Christian churches are able to seek official designations that indicate their church embraces queer individuals, but by the time people find these communities, scars have often already formed.įor those who choose to improve their communities from within, institutions make the process complex. Spiritual trauma involves someone being told they’re unworthy by their religious organization, which represents God. Emily Snowden, reverend at the Congregational United Church of Christ in Arlington Heights, used the term “spiritual trauma” as a means of describing the experience of many queer individuals hurt by religion. This faith can, however, yield damaging results. Reconciliation, and the wrestling it requires, is the purest form of faith. “That’s what queer people do and have been doing for a long time, is figuring out how to adapt ourselves to the world or how to adapt the world to us.” According to Lizzi Heydemann, rabbi and founder of Mishkan Chicago, the word “Israel” itself means “to wrestle,” after the Biblical figure who wrestled with an angel. “A queer perspective of the world is exactly what the world needs to improve,” McGlynn said.
Mandie McGlynn, right, with rabbis Jeffrey Stombaugh and Lizzi Heydemann at Mishkan Chicago, a Jewish synagogue, on July 18, 2019.