*Note: this website was started in 2009, and some material here is a bit dated, references to the LGBTQ community may be old, and links may not work. I stopped working on this website in 2016, so many advancements for the LGBTQ community, as well as many new supportive denominations and churches, as well as steps toward a more considered approach to the queer community by some denominations, are not mentioned here. These are not left out on purpose, but only because the website is in need of a wholesale update.
However, my convictions about the church’s need to recognize and support the LGBTQ community, especially in a time members of the Trans community, in particular, are being attacked, and harmful legislation is being passed–they still stand.
This website also serves as a record for my own personal coming out experience at my former church, and still has some useful suggestions, I think, for congregations and individuals in situations where coming out to their church is something they want to do.
Given some time, I hope to update these links and write some new posts. Until then, I hope you see this website as a picture of a time between 2009-2016. Hopefully one day soon we won’t need websites like these because institutions of faith will no longer concern themselves with judging someone’s gender or sexuality “wrong” or “sinful,” but will understand how important queer people, people of every gender, are to the work of Love in this world. Until then, I hope you can still find something helpful here for yourself and/or your community.
You are loved.
Jerome Stueart
December 2023
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This website is offered as a resource for congregations and individuals who want a Christian understanding of LGBTQ folks and their involvement with the church. Many, many denominations have studied the scripture and come up with an interpretation that keeps all of their theology intact, but which accepts and affirms LGBTQ people as full members of the church. I offer you a place to look up those sources. Many other websites do this and do it better. So I link to those. I’m just acting as a doorway to get from where you are, to where you want to be. We are all asked by God to be responsible for the knowledge that we have, for the Bible that we read, and for the message we pass on to others in God’s name. Many people have been convicted that the message we send members of the queer community–that they are involved in “sinful lifestyles”– is just wrong, and harmful. The people linked to this site, both scholars and lay people, have searched the scriptures, prayed for God’s guidance and written their results in books, websites, letters, and made DVDs and other resources.
We can build on each others’ knowledge by sharing it, and by testing it–as we’re asked to do in scripture–and then if it is right, by bringing it to our church for consideration by other members. I hope you find this information helpful.
Why ‘Talking Dog’
This page has a peculiar pedigree. I wrote a story for Anti-Homophobia week in a contest. The story is short, only 500 words, and follows a man into the woods on a cold Yukon evening, where he hopes to quietly kill himself. He brings his black lab with him, and through strange and divine circumstances, the dog talks and convinces him to come home. I didn’t mean for it to be published widely, but there it was, in the local paper. Here’s the entire story. Sometimes we make accidental stands; and they lead to more purposeful ones.
My point in the story, though, was to say that the only way as an author I could save this man’s life was if I made the dog talk. Which was heavy-handed, and not very realistic. In real life, I wished that we would all become the talking dogs that would save people’s lives. We have to actively reach out and reverse the church’s long poisoning of gay people. This poisoning leads to suicide, but it more often leads gay people into forced heterosexual marriages–and not very good ones at that, that lead to divorce; it also leads to people leaving the church, and God; it leads to hopelessness and despair. These are not the goals of the Good News.
I created Talking Dog as a portal towards resources–a way to bring back the Good News. With resources we can seek out the right answers to these questions, and help many people who are hurting– queer and trans people, their families and the rest of the Christian community.
Talking Dog 