The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

[lorraine02]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

I like battery smell.

[Djnn]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

I'm a gay pagan. I kneww several of them growing up. They tended to come out of the broom closet first. Accepting I was gay was the first step to finding my path in paganism. So I did it backwards to how many of my friends had done it. Which closet did you flee from first? Lol

[Clive]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

I'm a gay pagan. I kneww several of them growing up. They tended to come out of the broom closet first. Accepting I was gay was the first step to finding my path in paganism. So I did it backwards to how many of my friends had done it. Which closet did you flee from first? Lol

I came out as gay first at age 13. I didn't discover Paganism until a year later.

[Jembru]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

I'm a gay pagan. I kneww several of them growing up. They tended to come out of the broom closet first. Accepting I was gay was the first step to finding my path in paganism. So I did it backwards to how many of my friends had done it. Which closet did you flee from first? Lol

That is such an interesting point actually. It's one I would never have even thought to consider had you not pointed it out, but when I think about it, almost every gay pagan I know (offline at least), came out as pagan first. Mind you, we did meet through a PAGAN moot, so it would be difficult for it to have happened the other way.

For me, although I am in a heterosexual relationship now, my first true love was female. We kept our relationship hidden for the best part of a year before we announced it (by then, we were sure it was the real deal and not just teenaged experimentation as we were 17 at the time, 13 years on, we're still sure it was love and are still like sisters to one another ^^). We were both well-known in our community as teen witches by the time we came out as a couple, so I guess I fit the norm too. Mind you, when I went to Uni I'm quite sure I told everyone I was sharing dorms with on day one that I was lesbian (I was a rageing man-hater back then), and the pagan thing came out a little while later.

[RiverSong]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

I'm a gay pagan. I kneww several of them growing up. They tended to come out of the broom closet first. Accepting I was gay was the first step to finding my path in paganism. So I did it backwards to how many of my friends had done it. Which closet did you flee from first? Lol

I am 100% bisexual, no question there. I "came out" first with the religion and then with my bisexuality. But (and this is REALLY weird, I warn you), within my overly religious family they accepted it fully when I came out of the broom closet. The bisexuality was a nightmare to reveal. Of course, I thought it would be a lot easier to try the religion thing first on them. I knew since I was age 12 that I am bisexual, but the Pagan thing was new and something that happened when I was age 22. One is a choice, the other I was born with, so I figured if they fell apart with the thing that is my choice, then I can NEVER tell them about my orientation. However, I misjudged their cool reactions to my new religion and I thought that it meant that it wouldn't be so bad to share what I've known about my sexuality. A week after the broom closet, I stepped out of the other closet. Well, my siblings and two out of three of my nephews were okay with my religion and orientation, it made no difference to them. But my mum freaked and hit the ceiling about it. It was ugly. It's still not altogether okay, many years later, as she just tolerates it mildly with the hope that I'll find a nice guy and then be cured of whatever it is I "think" I may feel about women. Tsk, tsk. although, she's has high respect and curiousity about my Pagan path. Whenever I bring that up OR she does first, there's a twinkle in her eye and she gets very excited about something I'm doing or celebrating within my spirituality. She completely turns away, winces, and change the subject if I mention "the other thing". So, 1 out of 2, things went well. I'm grateful that it's not both that didn't make it. ;^_^

[westwoden]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

Question: Are there any Gods/Goddesses that tend to be revered by gay people, more so than for heteros?

[RiverSong]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

Question: Are there any Gods/Goddesses that tend to be revered by gay people, more so than for heteros?

I wouldn't really know... I am bisexual, but every friend of mine who are bisexual, gay, lesbian (and a few transgenders too) are either Christian or agnostic. I wonder if the gay Pagan community do have a preference for certain Gods or Goddesses... but my instinct tells me, probably not. That would seem like trying to pinpoint a favorite kind of genre of music preferred in the LGBT community. I assure you not everyone loves musicals, Madonna, or Lady Gaga. In fact most of my gay friends make fun of me for liking Lady Gaga... I can't help it, her songs are catchy... "P-p-p- poker face, p-p poker face!" ;^_^

[kijani]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

Question: Are there any Gods/Goddesses that tend to be revered by gay people, more so than for heteros?

Not that I really know of. I am a lesbian. I personally don't have a patron goddess, for example. I work with male dieties, mainly, but that's just how it works out for me. Many of my LGBT friends who are also pagan identify with gods and goddesses across the spectrum for various reasons. Some of them do identify more with a male or female diety in certain cases, but it depends on the person. For some of them, yes, the idea of the diety can be tied into their sexuality (this seems to be true of a few of my friends whom I've spoken to on the matter) but it is much like river mentioned it--there isn't really a diety that we all sort of flock to, because your diety is usually a very personal aspect of your practice.

[Lokabrenna]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

Question: Are there any Gods/Goddesses that tend to be revered by gay people, more so than for heteros?

In my experience, I know of more than a few gay men who honour Freyr, and many queer folks of all kinds honour Loki, whereas I think many Heathens gravitate more towards Odin, Thor, Tyr, etc. I do know a trans man who honours Odin, though, and I imagine there are lots of people of all orientations who honour most deities.

[RiverSong]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

I'm one the the queers that DON'T follow Loki... not that I have anything against that God, not at all. He is just not one that spoke to me in my spiritual path. I follow a few Greek, Roman, and one Egyptian deity. I just wanted to point that out. I do believe it depends on a person and what they are seeking in a deity, more so than based on sexuality. Not to say that some can't and don't base it on their sexuality, or race, or even one's personal fancy. I know that all of my chosen deities are based on how well it relates to my own personality traits... which means every single one of them are Gods and Goddesses with the traits of passion, harvest, and rebirth. ^_^

[Clive]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

Question: Are there any Gods/Goddesses that tend to be revered by gay people, more so than for heteros?

I've heard that Apollo is a god often honored among circles of gay male Pagans. Apollo was a pansexual god who fell in love with a man, Hycinthus. Boreas, god of the north wind, was jealous of Apollo's love for Hyacinthus and caused a discus that Apollo threw to fly into Hyacinthus's head and kill him. Apollo honored his lover by causing the flower we know as the hyacinth to grow from the blood. For this reason, the hyacinth is considered to be a symbol of homosexual love.

I understand that phallus worship is not unheard of among men of all sexual orientations, and I've seen reference to praying to Priapus, the fertility god known for having an abnormally large penis.

[westwoden]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

So would a gay man be more likely to revere a male deity only, or perhaps 2 male deities, instead of a male and female one?

How does the dualism work here - ie: the male/female power or yin and yang concept?

[thalassa]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

So would a gay man be more likely to revere a male deity only, or perhaps 2 male deities, instead of a male and female one?

How does the dualism work here - ie: the male/female power or yin and yang concept?

TBH, being a straight pagan, I don't buy into dualism. With that being said...

several gay-friendly Pagan traditions have reinterpreted this to reflect their real-life relationships. Eddie Gutierrez, whose Pagan name is Hyperion, founded the Unnamed Path, a gay-friendly sect, after 15 years in traditions that stressed the male-female duality. At PantheaCon, he described how spirits called him in meditation to reexamine the relationships between the gods.

source

Its an interesting article, I'd recommend checking it out in its entirety.

[Lokabrenna]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

TBH, being a straight pagan, I don't buy into dualism. With that being said...

I'm a lesbian, but even before I realized I was a lesbian, I still didn't buy into dualism.

Its an interesting article, I'd recommend checking it out in its entirety.[/QUOTE]

This discussion actually reminds me of a passage I read in Jennifer Hunter's Rites of Pleasure where she talks about how some view the Wheel of the Year as a battle between the Holly King and Oak King, and so adopt a more male-centric narrative that still ties into the seasons.

[kijani]

Re: The Ask a (Gay) Pagan Thread!

The answer to that question really depends on whether or not the individual practitioner buys into the whole idea of the duality or not. I have gay male friends who worship a male and a female diety, and some that don't buy into the duality at all. I'm one of the ones that is kind of on the fence about it. I work with a male diety right now though, and have for some time. That's not to say I disregard the feminine, but this particular diety happened to be the one that called to me... and it isn't Loki lol.

Interesting article, by the way!