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Black Churches Accused of Promoting Lesbianism, Excluding Gay Men
Reported by Michal Ortner
The Christian church and the homoseχual community have long been at odds. Recent stories are indicating that there has been an elevation of lesbianism in African-American churches. These aren’t lesbians seeking a change in their lifestyles. These aren’t merely pew-sitters. The lesbians within the church are pastors, ushers, Sunday School teachers, and those in leadership positions.
This has left some people questioning if the black church is willing to deal with lesbianism as harshly as it has with male homoseχuality. Currently, many churches are not allowing homoseχual men to take on leadership positions such as pastors, teachers, and mentors.
The black church has been accused of overlooking women who are engaging in homoseχual acts. Some claim that pastor’s wives and female pastors are dressing “butch” or masculine and have female partners. To some, a gay, feminine man is much more offensive, therefore causing the church to disregard the lesbians.
Bishop Yvette Flunder is the founding pastor of City of Refuge, a church located in San Francisco, CA. She is actively pursuing equal rights for women and for homoseχuality. She refers to herself and her partner, Shirley, as “same-gender loving.” Flunder, with her short haircut and masculine traits, is the type of lesbian that is concerning the broader black church.
In an interview with Religious Dispatches, Flunder says, “Well, the best way to say it to you is first of all, well, who am I? I’m an African-American person of faith. And same-gender loving. And I’m not really unique. It’s just that folks are not talking to folks like me. I have to make my way to folks to get them to hear.”
Flunder is a participant in The Fellowship Conference which convenes twice yearly. The Fellowship is made up of about 110 clergy who represent 75 churches throughout the United States. These churches are predominantly African-American and located in the inner city. Most of the clergy are homoseχuals and all support the LGBTQ community. Most have come from Methodist, Baptist, and Pentecostal backgrounds.
Another example is Dr. Allyson Abrams, the former pastor of Zion Progress Baptist Church, located in Detroit, MI. After serving for five years, she stepped down from her position as pastor. Though previously married to a man, she decided to enter into a marriage with another female and traveled to Iowa, where, at the time, gay marriage was illegal.
Abrams stated, “It really hurts me because I don’t want to be the reason for the church to split, and potentially for family members to be at odds with one another. Therefore, I felt that it was in the best interest of everyone to resign.”
Both of these women stepped away from the traditional church in order to pursue their calls to ministry and to be accepted as lesbians. However, many women are continuing to practice lesbianism in the church. In order to keep the peace, many churches are simply turning their heads.
