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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