I just started going to an MCC church. I'm not super familiar with other churches, but mine closely follows black church traditions. It's very diverse in membership AND super gay. It's a great combo - we can get over the gay thing as a central issue and focus on ALL the things we go to church for. Gay is an essential part of the foundation, but it isn't the whole foundation. I had a lot of trouble in catholic churches that didn't honor my sexuality. It's a whole lot easier to pray know God AND the congregation are in my corner for real.

Hope I make at least some sense...check out their site:

http://www.mccchurch.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home

I attend and have attended a majority black congregation, Southern Baptist Church since I was born. I am not sure what your church may be like, but as for mine, homosexuality is taboo. There are gay, lesbian, and bi people in our congregation, but it isn't as if they are really out to others in the congregation, just some of their closest friends and family. I don't blame them. As a matter of fact, I am in the same boat except no one knows about me, not even my closest friends because we were all brought up in the same environment.I mean my family, my best friend, and her family all attend the same church.  Therefore, I am well aware that things would not be okay if I were to come out.

 You should hear some of the fire and brimstone sermons...terrifying not only to queer people but also to straight people. I may be a little prejudiced though because I am sure that everyone's pastors aren't proud to say that they are homophobic, but that is tradition for you. It has always been that way; our church run by a few closed-minded,controlling,homophobic, chauvanistic men. Needless to say that I only attend that church out of neccessity when I am home from college, but it still affects me deeply.

My best advice would be to listen careully to the sermons and your conversations with others.

 Maybe your wool is a bit see-through, but don't be quite so sure that your see-through wool isn't distorting your vision. There will be those kind people who accept you regardless because they truly understand the principles of love and kindness(I find these to be more of the younger people and really wise older people. They just have a better understanding of how to deal with differences), but I hope that you don't find yourself overwhelmed by the large number of people who won't or can't because they are afraid. So I guess I am saying that my experience was/is truly scary and I wish the best for you. I really hope that there is the perfect church out there for you. If you find it let me know.

The black church is slow to change because it has always been the cornerstone of the black community. It was a safe haven for us in times of turmoil and it was a place where we could go to insulate ourselves from the world that was beating us down due to the color of our skin. At that time the enemy was racism and segregation. Our cohesion existed upon this axis. But times have changed. Racism is still alive but not on the national scale that it once was. With the enemy not as threating as it once was what does the church have to fight against? What would be the focus of sermons now? A new enemy has to be found for there to be any meaning to the faith. The new enemy now is HOMOSEXUALITY. And this isn't the case with just black churches, it's the case with other churches also. It hits hard in the black church more so because of the hypermasculinity that is expected among black men in order to be seen as men due to the long lasting affects of slavery. From what I've noticed homosexuality is looked at with much more disgust among black men compared to black women. I've heard more black women privately express a certain sense of understanding of black lesbians but it's more so under the assumption that the only reason why a black woman would be gay is due to our "no good" men or some kind of sexual abuse. It's still not seen as a legitimate expression of sexuality but more so a result of having few good men. So to save our community and be seen as upstanding citizens (because as a culture and community we are still trying to prove ourselves to the dominant culture) we have to rescue our black men from homosexuality. We need good black men to be fathers and husbands otherwise our community will fall apart. This is the logic behind all the fire and brimstone preaching on homosexuality, which is why I haven't stepped foot into a church in ten years.

I wish I could feel some of your optimism. I honestly do. I stopped going to my Latina, Pentecostal church while I was coming out. I've been out for nine years and I am now married. I've chosen to live my life with the woman I love and I fight everyday to wash out all the fire and brimstone sermons out of my hair - with a lot of therapy - they are very pervasive after being very religious for twenty years.

I had an AWEFULL experience last year. In the midst of burrying a murdered relative. People from the black, latino and white churches in my area were at my mother's house trying to "give us comfort." I was exposed to such blatent homophobia that I swore I wouldn't step back into their fold. I just pray to God for understanding, but now I worship in my own way.

Every once in a while I attend MCC and I never miss the Pride service, but even with the option of having such a great place to worship, I doesn't feel quite the same. I fear the damage has been done. I still have great faith in God, but I'd rather tune into the religious programming on TV and if I don't agree with the guy, I change the channel and watch the Simpsons! I do miss the sense of community and of worshiping openly.