https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20051104_istruzione_en.html Criteria for the Discernment of Vocation for Persons with Homosexual Tendencies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080225072042/https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_20051104_istruzione_en.html |date=February 25, 2008 }} the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints, and the Seventh-day Adventist churches, although some of these movements have networks of LGBT people.Jeanne H. Ballantine, Keith A. Roberts, Our Social World: Introduction to Sociology, 3rd Media Edition, SAGE, USA, 2011, p. 427Adrian Thatcher, The Oxford Handbook of Theology, Sexuality, and Gender, Oxford University Press, UK, 2015, p. 363

Some Christian movements have denominations that have liberal or conservative views, like the Anglican churches, Lutheran churches, Presbyterian churches, Methodist churches, Quaker churches, Mennonite churches, Baptist churches, and Pentecostal churches.Jeffrey S. Siker, Homosexuality and Religion: An Encyclopedia, Greenwood Publishing Group, USA, 2007, p. 112William Henard, Adam Greenway, Evangelicals Engaging Emergent, B&H Publishing Group, USA, 2009, p. 20Erwin Fahlbusch, Geoffrey William Bromiley, The Encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume 4, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, USA, 2005, p. 937

The Metropolitan Community Church has been founded specifically to serve the Christian LGBTQ community. Its founder, Troy Perry, was the first minister to conduct a same-sex marriage in public, as well as filing the first lawsuit for legal recognition of same-sex marriages in the United States.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mccchurch.org/overview/history-of-mcc/|title=History of MCC – Metropolitan Community Churches|website=www.mccchurch.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-07-16}}

Studies in the US show more LGBT individuals identify as Protestant than Catholic.{{cite web |title=LGBT Identification, by Religious Affiliation |url=https://www.prri.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/PRRI_Mar_2020_LGBT-Figure_2.png |access-date=April 20, 2021 |publisher=PRRI American Values Atlas 2019}}{{cite web |date=2014 |title=Religious Composition by Self-Reported Sexual Identity |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/FT_15.05.22_RLSsexualOrientation_640px.png |access-date=April 20, 2021 |publisher=PEW Research Center}}{{cite web |date=2013 |title=Religious Affiliation |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/06/SDT-2013-06-LGBT-6-02.png |access-date=April 20, 2021 |publisher=PEW Research Center}}

{{Section empty|date=May 2025}}

Lesbians face different social and cultural preconceptions than gay men. Their experience in Christianity is sometimes dissimilar to that of gay men, although lesbianism has also traditionally been considered a sin within the religion.{{Cite journal|last=Mahaffy|first=Kimberly A.|date=1996|title=Cognitive Dissonance and Its Resolution: A Study of Lesbian Christians|journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion|volume=35|issue=4|pages=392–402|doi=10.2307/1386414|jstor=1386414}}

In 1982, lesbian members of DignityUSA founded the Conference for Catholic Lesbians out of concern that DignityUSA was too oriented toward males.Hogan, Steve and Lee Hudson (1998). Completely Queer: The Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia,. pg. 478. New York, Henry Holt and Company. {{ISBN|0805036296}}.

In 1986 the Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus (EEWC), then known as the Evangelical Women's Caucus International, passed a resolution stating: "Whereas homosexual people are children of God, and because of the biblical mandate of Jesus Christ that we are all created equal in God's sight, and in recognition of the presence of the lesbian minority in EWCI, EWCI takes a firm stand in favor of civil rights protection for homosexual persons."{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EoJrHDirVQUC&q=%22whereas+homosexual+people+are+children+of+god%22&pg=PA471|title=Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America: Women and religion: methods of study and reflection|first1=Rosemary Skinner|last1=Keller|first2=Rosemary Radford|last2=Ruether|first3=Marie|last3=Cantlon|date=1 January 2006|publisher=Indiana University Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9780253346865}}

A survey of self-identified lesbian women found a "dissonance" between their religious and sexual identities. This dissonance correlated with being an evangelical Christian before coming out.

Very few churches have released statements about bisexuality, and research into the bisexual Christian community has been affected by the fact that bisexual Christians are often considered the same as lesbian and gay Christians.{{Cite journal|last=Toft|first=Alex|date=2014-08-15|title=Re-imagining bisexuality and Christianity: The negotiation of Christianity in the lives of bisexual women and men|journal=Sexualities|language=en|volume=17|issue=5–6|pages=546–564|doi=10.1177/1363460714526128|s2cid=144119995|issn=1363-4607|url=http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/37565/1/14738_Toft.pdf}} However, in 1972, a Quaker group, the Committee of Friends on Bisexuality, issued the "Ithaca Statement on Bisexuality" supporting bisexuals.{{cite web|url=http://bimedia.org/1984/june-1972-the-ithaca-statement/|title=June 1972: The Ithaca Statement - BiMedia|date=10 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015231948/http://bimedia.org/1984/june-1972-the-ithaca-statement/|archive-date=15 October 2015}} The Statement, which may have been "the first public declaration of the bisexual movement" and "was certainly the first statement on bisexuality issued by an American religious assembly," appeared in the Quaker Friends Journal and The Advocate in 1972.{{Cite book | last = Donaldson | first = Stephen | year = 1995 | contribution = The Bisexual Movement's Beginnings in the 70s: A Personal Retrospective | pages = [https://archive.org/details/bisexualpolitics00tuck/page/31 31–45] | editor-last = Tucker | editor-first = Naomi | title = Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries, & Visions | place = New York | publisher = Harrington Park Press | isbn = 978-1-56023-869-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/bisexualpolitics00tuck/page/31 }}{{cite news

|url=http://www.camprehoboth.com/issue07_11_03/pastout.htm

|title=PAST Out: What is the history of the bisexual movement?

|access-date=2008-03-18

|last=Highleyman

|first=Liz

|date=2003-07-11

|work=LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth

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|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531051440/http://www.camprehoboth.com/issue07_11_03/pastout.htm

|archive-date=2008-05-31

}}{{cite journal|last=Martin|first=Robert|title=Quakers 'come out' at conference|journal=The Advocate|date=1972-08-02|issue=91|pages=8}} Today Quakers have varying opinions on LGBT people and rights, with some Quaker groups more accepting than others.{{cite web|url=http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issues-religious-society-of-friends-quakers|title=Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ Issues: Religious Society of Friends - Human Rights Campaign|first=Human Rights|last=Campaign}}

Asexuality may be considered the lack of a sexual orientation, or one of the four variations thereof, alongside heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality.{{cite journal |last=Bogaert |first=Anthony F. |year=2004 |title=Asexuality: prevalence and associated factors in a national probability sample |journal=Journal of Sex Research |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=279–87 |doi=10.1080/00224490409552235 |pmid=15497056 |s2cid=41057104}}{{cite journal |last=Melby |first=Todd |date=November 2005 |title=Asexuality gets more attention, but is it a sexual orientation? |url=http://www.aasect.org/NEWS/CS%20Nov%202005.pdf |journal=Contemporary Sexuality |volume=39 |issue=11 |pages=1, 4–5 |issn=1094-5725 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211090359/http://www.aasect.org/NEWS/CS%20Nov%202005.pdf |archive-date=2006-02-11 |access-date=20 November 2011 |via=American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aVDZchwkIMEC&pg=PA82 |title=Sex and Society |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7614-7906-2 |editor=Marshall Cavendish |volume=2 |pages=82–83 |contribution=Asexuality |access-date=27 July 2013}}

As asexuality is relatively new to public discourse, few Christian denominations discuss it and the Bible does not clearly state a view on it.{{cite news |last=Smith |first=SE |date=21 August 2012 |title=Asexuality always existed, you just didn't notice it |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/21/asexuality-always-existed-asexual |access-date=March 11, 2013 |newspaper=The Guardian}}{{Cite web |title=Ace Week |url=https://www.aceweek.org/ |website=Ace Week}} However, some Christian publications have recently made statements on the subject. In the Christian magazine Vision, David Nantais, S.J. and Scott Opperman, S.J. wrote in 2002, "Asexual people do not exist. Sexuality is a gift from God and thus a fundamental part of our human identity. Those who repress their sexuality are not living as God created them to be: fully alive and well."{{cite web|url=http://www.vocationnetwork.org/articles/show/49|title=Eight myths about religious life - VISION Vocation Network for Catholic Religious Life & Priesthood - English|access-date=2013-10-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212070652/https://vocationnetwork.org/articles/show/49|archive-date=2019-02-12}} However, Lisa Petriello wrote the article "Why We Christians Should Accept Asexuals", which was published in 2020 in Katy Christian Magazine.{{Cite web|url=https://www.katychristianmagazine.com/2020/12/15/why-we-christians-should-accept-asexuals/|title=Why We Christians Should Accept Asexuals|first=Lisa|last=Petriello|date=December 15, 2020}} In this article, she points out that there is nothing in the Bible condemning asexuality, and posits that both Jesus and Saint Paul were asexual.

{{Portal|Christianity|LGBTQ}}

• Side A, Side B, Side X, Side Y (theological views)
• Blessing of same-sex unions in Christian churches
• LGBT-affirming Christian denominations
• Queer theology

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |title= Coming out in Christianity: religion, identity, and community|last= Wilcox|first= Melissa M.|year= 2003|publisher= Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-21619-9}}

{{Religion and LGBT topics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christianity And Sexual Orientation}}

Category:Sexual orientation