Straight couples become regulars at GLBT worship houses
Tiffany Stanley/Religion News Service
Issue date: 8/16/09 Section: Divine Intervention
WASHINGTON - When Andi Kasarsky's husband died six years ago, members of her synagogue came to sit shiva -the customary Jewish ritual of mourning - with her.
They came in shifts for days, many of them strangers, to share her grief. And although Kasarsky was mourning her husband, many of the grievers were gay.
She was so touched by the support that Kasarsky, 54, became a more faithful member of Bet Mishpachah, an unaffiliated Washington congregation of around 200 gays and lesbians. She's just one of many heterosexuals who are finding God in predominantly gay houses of worship.
"Mishpachah means family and they were truly family to me," said Kasarsky. "Isn't that what we want and look for and hope for in a religious community?"
As faith-minded gays and lesbians struggle for acceptance in predominantly heterosexual churches and synagogues, the idea that heterosexuals seek out gay houses of worship might seem strange, but it happens more often than one might think.
Denver Schimming, 51, and his wife Sheila Hobson, 48, were in the market for a liberal-minded church in Nashville, Tenn. -"the buckle of the Bible Belt," he says - and knew they found something different at Holy Trinity Community Church, where 90 percent of its 350 members are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (GLBT).
"I laugh and say we're the token straight couple, but I kid you not, they treat us like royalty," said Hobson. "They are so loving and giving."
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others once called Sunday morning at 11 o'clock the most segregated hour in Christian America. Indeed, sexual orientation can be just as divisive. Just as churches were split into White and Black, they have also split between gay and straight.
Alternative faith communities that cater to GLBT believers, such as Holy Trinity and Bet Mishpachah, were an outgrowth of the gay rights movement that took root 40 years ago. "Inclusion" is the buzzword for many of these congregations.
They came in shifts for days, many of them strangers, to share her grief. And although Kasarsky was mourning her husband, many of the grievers were gay.
She was so touched by the support that Kasarsky, 54, became a more faithful member of Bet Mishpachah, an unaffiliated Washington congregation of around 200 gays and lesbians. She's just one of many heterosexuals who are finding God in predominantly gay houses of worship.
"Mishpachah means family and they were truly family to me," said Kasarsky. "Isn't that what we want and look for and hope for in a religious community?"
As faith-minded gays and lesbians struggle for acceptance in predominantly heterosexual churches and synagogues, the idea that heterosexuals seek out gay houses of worship might seem strange, but it happens more often than one might think.
Denver Schimming, 51, and his wife Sheila Hobson, 48, were in the market for a liberal-minded church in Nashville, Tenn. -"the buckle of the Bible Belt," he says - and knew they found something different at Holy Trinity Community Church, where 90 percent of its 350 members are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (GLBT).
"I laugh and say we're the token straight couple, but I kid you not, they treat us like royalty," said Hobson. "They are so loving and giving."
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others once called Sunday morning at 11 o'clock the most segregated hour in Christian America. Indeed, sexual orientation can be just as divisive. Just as churches were split into White and Black, they have also split between gay and straight.
Alternative faith communities that cater to GLBT believers, such as Holy Trinity and Bet Mishpachah, were an outgrowth of the gay rights movement that took root 40 years ago. "Inclusion" is the buzzword for many of these congregations.
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