What does the Bible say about the LGBTQIA+ community

What does the Bible say about the LGBTQIA+ community?

This is a question I field a lot in my online ministries. People want to know what the Bible says about gay and transgender individuals. Many of them have heard the rhetoric from fundamentalist Christians and are afraid that they will be sent to hell if they are gay.

I have spent 30 years studying the Bible from cover to cover. I took the time to learn about what the original Hebrew and Greek versions of the Bible said. And I can say with absolute certainty that the Bible does not condemn people who are LGBTQIA+.

I want to take some time to explain some of the verses that fundamentalist “Christians” use to clobber those who are LGBTQIA+.

We will look at a couple of Old Testament verses in this posting.

Genesis 9:20-27

Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said,

“Cursed be Canaan.
lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers.”

He also said,

“Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem,
and let Canaan be his slave.
May God make space for Japheth,
and let him live in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his slave.”

Many fundamentalist Christians try to make this series of verses about sexual intercourse. However, no version of this text contains any sexual contact between Ham, the son of Noah, and Noah. Even if there was some sexual contact, it would have been rape and incest, not consenting contact between adults that are not related.

The greater issue in these verses was a complete disrespect by Ham for his father. He saw his father drunk and naked, then went out and told others about it. He did nothing to hide his father’s shame. That is why his father cursed him.

In my next post, we will look at Genesis 19:1-11, the story of Sodom.