Bi the Way:
WHAT’S NEXT FOR BISEXUALITY IN THE CHURCH?
Samantha Field
CHRISTIAN BISEXUAL FEMINIST
RAPE VICTIM ADVOCATE
BLOGS @
SAMANTHAPFIELD.COM
@SAMANTHAPFIELD
CHRISTIAN BISEXUAL EDUCATOR
Eliel Cruz-Lopez
FOUNDED INTERCOLLEGIATE
ADVENTIST GAY-STAIGHT
ALLIANCE COALITION
@ELIELCRUZ
NON-BINARY BISEXUAL
SEMINARIAN
Sarah Moon
DECONSTRUCTS EVANGELICAL PURITY CULTURE
AND HETEROSEXUAL THEOLOGY
BLOGS @
PATHEOS.COM/BLOGS/SARAHOVERTHEMOON
@GRUMPTHEOLOGY
BISEXUAL MYTHS
AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM
Bisexual Invisibility & Erasure
“It’s just a phase.”
“I’m bi-curious.”
“Bisexuality is just a stepping stone to admitting you’re really gay/lesbian.”
“Isn’t everyone really bi?”
“But you got married to one person. How can you still be bi?”
“
I’ve been thinking about those pastors, those people in
the clergy who are compassionate to those who have
attractions to same-sex individuals. So their inclination is
to be all inclusive and put their arm around them. I
would like them to think, just for a moment, about
“LGBT.” The “B” stands for bisexual. That’s orgies! Are
you really going to support this?!
DR. JAMES DOBSON
”
Couldn’t you choose to be “straight”?
Bisexual people can normalize non-heteronormative relationships.
How does bisexuality operate in the “Side A” and “Side B” dynamic?
Like for LG people, romance for bi people is as much a matter of kismet.
You say “privilege,” we say “closet”
A bisexual woman married to a man is not “straight married.”
Heteronormativity keeps us in the closet, and keeps the LGBT community
shackled to the conservative evangelical interpretation of the Bible.
Those Infamous 6 “Clobber Passages” are part and parcel of a
heteronormative understanding of Scripture.
Arguing that we have “straight-passing privilege” means L/G relationships
will continue to be devalued on the basis that opposite-sex partnerships
are essentially different and better than same-sex partnerships because it’s
a part of the heteronormative standard to assume a bi person is straight.
QUEERING SCRIPTURE
BISEXUALITY AND THEOLOGY
BUSTING THE BINARY
New insights into the both/and paradox of Christian theology:
We are both sinners and saints
Jesus is both God and man
We are both a body and a soul
The trinity as a queer, divine orgy
The Wesleyan Quadrilateral and Me
God with Breasts (El Shaddai)
The Odes of Solomon, Ode 19
*A cup of milk was offered to me, and I drank it in the sweetness of the Lord’s kindness.
*The Son is the cup, and the Father is He who was milked, and the Holy Spirit is She who milked Him.
*Because His breasts were full, and it was undesirable that His milk should be ineffectually released.
*The Holy Spirit opened Her bosom, and mixed the milk of the two breasts of the Father.
*Then She gave the mixture to the generation…and those who have received it are in the
perfection of the right hand.
*The womb of the Virgin took it, and she received conception and gave birth.
*So the Virgin became a mother with great mercies.
SACRED SPACES
TRUE LGBT+ INCLUSION IN YOUR CHURCH
NOT JUST THE “L” AND THE “G”
Don’t assume someone is straight, lesbian, gay, or cisgender.
“Gay” is not an inclusive term. “Lesbian and gay” isn’t either.
If you say “LGBT,” mean it.
Don’t preach messages disallowing “opposite-gender friendships.”
Bisexual people are the largest, and among the most vulnerable, group in the
LGBT community.
Make sure your LGBT group/space isn’t hostile to bisexual people.
Use “partner” or “spouse” instead of “husband” or “wife.“
Encourage LGBT people to teach biblical narratives from a queer perspective.
Use gender-inclusive terms in your entire worship service.
Q&A
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