“I learned that if God hadn’t wanted me to be this way, I wouldn’t be gay. And then I also learned about the divine privilege of being gay. …that it’s not anti-God,” he said. “It took me leaving the church to learn this. »
Although Smith visits churches from time to time, he is not interested in returning – unless God calls him back into a traditional church setting. He wants to reach people who have been pushed outside of the Church, however that manifests. As an openly gay black man, he feels different from many preachers; and he sees his ministry the same way.
Smith said he often receives calls and messages from queer black people, especially older men, who consider the church their family but don’t feel safe or included. They don’t know where to go. Many of them arrived after he published his book“Holy Queer: The Exit of Christ.” »
“I offer them two trips. You can stay, and I say find a qualified therapist that you can talk to, and a good friend that you can talk to,” he said. “If you choose to leave, know that even if you win, know that you will also lose something. »
That loss may be cultural, Smith said. The Black Church is more than a religious practice: it is a culture encompassed in unique music and art. Finding an affirming congregation could mean leaving the black church and losing that culture, he said.
But there are also spaces of acceptance within the Black Church. Dozens of churches Across the country and various faiths are part of the Community of Affirming Ministriesa Black LGBTQ+ coalition committed to creating safe spaces for queer and transgender people, as well as anyone else “harmed by oppressive religion.”
“I don’t understand why, with the number of choices we have, why people don’t choose to be completely free,” said Victoria Kirby York, director of public policy and programs at the National Black Justice Coalition, an organization defense of civil rights. group that advocates for black LGBTQ+ people.
Like Smith, she grew up in the black church, attending a nondenominational African Methodist Episopal church and a Missionary Baptist church with her mother. They were baptized in both traditions. York now attends a church that is part of the United Church of Christ and frequently works with the Fellowship.
