Since coming out in Spring this year, Sean Cormie had been asked repeatedly by his family to attend a service at their church, in Oklahoma, and to bring along his boyfriend, Gary Gardner.
Cormie told News 4: “I wanted to go to church to make my mom proud and make her happy.”
But towards the end of the service at the pentecostal church, First Assembly of God Blackwell, the pastor began making statements against homosexuality and the couple were surrounded by between 12 and 15 people praying over them, getting louder and louder.
According to Cormie, the pastor said: “It’s a sin, it’s an abomination, you need to realise, wake up, and see it for a sin.”
Gardner managed to leave, but when Cormie tried to follow he said he was thrown to the ground, punched in the face and held down while the congregation prayed for him.
He said: “They hold me down, pin me down, and I’m crying, and the Holy Spirit just comes through me, and they keep speaking in tongues, praying over me. I was just crying, ‘mercy, mercy’.”
Gardner told another outlet, News 9, his boyfriend “ended up with marks on his arms, a black eye and sort of blacked out”.
The couple have reported the incident to the police. The Blackwell police chief confirmed to News 4 that the incident is being investigated but would make no further comment.
First Assembly of God Blackwell in Oklahoma, where the couple say the attack took place. (News 4)
The church released a statement saying: “First Assembly is a congregation that loves and is comprised of people from all different backgrounds.
“In response to allegations that have been made, this incident began as a family matter that escalated. Our church would never condone restraint of any person unless they were engaged in violent activity.
“There is much more to this story, and we are cooperating fully with law enforcement to bring all of the facts to light as a rush to judgment is not in anyone’s best interest.”The church is one of a large group of churches called Assemblies of God, which said in a statement on homosexuality: “There is also abundant evidence that homosexual behaviour, along with illicit heterosexual behaviour, is immoral and comes under the judgment of God…
“The Assemblies of God affirms the sexual complementarity of man and woman and teaches that any and all same-sex sexual attractions are to be resisted.
The Mormon church has doubled down on its stance that marriage is “between a man and a woman”, despite adjusting one of its anti-LGBT+ policies.
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Russell M Nelson, addressed students at Mormon institution Brigham Young University (BYU) on Tuesday, September 17, to tell them about “five truths”.
This year, the church revoked this policy and said that bishops would have the power to decide whether or not to baptise someone raised in an LGBT+ family.
But, in his speech at the notoriously anti-gay university, Nelson reiterated that the Mormon church defines marriage as opposite-sex only.
He said: “In recent years, many countries, including the United States, have legalised same-sex marriage. As members of the church, we respect the laws of the land and abide by them, including civil marriage.
“The truth is, however, that in the beginning – in the beginning – marriage was ordained by God! And to this day it is defined by Him as being between a man and a woman.”
Nelson said that the 2015 policy was intended “to facilitate harmony in the home and avoid pitting children and parents against each other”.
He added: “Though it may not have looked this way to some, the 2015 and 2019 policy adjustments on this matter were both motivated by love.”
Its honour code states: “One’s stated same-gender attraction is not an Honour Code issue. However, the Honour Code requires all members of the university community to manifest a strict commitment to the law of chastity.
“Homosexual behaviour is inappropriate and violates the Honour Code.
“Homosexual behaviour includes not only sexual relations between members of the same sex, but all forms of physical intimacy that give expression to homosexual feelings.”
Lynn Starkey worked at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis for nearly 40 years. In May, however, the Roman Catholic school fired Starkey as a guidance counselor after officials discovered that she is married to a woman.
In July, Starkey, 63, sued the school and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, claiming, in part, that they discriminated against her on the basis of her sexual orientation.
Lynn Starkey is suing a Roman Catholic high school and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis after she was fired as a guidance counselor because she is married to a woman. Delaney and Delaney LLC
In May, the school’s principal notified Starkey, who has been married to her spouse since 2015, that her contract would not be renewed, stating in a letter that civil unions are in violation of her contract and “contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church.”
The archdiocese — which is also being sued by a gay teacherwho was recently fired from a different Catholic school in Indianapolis — claims that it has a “constitutional right to hire leaders who support the schools’ religious mission.”
“Catholic schools exist to communicate the Catholic faith to the next generation,” the archdiocese said in a statement sent to NBC News. “To accomplish their mission, Catholic schools ask all teachers, administrators and guidance counselors to uphold the Catholic faith by word and action, both inside and outside the classroom.”
The issue of gay educators being fired by or excluded from employment at religious schools is not new, and since 2014, several cases have come before the courts. It’s also not unique to Indianapolis or Catholic institutions. In January, Karen Pence, the vice president’s wife, said she would return to teaching at a Christian school at Virginia that refuses to hire LGBTQ employees or to educate LGBTQ students.
So, is this legal? While the majority of Americans across all religious groups support employment nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people, according to a recently released PRRI public opinion poll, the law is less straightforward.
“The law is in flux,” said Jenny Pizer, law and policy director for Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ civil rights organization. “There are some principles we are sure of and some that are still being developed and sorted out in the courts and state and federal legislatures.”
In order to understand the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer workers employed by religious organizations, one must consider both federal and state law, the Constitution and executive orders.
Federal Law
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin. However, it contains “multiple overlapping exemptions” when it comes to religion, according to Marcia McCormick, a professor of law and gender studies at Saint Louis University.
For one, any employer can discriminate on the basis of religion if religion is considered necessary for the exercise of the job, McCormick explained. For example, a Kosher butcher shop may want to hire only Jewish butchers.
Religious schools can discriminate in hiring in some circumstances. “They get singled out as getting this one provision that talks about schools being able to discriminate if the curriculum is directed toward the propagation of a particular religion,” McCormick said. A school run by Southern Baptists that seeks to encourage more people to convert to the faith could, according to this section of Title VII, hire only Southern Baptists.
Other kinds of religious organizations are also allowed to prefer co-religionists in their hiring — a Catholic charity is allowed to prefer Catholics in the hiring process. However, while religious organizations have leeway when it comes to hiring people of their own faith, they are not supposed to discriminate on the basis of other protected characteristics like sex, race or national origin, McCormick explained.
“That is where there is a big potential clash,” she said, adding that the issue for LGBTQ workers is twofold.
“Title VII has an expansive definition of religion — not just of beliefs but also practices,” she explained. “There are a lot of rules in a lot of religions about how people ought to behave when it comes to what it means to be male and female, or to sexual or romantic activity.”
Then, she added, there is the issue of the definition of “sex” in Title VII. If it is interpreted to include sexual orientation and gender identity, then LGBTQ workers can seek employment protection under federal civil rights law. They have done so in many cases, but the circuit courts are split on the issue. Luckily for Starkey, Indianapolis is covered by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has ruled in the case of Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College that sex discrimination encompasses discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The Supreme Court, however, is scheduled to take up three cases this year that could have a major impact on LGBTQ workers’ nondiscrimination protections.
Title VII’s Ministerial Exception
In Starkey’s case, the archdiocese appears to be drawing on what is called the ministerial exception to Title VII under the First Amendment, which guarantees free exercise of religion.
In 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued an evangelical Lutheran church and a school in Michigan on behalf of a former employee, Cheryl Perich, a “called” teacher that underwent theology training and was considered to be in a ministerial position. Perich was diagnosed with narcolepsy and took disability leave as a result. When she was ready to return the work, the church told her she no longer had a job. The EEOC lost the case before the Supreme Court.
Pizer said this case “validated the ministerial exception, which lower courts had said existed but the Supreme Court had not spoken to.” The exception applies only to employees serving a ministerial function, but it affords the religious employer tremendous protection against claims of discrimination.
Maggie Siddiqi, director of the Center for American Progress’ Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative, told NBC News that in recent cases, employers are claiming that many different types of employees serve ministerial functions.
“That is really expanding the definition beyond its original intent,” which can “open the door for discrimination against all of these employees,” Siddiqi said.
Religious Freedom Restoration Act
An individual or a business may also claim protections under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a federal law that prohibits the government from discriminating on the basis of religion.
RFRA comes up in the case of R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, one of the three LGBTQ workers’ rights cases currently before the Supreme Court. The case involves Aimee Stephens, a transgender woman who was fired from a Detroit funeral home after she informed her employer that she was beginning her gender transition.
In district court, the funeral home claimed that to employ Stephens violated the owner’s sincerely held religious beliefs, and for the EEOC to compel him to employ Stephens was an overreach of government authority in contravention of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Circuit Court sided with Stephens, but the Supreme Court will have the last word in the matter.
State Law
In the absence of a federal law that explicitly protects workers from anti-LGBTQ discrimination, a worker can seek redress in state law. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have passed measures prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank. Three additional states offer some form of LGBTQ workplace protections.
However, more than 20 states — including some of those with explicit state-level LGBTQ worker protections — have religious freedom laws or religious exemptions to their nondiscrimination protections. Indiana, where Roncalli High School is, has such a law. In fact, in 2015, then-Gov. Mike Pence signed Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which spawned significant criticism by those who said it would open the door to anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
Executive Orders & Department Rules
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive Order 11246 barring federal contractors who do over $10,000 of business with the government in one year from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion sex or national origin. In 2002, President George W. Bush issued an executive order that added a religious exemption to the measure, using language lifted from Title VII. In 2014, President Barack Obama added sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected characteristics in Johnson’s original order, affording specific protections to LGBTQ workers, but Obama left intact Bush’s protections for religious organizations.
In 2017, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued “religious liberty” guidance that elaborates principles such as “religious employers are entitled to employ only persons whose beliefs and conduct are consistent with the employers’ religious precepts.”
This month, the Department of Labor released its own proposed rule expanding religious exemptions available to government contractors and sparking outcry from many LGBTQ advocates. The rule expands the types of organizations eligible for exemptions to “employers that are organized for a religious purpose, hold themselves out to the public as carrying out a religious purpose, and engage in exercise of religion consistent with, and in furtherance of, a religious purpose,” and also allows employers to “condition employment on acceptance of or adherence to religious tenets without sanction by the federal government, provided that they do not discriminate based on other protected bases.”
The Trump administration claims that religious organizations need extra protections from nondiscrimination law, because not having them prevents these organizations from seeking federal contracts.
“It’s not just that they are changing a rule,” Pizer said regarding the impact of the rule, “but the way the change is being done is an explicit signal that this administration favors religious interests over the equality interests of LGBT people and women.”
What’s Next?
The Supreme Court will hear three cases in October that are expected to have a considerable impact on LGBTQ workers’ rights. Two of the cases deal with sexual orientation, the other with gender identity. In the meantime, the Department of Justice made clear in briefs filed this month that LGBTQ workers should not be covered by Title VII protections. In doing so, the DOJ puts itself at odds with the EEOC and the majority of Americans.
Democrats in Congress have responded by reintroducing the Equality Act, a piece of federal legislation that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of classes protected against discrimination by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and does not allow religious exemptions to civil rights law under Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Activists have won a long battle to stop an anti-LGBT+ church operating out of Texas a public school, after protesting every week for more than a year.
Celebration Church, which is openly anti-LGBT+, had been renting space at the Austin Independent School District’s (AISD) Mueller Performing Arts Centre for its services.
Protest organiser and pastor for the AntiFascism NonChristian Church, Candace Aylor, said in a press release: “This was the goal, getting bigots out of public spaces. It goes against our closely held beliefs to abide bigotry and oppression, especially when openly, publicly permitted.
“What we learned today, what we confirmed from what those freedom fighters of the civil rights era taught us, is that direct action protests works.”
The protests were made up of AntiFascism NonChristian Church, as well as other organisations including PFLAG Austin.
Activists protested for more than a year. (AntiFascism NonChristian Church/ Facebook)
Anti-LGBT+ Celebration Church says it is moving out because its congregation has grown.
The church claims the reason for it no longer renting the public school space is that the congregation has grown, and it needs to move to a new building.
According to the Austin Chronicle, church spokesperson Christine Haas said: “Celebration Church has entered into a purchase agreement to buy a building in the Koenig Lane area.
“The growth of our congregation has allowed for this opportunity and we are very excited to have a permanent home for our Mueller Campus.”
However, one protester claimed in a post on Facebook: “They say they are leaving because they’ve grown, but the real reason is because when a group of protestors shows up every week to call them out on their hateful policies, they can’t grow (the protestors know because we counted their attendance every week).”
According to Austin newspaper the Statesman, the school district has not been able to prevent the church from using the space because their hands were legally tied, according to state law and the first amendment.
Instead, earlier this year the AISD used $10,000 of its income from the Celebration Church rental to fund student and staff participation in the Austin Pride Parade.
The United Methodist Church announced that it has voided a vote that would have governed how congregations leave the faith over the issue of LGBTQ inclusion, citing “irregularities” in a measure that passed by just two votes in February.
In a press release released Saturday, the United Methodist Church said that an investigation uncovered that four people posed as absent delegates to cast votes at the February conference.
“Multiple pieces of evidence corroborated the conclusion that these four individuals improperly cast votes,” the press release said.
In February, Methodists met in St. Louis for a General Conference that was summoned in order to “resolve the longtime debate over the status of LGBTQ people” in the church.
The church voted on multiple measures on the issue, including the “Traditional Plan,” which passed by a vote of 438-384 and reaffirmed the church’s traditional stance on LGBTQ issues by banning same sex marriages and the ordination of gay clergy. The Traditional Plan goes into effect January 1, 2020 and is not impacted by the voided vote.
However, voting irregularities emerged over another part of a measure known as the “disaffiliation legislation,” which would have changed how congregations could choose to leave the United Methodist Church.
Following the implementation of the “Traditional Plan,” LGBTQ-inclusive Methodist churches whose gay clergy and same-sex marriages will be banned, might be looking to leave the church. The “disaffiliation legislation” would have governed how they leave the church and whether they would be able to “take their buildings with them,” according to UM News, a Methodist news service. With the process in limbo, it is not clear how these churches will go about breaking ties the the United Methodist Church.
Only this plank of the legislation had voting irregularities, and it is now up to the Council of Bishops and the Judicial Council whether the wrongly-decided plank also means that the entire disaffiliation legislation must also be voided.
Kim Simpson, chair of the Commission on the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, said, “I know there are some poised and ready [to leave the UMC] because [the Traditional Plan] goes into effect January 1.” Simpson said that if the Council of Bishops refers the disaffiliation legislation voting issue to the Judicial Council, “they could decide that it needs to be voted on again.”
According to the church’s internal rules, “any possibility that invalid ballots might affect the result of a vote renders the entire ballot null and void,” and since the disaffiliation measure passed by a wafer thin margin of two votes — 402 to 400 — the four ineligible ballots render the entire ballot null and void.
“The Commission on the General Conference is committed to protecting the integrity of the legislative process,” said Simpson. “We’ve carefully and prayerfully reviewed the results of the investigation undertaken with oversight from the task force, and we are taking the necessary steps to strengthen our procedures and restore confidence in the process.”
A gay guidance counselor is suing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis for discrimination, alleging it fired her from a job at a high school because she’s in a same-sex marriage.
Lynn Starkey, one of two gay guidance counselors who have accused the archdiocese of discrimination, names the church and Roncalli High School — the Catholic school where she worked for nearly 40 years until she was fired in May — in the lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Lynn StarkeyDelaney & Delaney LLC
Starkey alleges that the archdiocese and school discriminated against her on the basis of her sexual orientation, subjected her to a hostile work environment and retaliated against her after she filed complaints of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
She alleges that the environment at the school was also hostile toward homosexual students, faculty and staff.
“Starkey has suffered damages as a result of Defendants’ retaliatory actions, including but not limited to lost back pay, lost front pay, loss of future earning capacity, lost employer provided benefits, and emotional distress damages,” the lawsuit states.
The archdiocese told NBC News in a statement Monday that it has “a constitutional right to hire leaders who support the schools’ religious mission.”
“Catholic schools exist to communicate the Catholic faith to the next generation,” the statement said. “To accomplish their mission, Catholic schools ask all teachers, administrators, and guidance counselors to uphold the Catholic faith by word and action, both inside and outside the classroom.”
According to the archdiocese, Starkey “knowingly violated” her contract by entering into a same-sex marriage, “making clear that she disagrees with the Church’s teaching on marriage and will not be able to uphold and model it for her students.”
Starkey is the second Roncalli High School guidance counselor to raise discrimination complaints against the school and archdiocese.
Shelly Fitzgerald was placed on administrative leave from her job at the high school in 2018 after administrators became aware of her same-sex marriage.
Fitzgerald said the school gave her an ultimatum: resign or “dissolve” her marriage.
Both women filed charges of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and requested the right to sue, according to the Indianapolis Star.
Starkey was issued a Notice of Right to Sue earlier this month, her lawsuit states.
A dying Tennessee man’s final wish will not be honored. A bereaved son in Sweetwater, Tennessee says his sexual orientation is standing in the way of his father’s funeral service.
Jessie Goodman is engaged to Brandon Smitty. Goodman’s father is very ill and dying. His final wish is that his services be held at the church he first attended. But when the church leadership found out the gay couple would be involved, Goodman says things got complicated.
“As long as I was going to take part in any way, he [Goodman’s father] could not have his service there,” said Goodman. We called Lee’s Chapel Baptist Church’s Pastor Jay Scruggs to see if this was true. Pastor Scruggs had no comment, but did say he would talk with us after Jessie’s father is in the grave.
The Vatican has issued a statement rejecting trans people, saying they ‘annihilate…the concept of nature’.
In a new document issued during Pride Month, the Congregation for Catholic Education has issued a crushing statement on trans issues.
The office responsible for overseeing education calls trans people experiencing ‘nothing more than a confused concept of freedom in the realm of feelings and wants’.
‘Male And Female He Created Them’, was released by the Vatican on 10 June without prior announcement.
It is described as an ‘aid for Catholic schoolteachers and parents’. The document is also signed by Italians Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi and Archbishop Angelo Zani.
Pope Francis has not signed the document.
However, this is the most critical statement on trans people the Vatican has given since the pontiff compared trans people to nuclear weapons.
Vatican rejects trans people in crushing statement
The biological differences between men and women are ‘constitutive of human identity,’ the office claims.
‘Efforts to go beyond the difference, such as the ideas of “intersex” or “transgender”, lead to a masculinity or feminity that is ambiguous,’ the document stated.
If someone is not cisgender, they are aiming to be ‘provocative’, according to the office.
The 31-page document also says ‘gender theory’ forces people to ‘move away from nature’.
It states: ‘In this understanding of things, the view of both sexuality identity and the family become subject to the same “liquidity” and “fluidity” that characterize other aspects of post-modern culture, often founded on nothing more than a confused concept of freedom in the realm of feelings and wants, or momentary desires provoked by emotional impulses and the will of the individual.’
Vatican: Doctors should ‘intervene’ on intersex children
The Vatican also calls on doctors to ‘intervene’ on intersex patients, even when parents do not agree.
Intersex groups are against medically unnecessary procedures intended to ‘normalize’ infants at birth. Many of these procedures may impact a person’s quality of life.
The only saving grace of the document is that it praises educational programs that combat ‘unjust discrimination’.
‘Harmful tool’
A New Ways Ministry spokesperson described the document as a ‘harmful tool’.
They said it will be used to ‘oppress and harm not only transgender people, but lesbian, gay, bisexual people too.’
”The document associates sexual and gender minorities with libertine sexuality, a gross misrepresentation of the lives of LGBT people which perpetuates and encourages hatred, bigotry, and violence against them,’ they said.
‘The document… will confuse those who sincerely struggle with questions of gender identity and sexual orientation. Such confusion leads to self-harm, addiction, and even suicide. The misinformation the document contains will cause families to reject their children, and it will increase alienation of LGBT people from the Church.
‘The only truth that the document reveals is that the Vatican remains ill-equipped to discuss gender and sexuality in the modern world.
‘By ignoring new scientific understandings of gender identity, and by refusing to engage in dialogue with LGBT people about their lived experiences of self-understanding and faith, the Vatican remains in the dark ages, promoting a false teaching that relies on myth, rumor, and falsehoods.’
A new analysis has found that three-quarters of lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans believe in God, but many don’t identify as part of an organised religion.
The finding comes from a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the 2014 Religious Landscape Study.
According to the survey data, 77 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual adults in America say that they believe in God, compared to 89 percent to straight adults.
But despite three-quarters of gay adults believing in God, only 59 percent of LGB respondents identify as a Christian or another non-Christian faith, compared to 78 percent for heterosexuals.
Most LGB Americans believe in God, but only one in six attends church every week (Stock photo)
Although lesbian, gay and bisexual people are twice as likely to identify as atheist or agnostic, the most popular religious identify among LGBT adults is ‘nothing in particular’.
Just 16 percent of gay and lesbian adults adults attend a weekly church service, compared to 36 percent of straight respondents.
LGB adults are also less likely to pray or believe religion is “very important.”
Transgender people are excluded from the analysis as the original 2014 survey did not collect data about gender identity.
LGB people less likely to embrace organised religion
Of course, there are many reasons why LGB people, even those who believe in God, may feel uncomfortable as part of an organised religion.
Few of the largest Christian denominations in the US permit same-sex unions, though some groups including the Episcopal Church have embraced equal marriage
Attempts to push forward reforms in other groups have been divisive, with anger earlier this year when United Methodist Church members voted against allowing congregations to conduct same-sex weddings and hire openly LGBT+ clergy.
He said: “I plead with our religious leaders across the world to stand up for equality together. True equality – not empty words of love – but statements and actions that show our LGBTQ youth that they are ‘sinless’ and perfect just as they are.
“Until these changes are made within the doctrines of orthodox faith, we will continue to see increased rates of suicidality and depression/anxiety amongst our LGBTQ youth.”
Reynolds added: “Until the leaders of all orthodox faiths denounce conversion therapy and accept our LGBTQ youth into full fellowship I believe we will continue to see a great exodus from all orthodox faith.
“We are not a generation that will stand for intolerance, homophobia or racism.
“And to those that say the simple answer is for our youth to just leave religion – it isn’t that simple.
“Many of these LGBTQ youth will be kicked out of the home and put into a more dangerous situation if they denounce the faith of their family.
“Also many find peace in their faith. they love it. it brings them comfort in a sad and oftentimes scary world.”
A recent survey has found 0% of American Muslims identify as gay or lesbian.
The ISPU research interviewed 804 American Muslims.
They found not one identified as gay or lesbian.
Around 4% identified as bisexual and 2% said they were ‘something else’. Another 2% refused to answer the question’.D
There are, of course, LGBTI people who identify as Muslim in the United States.
CNN interviewed members of progressive mosques, like Masjid al-Rabia.
The mosque is intended to be women-centered, anti-racist, LGBTI affirming, and welcoming to many Islamic traditions.
Muslims for Progressive Values have eight ‘inclusive communities’ in the United STates.
Berkeley’s Qal-bu Maryam Women’s Mosque, described as the ‘first all-inclusive’ place of worship, opened in 2017.
Liberal Muslims say a future also looks good for LGBTI people of the Islam faith.‘
Dalia Mogahed, director of research for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, said there is a ‘huge division’ right now.
‘There are a lot of different opinions and, frankly, there is a lack of space to discuss it,’ she said.
‘When you have a community that is so under the microscope and being subjected to litmus tests for civility and tolerance, people become afraid and self-censoring.’
And when asked about the 0% statistic, Mogahed said it can be read a different way.
If 92% of American Muslims identified as straight, she said, then the remaining 8% may be lesbian or gay, even if they’re reluctant say so.
‘The fact that there is a segment of Muslims who identify as something other than straight means that, even though they may not be acting on that inclination or orientation, they have negotiated a space where they can still be Muslim,’ Mogahed said.
‘There is enough space within the theology to be able to do that.’