All the Pain Along with All the Joy: Spiritual Resilience in Lesbian and Gay Christians

Abstract

Resilience among lesbian and gay (LG) Christians has received limited attention. We present results from a qualitative study of 27 LG Christians, for whom religion had high salience. The study explored the process of integrating sexual orientation with spirituality. Moving from recognition of incongruence between faith and sexual orientation to integration was found to be a resilience-building process. Through descriptive and process approaches, we identified three primary pathways individuals used to integrate their faith and sexual orientation: transforming theological meaning; finding a safe-enough congregation; and finding an affirming congregation. Some worked for social justice within congregations as part of the resilience-building process. We discuss important decision points for LG Christians that included critical evaluation of extant and potential support systems, redefining scripture and tradition, and transforming communities. A model for LG Christian Spiritual Resilience is presented.