Opening the Doors to LGBTQ Within Churches
WASHINGTON D.C. – Within the shadows of the gargoyle–studded steeples of the Washington National Cathedral are an artist at work, a military state funeral training session and people roaming the halls of a church with cell phones glowing.
The Washington National Cathedral has strived to present itself as a community that is accepting and open to all individuals aspiring to discover their own path. In 2013, the Cathedral announced it would perform same-sex weddings, two years before gay marriage was legalized nationally by the Supreme Court during the Obergefell v. Hodges case. In January, the Cathedral announced it would become a sanctuary for immigrants, welcome transgender people, and not use a gender pronoun for God.
Steve Saphos, a volunteer verger within the National Cathedral, said, “The sole purpose of the Cathedral is to stand out as an introduction between the people and God.”
Saphos said that the church has grown from an exclusive institution that rejected people who went against their beliefs into a more inclusive community. “We started this tradition that we were going to welcome everybody, ” he said.
Saphos believes that the church thrives on the sense of community as people of all race, ethnicity, religious belief and self identity are being welcomed to appreciate the art as well as use the church to find their own religious path.
The idea of acceptance and openness to the LGBTQ community within churches has become a developing and progressing topic. There are many churches that may be attempting to become a progressive community, but there are still aspects of their religious beliefs holding them back. The Glide Memorial United Methodist Church is unique in its own way as they elected not only the first woman to serve as senior pastor, but also the first openly-lesbian bishop was elected; however, they still found that their beliefs kept her from obtaining her title.
As of March 2018 the “One Church Plan” was devised to let individual churches and clergy determine whether or not they would allow same-sex marriages to be held in their church. This ultimately puts the church in the driver’s seat in determining the course of progression the church decides to take.
People like Bishop Karen Oliveto of San Francisco, California, a lesbian who was elected senior pastor at the Glide Memorial United Methodist church in San Francisco in 2016, are attempting to break away from the church’s original past.
Oliveto did not easily obtain her title as the bishop of the Glide Memorial United Methodist church. In an interview with National Public Radio’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Oliveto revealed that her consecration was being reviewed by the Judicial Council based on limits on the role of LGBTQ people within the church.
Oliveto said, “So they found my nomination in order. They found my election in order, my assignment in order. Where they raised question was around my consecration.” Consecration is the action of ordaining someone to a sacred office, typically that of a bishop.
According to NBC news, her election was being reviewed due to the church law that bans the consecration of “a self-avowed practicing homosexual bishop.” The church’s high court ruled the consecration unlawful, but the Judicial Council has allowed Oliveto to retain her post.
As of 2015, the Pew Research Center reported that many well-known religious affiliations and churches such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is a Mormon community, and the Orthodox Jewish Movement were listed as prohibitors of same-sex marriage. The United Methodist Church was also present on this list during 2015.
According to the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), “The rise in support for same-sex marriage particularly over the last few years, has led to a milestone: Today a majority of all racial and ethnic groups favor allowing gay and lesbian couple to marry legally.” This growth of support is revealed in the decline of religious resistance as religious affiliations such as Evangelical’s opposition has dropped from 71% to 58% since 2013 according to the PRRI. Opposition among Mormons around the idea of same-sex marriage has also dropped from 68% to 53% as of 2014.
As churches begin to move towards a stronger sense of progressiveness, the Washington National Cathedral is already a step ahead in taking pride in their supportive community.
When asked what Saphos of the National Cathedral would say to other churches or religious beliefs that are not as open to the LGBTQ community and are trying to reach that goal he said, “Well I guess the thing that we always want to stress is each individual is on their own path to God.”