The hopeless gospel of gay Christianity is a deceptive faith we must guard against.

Is it wrong for Christians to call themselves gay even if they don’t act on their sinful impulses? If this person is a Christian living in chastity, isn’t voicing his sexual identity a potentially helpful blessing, perhaps useful to ward off unwanted matchmaking or awkward questions from well-intended but misguided church members? And if all of this is true, shouldn’t our churches have support groups for gay Christians so that they can encourage one another and have a community of people who can identify with their feelings and struggles? After all, Pope Francis came out in October 2020 in favor of civil unions for gay couples, exhorting Christians to follow his lead using this argument: “Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable because of it.”1

As someone who lived as a lesbian for a decade while advocating for LGBTQ rights and causes as an activist and tenured English professor in New York, and now as someone who is a biblically married pastor’s wife with children and grandchildren, I can emphatically declare that gay Christianity is a trap set by Satan, whether you are acting on sinful impulses or not. “Gay” Christianity—whether a person is sexually active or not—is a different religion from biblical Christianity. The Pope’s words find a sweet spot in a culture that says sexual identity (LGBTQ) is who you really are, and sexual difference (male and female) is a psychological choice.

by Dr. Rosaria Butterfield on April 1, 2021 ; last featured June 20, 2026

Featured in Answers Magazine